The PSL Innovation Fund announces an interim closing with €65 million and six investments

For this interim closing of the PSL Innovation Fund, Elaia received additional backing from Vilmorin & Cie (the holding company for Limagrain’s seed businesses), Bpifrance and the European Investment Fund (EIF). This will expand the Fund’s base of subscribers, which already includes numerous, complementary French and international investors (institutional funds, funds of funds, insurers, corporate funds and family offices). In light of the interest already expressed by other investors, the fund is still open to subscription. The fund could reach its maximum limit of €75 million within the next few months.

Says PSL President Alain Fuchs, “We applaud the successful campaign to raise capital for the PSL Innovation Fund, which reaffirms our decision to place our trust in Elaia and positions PSL as a university that maintains close relationships with startups. We have already raised a remarkable sum that exceeds our initial objective. That success will have a major impact on the ecosystem and will strengthen startup momentum at PSL.”
Adds Elaia Partner Anne-Sophie Carrese, “We are delighted with this closing at €65 million, which exceeds our initial fundraising target of €50 million. We have always been confident that the PSL Innovation Fund was right to focus on multisector deep-tech seed financing, consistent with the highly successful early stage funds overseen by Elaia, which has been identifying and supporting the most impressive research-based startups for more than 15 years. What’s unique in this instance is that we have successfully raised an equally large sum from private sources for these highly innovative early-stage incubators that are close to academia, and we’re proud of that. This successful fundraising for the PSL Innovation Fund bears out the potential rewards from the close link between academic research and business, not to mention the strategic interest among major customers in startups that offer technological innovation. The strong launch for the PSL Innovation Fund ensures that we will have an adequate deal flow to deploy a significant, high-performance seed fund alongside PSL.”   

The investment period for the PSL Innovation Fund got off to a healthy start with six promising investments, four of which are public:

• Gleamer is developing artificial intelligence software that detects anomalies on medical images and generates a report.
• Sancare is using machine learning to automate and enhance the coding for hospital stays.
• SeqOne is developing a cloud-based digital platform to produce more accurate genomic analyses faster and at lower cost.
• Cosmian is developing a platform for the analysis of encrypted data.
• In addition to these initial four investments, two companies have entered into exclusive negotiations with the fund.

In a boost to the Life Sciences team, Sacha Loiseau is becoming an Elaia Venture Partner

Sacha Loiseau has joined Elaia as a Venture Partner to strengthen the Life Sciences team built with Partner Franck Lescure, who joined Elaia in June 2018.
Sacha is currently the Chairman of Mauna Kea Technologies, Chairman of Therapixel and member of the board of directors of MDoloris Medical Systems and is Vice President of MedTech in France.
Sacha was the founder of Mauna Kea Technologies and served as its CEO for 18 years. He raised over €130 million to develop the Cellvizio technology platform, first with private investors, then following an IPO in 2011. Sacha began his career at CNES and later worked for NASA. In 2013, he was appointed co-head of the reindustrialization plan for medical devices in France.
Sacha is a graduate of the École Polytechnique and received a PhD in astrophysics.

Says Elaia founding partner Xavier Lazarus: “It’s with great pride that we welcome Sacha Loiseau as a Venture Partner. His arrival further cements our status as a French leader in deep-tech investment, beyond our initial focus on digital technology. Indeed, we’ll be perfectly placed to tackle promising new fields such as digital tech for the life sciences, thanks to a multidisciplinary team that now commands an exceptionally wide range of sectoral and technological expertise.”
After devoting more than 15 years to risk capital for the life sciences, notably at Auriga Partners, Franck joined Elaia as a Partner a year ago with the goal of putting together a life sciences team. He currently sits on the board of directors of numerous companies in the Bioseeds fund portfolio, as part of Elaia’s delegated management, and the PSL Innovation Fund.