Bain Capital Life Sciences has reeled in about $3 billion for its fourth fund, Endpoints News has learned.
The Boston-based firm has been on a spree in recent quarters. Its portfolio companies Aiolos Bio, Cerevel, EyeBio and Jnana Therapeutics have all inked or completed M&A exits to GSK, AbbVie, Merck and Otsuka, respectively. The size of the fund was described to Endpoints by people familiar with the raise who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The fund is close in size to the $3.6 billion that Flagship Pioneering unveiled earlier this summer, and to the $3 billion ARCH Venture Partners is seeking for its 13th fund, according to SEC filings.
Bain’s new fund comes in above an original target of about $2 billion, with a hard cap of $2.5 billion, according to documents from the New Jersey State Investment Council in April. The firm quickly became an integral name in life sciences investing after its inception eight years ago. It has backed more than 70 companies to date.
Its third fund, announced in August 2021, came in at $1.9 billion. The new fund had more demand, including more geographic diversity, according to the people familiar with the matter. And there’s still an ample amount from the third fund to continue deploying into existing portfolio companies, they said.
While larger in size, the strategy will be much of the same, they said. That includes four main uses: inflection capital for key phases of drug development; growth capital to expand into new geographies and commercialize products; new company formation; and “fallen angels” — helping private and public companies that need a reset.
There are more opportunities to do pharma carve-outs like Cerevel, the Bain-backed spinout of Pfizer’s neuroscience assets, according to the individuals. Many large drugmakers have announced pipeline prioritizations in recent years, honing in on specific therapeutic areas and modalities, which leaves room for creating new companies out of shelved or sidelined assets.
Bain has also invested in obesity, forging a partnership earlier this year with Atlas and RTW. The trio licensed assets from China-based Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals and is setting up a new company in the US to investigate the experimental medicines, Endpoints reported in May. The new company, code-named Hercules CM for the moment, has $400 million in funding, the second-largest private financing so far this year.
It’s also been behind more of this year’s megarounds, including Avistone Biotechnology and Cardurion Pharmaceuticals. One of the firm’s portfolio companies, cell therapy startup Kyverna, joined the Nasdaq in a February IPO. Other names in its portfolio are looking at the IPO process or could do so in the coming 12-18 months, according to one of the sources.
Overseeing the portfolio is a relatively big investment operation, with more than two dozen Bain employees focused on drug developers, medical device makers, diagnostics companies and others in the field. Historically, about 20% of funds have gone toward life sciences companies outside of biotech.
About $500 million of the new fund comes from Bain partners, employees and affiliates. The remainder comes from existing and new investors.