RiverVest Venture Partners closes third fund at $80.2 mln

RiverVest Venture Partners has raised $80.2 million for its third fund. RiverVest Venture Fund III LP will focus on pharmaceuticals and therapeutic medical devices with no geographic boundaries.

PRESS RELEASE

ST. LOUIS, MO (May 5, 2015) – Life sciences venture capital firm RiverVest Venture Partners today announced the final closing of RiverVest Venture Fund III, L.P. at $80.2 million.

“This is a great time to be investing in drugs and therapeutic medical devices,” said RiverVest Managing Director Jay Schmelter. “There are many attractively valued investment opportunities in our space right now.”

Since its initial closing last year, RiverVest Venture Fund III has made investments in three companies and is currently evaluating several other potential investments.

“We are pleased with the fund size of $80 million,” said Schmelter. “It enables us to continue executing on our successful Fund II strategy where we identify high potential companies that we can build to sell in five years or less.”

RiverVest Venture Fund II, a $75 million Fund that held its initial close in 2006, has provided a net internal rate of return to its Limited Partners since inception of more than 20% per annum. That puts Fund II’s performance at the upper end of the top 25% of venture funds started in the same year, according to Cambridge Associates’ U.S. Venture Capital index, which benchmarks nearly 1,500 institutional-quality venture capital funds.

In addition to Schmelter, Tom Melzer, John McKearn, Ph.D., and Niall O’Donnell, Ph.D., serve as RiverVest’s managing directors.

About RiverVest Venture Partners®
RiverVest Venture Partners is a venture capital firm focused on identifying and shaping early-stage life science companies to create significant shareholder value. Because of its extensive operating expertise, RiverVest is able to help entrepreneurs achieve near-term objectives that position their companies for exit.

Established in 2000, RiverVest has funded 32 and exited or taken public 19 innovative life science companies and has assets under management of $290 million. For more information, please visit http://www.rivervest.com.