BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Kurma chameleon

How French VC Kurma is bringing industry into tech transfer before creating newcos

January 19, 2017 9:03 PM UTC

French life science VC Kurma Partners S.A. is experimenting with a new investment model to accelerate the transfer of European academic research into the commercial setting with less risk than standard seed investments. The firm is balancing the new model with its traditional one, allowing it to continue investing in later-stage companies while also competing with the bigger players for highly innovative discoveries.

Kurma was formed in 2009. Its first fund, Kurma Biofund I, created newcos using a traditional route that invests money and other resources into translating an academic discovery...