Biospring Partners, a growth equity firm exclusively focused on B2B life sciences technology companies, has closed its debut fund with over USD245 million in capital commitments from pension plans, fund of funds, endowments and foundations, and family offices.
The New York-based firm, which was founded in 2020 and is led by co-founders and managing partners Michelle Dipp and Jennifer Lum, aims to invest in companies with the potential to fundamentally shift how technology is utilised across the life sciences sector.
The two founders believe that life sciences innovation is accelerating rapidly due to increasing access to sequencing, cloud computing, and machine-learning technologies in addition to significant advancements in synthetic biology and gene editing.
“Biospring’s investments are working to push the healthcare industry forward by enabling new forms of biopharma manufacturing, diagnostic testing, and software applications that are fundamentally changing how we research, diagnose, and treat disease,” says the firm.
Says Dipp: “We focus on identifying long-term themes within life sciences technology in order to identify biopharma services, tools, and software companies at the growth stage. We aim to partner with management teams prior to investing in them to add value through our experience and network.”
A physician scientist by training, Dipp has invested as a general partner for over 12 years. Before setting up Biospring, she was a managing director at USD85 billion growth equity pioneer General Atlantic, where she launched and led the firm’s life sciences investment platform. Prior to that, she was co-founder and general partner of Longwood Fund.
Lum, an experienced business operator who has started, scaled, and sold multiple companies, added: “The accelerating convergence of tech and the life sciences is creating new and large investment opportunities. We’re excited to be investing in transformational companies that are driving innovation across the ecosystem.”
As a female-founded and led team with both investment and operations experience across the life sciences and technology sectors, Dipp and Lum – along with Biospring’s advisory board – are bringing decades of experience and insight into a large and growing sector.
Joelle Kayden, founder and managing director of Accolade Partners, a limited partner of Biospring, says: “For over 20 years, Accolade has identified and backed first-time funds that have gone on to deliver industry-leading returns. Since our initial conversation, we believed that Biospring would join that list. Michelle and Jennifer combine impressive backgrounds and grit; qualities that are necessary ingredients for success. We were delighted to commit to their fund early in their fundraising process and congratulate them on the final close.”
Biospring’s current portfolio companies include PathAI, ixlayer, Kiniciti, and Abzena. PathAI’s co-founder and CEO Andy Beck said: “Michelle and Jennifer have been outstanding partners with PathAI. Biospring brings a differentiated integration of business, strategy, technology, and bio-pharma experience, and it’s been an honour to have the opportunity to work closely with them.”
