Singapore, Jan 04, 2012: Vivo Ventures, a healthcare investment firm with offices in Palo Alto, California, Shanghai, and Chengdu, China, has announced the final closing of Vivo Ventures VII (Vivo VII) at $375 million, which brings the firm's total funds under management to more than $1 billion.

Vivo plans to invest the capital primarily in later development stage pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the US and in revenue stage healthcare companies in greater China.  As an early entrant to the Chinese healthcare market, Vivo plans to continue assisting companies in both countries in their efforts to forge cross-border partnerships, enabling companies to acquire new products and expand the market for their existing products. Vivo also intends to continue its successful strategies of building companies from scratch, identifying later stage products with a high probability of FDA approval, and investing directly in public companies.

Vivo's recent IPOs and exits include Sagent (IPO, Nasdaq), China Kanghui (IPO, NYSE), Vicept (acquired by Allergan), Bioform (acquired by Merz), as well as investments in Avanir Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq), Acura Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq), Lee's Pharm (HKEx), and Achillion Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq).

The managing partners of Vivo VII are Drs Frank Kung, Albert Cha, Edgar Engleman, Chen Yu, and James Zhao. Investors in the Vivo VII include pension funds, funds of funds, university endowments, foundations, financial institutions, and family offices. In addition to limited partners that participated in Vivo's earlier funds, Vivo VII added a number of new institutional investors from the US, Europe, and Asia.

Source:biospectrumasia.com