Patient Square Capital announced a record-breaking inaugural fund totaling $3.9 billion, proving even in an unstable economy, there’s still money to be made.
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In a world of bear markets and sky-high inflation, Patient Square Capital has proven there’s still money to be made. Thursday, the firm announced a record-breaking inaugural fund totaling $3.9 billion.
This total marks both the largest first-time private equity fund ever raised and the largest fund ever raised by a dedicated health-care-focused private equity, growth equity or venture capital firm, according to the press release.
Jim Momtazee left his role at global investment firm KKR & Co after almost 23 years to launch Patient Square at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020. At that time, investor demand for the healthcare sector was at an all-time high.
“The demand for capital has not waned. What has waned is the supply of capital,” Momtazee told Bloomberg. “As long as you have the capital and courage, you can do extremely well.”
Patient Square certainly has the capital. With the inclusion of co-investments, the firm is managing around $5.9 billion in assets.
Including over 100 investors from three continents, the firm will use the debut fund to invest in buyouts and late-stage opportunities, in addition to growth-equity investments.
A hefty $1.5 billion has already been invested into the life science sector, with six to 11 additional investments waiting in the wings.
Its portfolio of companies includes a telemedicine service, a biopharma with a 15-program strong pipeline, a hearing aid company, a biotech investment firm, a gene therapy company and several others. Momtazee sits on the board of three of these companies.
With the fund closing $900 million above target, Momtazee said the team has “a tremendous amount of work ahead” of them.
Healthcare VC fundraising broke all records in 2021 with $29.3B, nearly a 70% increase from the year prior. Funding for 2022 dropped some the following year, but still came in at a healthy $21.8B.
Analysts predict a decline to the $15B range for 2023 as markets continue to decline.
