A Canadian venture capital company is joining with a Chinese investment bank to create a new US$500 million venture fund for biotech and health sciences companies.
The fund being set up by Quark Venture Inc. and GF Securities Company Limited will be based in Vancouver and will be the largest of its kind in Canada, the companies said in a joint press release.
“The decision to make Vancouver the headquarters for Quark Venture and the Global Health Sciences Fund validates Canadian innovation, the strength of the life science industry here and the quality of its technologies,” said Quark CEO Karimah Es Sabar.
“We anticipate that internationally competitive Canadian companies will do well having a fund of this size and caliber at their doorstep and we believe such a fund will energize the sector and be a magnet for further capital.”
The new fund is intended to promote companies making advancements in the areas of drug development, health IT, medical devices and other emerging health-sciences technologies.
This is Quark’s second major announcement in as many weeks; last week, it announced it was investing US$30 million in Methylation Sciences Inc. (MSA), a Vancouver-based pharmaceutical company working on treatments for depression.
@EmmaHampelBIV
