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The UZH Life Sciences Fund (LSF), founded in 2016, provides early financing for UZH spin-offs in life sciences, biotech and medtech with business ideas based on intellectual property resulting from research done at UZH. The aim is to accelerate the development process of spin-offs in the early phase of their life cycle (when fund raising can be long and/or difficult), and thus accelerate the transfer of UZH research findings into practice, which ultimately benefits patients and the public at large.
The UZH Life Sciences Fund involves two equal partners: the UZH (raising funds via its UZH Foundation) and the Novartis Venture Fund. The LSF is financed by equal contributions from donators of the UZH and the Novartis Venture Fund, the latter matching the contributions raised by UZH.
Active for over 20 years, Novartis Venture Fund (NVF) is one of the larger Corporate Life Sciences Venture Funds worldwide and has approximately USD 800 million under management and more than 40 portfolio companies. While NVF provides fund and expertise in analysis and management of early ventures, the decisions of the LSF are taken independently of the NVF strategy and processes; investment decisions are made by a committee comprising equal numbers of representatives from UZH and the Novartis Venture Fund.