This is last interview you will see from SACHS in Zurich. I met with Markus Goebel, the managing director of the Novartis Venture Fund. He almost played at home as he is living few dozen of kilometres outside the city in the lovely Swiss countryside.
Novartis Venture Fund originates, as its name can tell, from the Basel-based Big Pharma Novartis. It manages nearly $750M and invests both in Europe and in the US.
Importantly, the fund is pretty much independent from its parent company, and the goal is to generate return on investment rather than filling the pipeline (see the first part of the interview).
The latest news of the fund was the €350M ($400M) acquisition of its portfolio company Heptares Therapeutics (UK) by Sosei Group Corporation end of last February. This must have led to a nice return of investment for the fund.
As an investor on both sides of the Atlantic, Goebel also commented on the valuation differences and their evolution. He thinks valuations are getting back to a normal level after being exaggerated, especially in the US…
So, here’s the interview. Hope you enjoy watching!
P.S. This was actually the first interview of the day, 1 hour after arriving at Zurich’s airport.
Feature Image Credit: Philipp Hemme interviewing Markus Goebel at the SACHS conference (CC 2.0: Labiotech.eu)