It all began thirty years ago when our original French parent firm, Sofinnova SA, was founded by a group of French financial institutions that believed in the potential of venture investing. Indeed, Sofinnova SA was the first "American style" venture capital firm in France. Peter Brook, the founder of T.A. Associates, was a board member of Sofinnova SA in the early years. Sofinnova SA quickly established a presence in the European market through the formation of the Sofinnova Partners venture firm in Paris. Sofinnova SA owned this firm from 1972 until its spin-off in 1997.

Sofinnova SA launched U.S. investment funds in 1974, making it the first European venture company to enter the U.S. market. Based in San Francisco, with Jean Deleage as its first President and founder, Sofinnova SA was very successful and an early investor in stellar successes such as Tandem Computers and Genentech. In 1984, Sofinnova SA decided to leverage its unique trans-Atlantic positioning by creating a direct partnership presence in the U.S., creating our current generation of funds independent from the Paris team.

Alain Azan arrived in San Francisco in 1987 to take over management of SVP I, an experimental fund designed to invest in French companies seeking to expand into the U.S. market. He soon refocused the strategy on investing primarily in U.S. early-stage startups. Alain was the senior partner throughout SVP I, II and III.

In 1997, the global Sofinnova organization restructured by creating two independent management teams, Sofinnova Ventures of San Francisco and Sofinnova Partners in Paris. Each firm became an independent venture capital firm with separate funds, teams, investment strategies and partnerships. Yet to this day, deal flow, expertise and information are shared, continuing our long history of mutual support for one another's respective portfolio companies.

As part of the restructuring and buyout, Mike Powell joined Sofinnova Ventures in the summer of 1997. Alain and Mike shared a vision to build a new phase in Sofinnova's history where the firm would be an early-stage VC firm that would use its unique European background and contacts to bring value to its U.S. investments.

Since Sofinnova Ventures became independent, the firm has grown capital under management from $57 M to $1 B, and expanded from two partners to its current size, with offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park.

© 1997-2007 Sofinnova Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.