## KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Genesys Capital has held a second close of the Genesys University Seed Fund, adding Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and University Health Network (UHN) as hospital partners, according to a company news release distributed via Business Wire.
- The fund invests in pre-seed and seed rounds for life science companies emerging from Canadian universities and hospitals, targeting the shortage of early-stage capital for health and life science discoveries.
- The first close included the University of Toronto, McMaster University, Venture Ontario, the Temerty Group and RBC, and publisher context cites a first close of more than $30 million against a targeted $40 million (CAD) fund size.
- The release does not disclose the size of the second close, so the current total commitments are not confirmed in the primary source.
- UHN reports $688 million in annual research funding and says UHN-incubated ventures have raised more than $1.76 billion in financing since 2018.
## DETAILED SUMMARY
Genesys Capital, one of Canada's leading life sciences venture capital firms, has announced the second close of the Genesys University Seed Fund, welcoming Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and University Health Network (UHN) as hospital partners. The announcement was made through a Business Wire release datelined Toronto and republished by Private Capital Journal. The fund's first close included the University of Toronto, McMaster University, Venture Ontario, the Temerty Group and RBC as limited partners, and the new hospital participants join that group.
The fund was created to address a shortage of early-stage capital that limits the movement of health and life science discoveries from research settings into clinical care. It invests in pre-seed and seed rounds for life science companies emerging from Canadian universities, hospitals and research institutes. Publisher context indicates the first close was more than $30 million in commitments toward a $40 million CAD target, but the primary release does not state the amount raised at the second close.
Kelly Holman, co-founder and managing director of Genesys Capital, said the first close demonstrated appetite for early-stage commercialization. Kevin Smith, President and CEO of UHN, described the fund as a way to convert Canadian scientific excellence into patient impact and economic growth, and noted that UHN has helped launch 20 financed life sciences companies, including BlueRock Therapeutics, Trillium Therapeutics and AVROBIO. UHN reports 1,250 principal investigators, 5,100 research staff and trainees, and $688 million in annual research funding. Dr. Andy Smith, President and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, said more than 400 scientists and clinician-scientists at Sunnybrook conduct over $170 million in research annually.
U of T President Melanie A. Woodin welcomed the hospitals as partners through the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN), and the release cites the university's record of more than 1,800 venture-backed startups that have raised over $27 billion over the past five years. Genesys Capital, which has more than $400 million invested over 25 years and 20 exits, said interested parties may contact
[email protected] for partnering or investment inquiries.
