A newly created VC firm, Lauxera Capital Partners, has raised €100m for a growth and buyout fund aimed at funding healthtech companies that have thrived in the wake of Covid-19.

Lauxera was founded last year and is based in Paris and San Francisco — so the firm’s looking to fund startups in both the EU and the US with cheques ranging from €10 to €20m. 

Samuel Levy, a physician and partner at Lauxera, explains that the idea for the fund came from revelations brought on by the pandemic. 

“One of the real revelations that has come out of coronavirus is the fragility of our healthcare systems,” says Levy. “So we’re very interested in identifying solutions that can make hospitals and care delivery more efficient.”

The fund follows Octopus Ventures’ announcement of a new healthtech fund this week — worth £100m  — which it also says was brought on by the increase in digital healthcare investment opportunities the pandemic has created. 

Last year, according to Atomico’s State of European tech report, healthtech funding saw the biggest increase in investments of any sector, with an increase of $750m.

Lauxera’s fund has already invested in one software service for a German-American hospital —  a company which uses augmented reality to try and reduce complications that arise during surgery. 

The rest of the fund will be invested across all health verticals, Levy says. 

“We’re interested in software tools for hospitals and clinics: approaches to minimally invasive surgeries that can mean more interventions take place out of the hospital and innovations in the intensive care units to reduce hospital stays,” he says. 

The fund will invest in both profitable and loss-making companies, and as either a majority or a minority shareholder. 

It also may acquire whole companies. 

“We have the possibility to participate in traditional leverage buyouts,” Levy says. “But we’ll only do that in situations where our previous experience from other companies and operational roles allows us to create value.”

With offices based in America and Europe, the fund also hopes to bridge the gap between European healthtech companies and US capital markets. 

“Healthcare innovation knows no geographic boundaries, but needs deep pools of capital and hands-on operational experience to durably change clinical practice,” says Pierre Moustial, another partner at the fund. 

“The transformational innovation we see in Europe today will ultimately revolutionise medicine in Europe and around the world.”

Freya Pratty is Sifted’s news reporter. She tweets from @FPratty