San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—January 7, 2015—Spruce Capital Partners and Xeraya Capital today announced the first close of MLS Capital Fund II, L.P. at $150 million. MLS Capital Fund II, the successor to the $162 million Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, is co-managed by Spruce Capital Partners and Xeraya Capital, which will invest the funds in a diversified portfolio of biogreentech companies at all stages of development.
Biogreentech spans plant and animal agriculture; food, feed, and nutrition; bio-renewable chemicals and materials; and adjacent opportunities along the value chain, including “big data analytics,” robotics, production, harvesting and use of natural resources, and synthetic biology.
“The use of biological processes to improve health, agricultural, and industrial processes is giving rise to a new bioeconomy,” says Dr. Roger Wyse, Managing Partner of Spruce Capital Partners. “We believe there are significant opportunities with the potential to generate superior returns in these areas, and improve productivity, sustainability, quality, and affordability.”
The principals of Spruce Capital Partners bring deep experience from the industrial, financial, and academic sectors. They are active investors, who have years of both investment and operational experience and have worked with entrepreneurs to create and build successful companies. Their experience dovetails with that of Xeraya Capital, which contributes comprehensive in-region expertise.
The MLS Capital Fund II will leverage the managers’ extensive global network to generate flow of high quality deals and accelerate the creation of value by assisting portfolio companies with expanding into target markets in Asia and the Americas.
The fund will also build off the managers’ history of using venture capital to supplement the innovation-pursuits of multinational corporations. The limited partners in the fund represent both institutional and global corporate investors.
During 2015, the managers intend to focus on expanding the available capital pool and investing in a select group of entrepreneurial entities that meet their investment criteria.
“We will focus on unmet and underserved market needs in the biogreentech space,” says Dr. Ganesh Kishore, co-Managing Partner of MLS Capital FundII and Managing Partner of Spruce Capital Partners. “We will seek out globally competitive technologies with large market potential, and hungry entrepreneurial teams embracing business models that capture a fair share of the value, while addressing global societal needs in food and energy security, an aging population, and sustainability.”
“MLS Capital Fund II builds upon the accomplishments of Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, and enables us to continue propagating global innovation and participate in a unique way within the Biogreentech sector,” says Mr. Fares Zahir, co-Managing Partner of MLS Capital Fund II and CEO of Xeraya. “The partnership of leading financial and industrial houses in MLS Capital Fund II is a testament to our commitment to sponsor and grow innovation led businesses.”
The Fund will have offices in San Francisco and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
