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Roivant Sciences to join BaseLaunch Accelerator as Healthcare Partner

18.01.2018

Roivant becomes the fifth healthcare partner of BaselArea.swiss accelerator program joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Novartis Venture Fund, Pfizer and Roche.

BaseLaunch Teams (img: Mathias Mangold)

BaseLaunch provides promising startups with access to non-dilutive funding, industry access, expert knowledge and infrastructure, and integrates them into one of the most dynamic biotech and healthcare ecosystems in Europe. The program is initiated and operated by BaselArea.swiss.

In addition to Roivant, the BaseLaunch healthcare accelerator is backed by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Novartis Venture Fund, Pfizer, Roche and other public and private partners. Sascha Bucher, VP and Head of Global Transactions at Roivant and a senior business development and M&A professional with more than 20 years of experience, will join the BaseLaunch Selection Committee.

For Vivek Ramaswamy, Founder and CEO of Roivant, partnering with BaseLaunch underlines the company’s commitment to Basel as a central hub for pharmaceutical innovation in Europe: “Joining the accelerator will allow us to support young and talented entrepreneurs developing promising ideas, and is representative of our desire to become an integral part of the broader life science ecosystem in Basel.”

Alethia de León, Managing Director of BaseLaunch, welcomes Roivant as a Healthcare Partner of BaseLaunch: “We are very excited to have Roivant as a hands-on partner to support and help select promising healthcare startups. Their commitment to our accelerator here in Basel further adds to the strong commitment to this initiative from the leading and highly innovative corporate partners in the healthcare space.”

“Having the world’s leading healthcare companies onboard demonstrates the unique setting of the Basel region as a center for the life sciences,” says Christof Klöpper, CEO of BaselArea.swiss.

In 2017, over 100 projects applied and 11 teams were accepted into BaseLaunch. During the first three months of the program, company founders worked closely with the BaseLaunch team and a network of seasoned professionals to solidify strategy, R&D plans and operations. The companies that were selected for the next phase will be announced shortly.

Applications for 2018 are now open. For more information, visit www.baselaunch.ch