Leading transatlantic venture capital fund to continue its successful investment strategy focused on dementia
LONDON/BOSTON – May 20th 2025. The Dementia Discovery Fund (“DDF”), managed by SV Health Investors, today announced the final closing of its second fund, DDF-2, with $269m in commitments. DDF is the world’s largest family of specialized venture capital funds that invests exclusively in companies developing or enabling novel therapeutics for dementia.
Including this new fund, DDF has raised more than $550m to date. DDF-2 has already invested in four companies, in line with its investment strategy of building and backing highly innovative biotech companies developing life-changing therapies for patients worldwide, to generate attractive returns.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dementia is a public health priority currently affecting over 50 million people worldwide, while every year nearly 10 million new cases[1] are diagnosed, with currently no cure. DDF aims to tackle this vast unmet medical need.
DDF is proud to, for this second fund, be supported by its previous cornerstone investors AARP, British Business Bank and Gates Frontier, pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer, and to admit the Alzheimer’s Association into this final close.
Kate Bingham, Managing Partner, SV Health Investors, said: “As well as the unspeakable human cost, the economic burden of dementia is entirely unsustainable. It is set to reach $3 trillion per year[2], greater than the entire pharmaceutical prescription drug market, yet our ability to treat patients is still extremely limited. We urgently need to harness the kind of innovation we are seeing across cancer and other diseases to tackle dementia; DDF-2 is ready to do just that.”
Jonathan Behr, Partner, SV Health Investors, said: “Drug development for dementia is thankfully gaining momentum since the launch of DDF and the first disease-modifying Alzheimer's drugs have been approved – underscoring that success is possible but that we still have far to go. With DDF-2, we have an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in the fight against dementia while delivering returns through investments in new treatments.”
Laurence Barker, Partner, SV Health Investors, said: “Our PhD-trained investment team works closely with our venture partners, who bring more than 200 years of neuroscience R&D experience collectively. With the final close of DDF-2, we are well placed to continue to find the most promising new ideas and actively manage them to a successful outcome for patients and investors.”
Christian Jung, Partner, SV Health Investors, said: “As a result of our investments, more than 2000 people have received experimental treatments, giving fresh hope to the mission to defeat dementia. DDF-2 will build on this groundbreaking work, which reflects our science-first approach to investing in therapeutic assets and platform technologies, while driving significant returns for our investors.”
DDF-2 will build a final portfolio of 10 to 15 companies primarily across the US, UK and Europe. Of the existing DDF portfolio, half of the companies were built by DDF, while more than 50 different programmes are underway across the portfolio.
About The Dementia Discovery Fund
SV Health Investors’ Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) is the world’s largest family of specialized venture capital funds that invests exclusively in companies developing or enabling novel therapeutics for dementia. Dementias including Alzheimer’s Disease are arguably the largest unmet medical need with over 55m patients worldwide. With more than $550m raised for this strategy, and offices in London and Boston, DDF capitalizes on global investment opportunities to fulfill its dual mandate of delivering measurable impact and generating significant financial returns. Utilizing its network of venture partners, entrepreneurs, leading scientists, and strategic partners, DDF invests in and creates new biotech companies and provides thought leadership in the field. DDF is enabled by its limited partners including major pharmaceutical companies (Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Co., GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka (Astex), Pfizer and Takeda), along with AARP, Aegon, British Business Bank, Gates Frontier, UnitedHealth Group, and the non-profits the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Research UK and LifeArc.
Learn more at https://www.svhealthinvestors.com/ddf
About SV Health Investors
SV Health Investors is a leading healthcare fund manager committed to investing in tomorrow’s healthcare breakthroughs. The SV funds invest across stages, geographic regions, and sectors, with expertise spanning biotechnology, dementia, medical devices, healthcare growth and healthcare technology. With approximately $2bn in assets under management and a truly transatlantic presence with offices in London and Boston, SV has built an extensive network of talented investment professionals and experienced industry veterans. Since its founding in 1993, SV has invested in, created and built more than 200 companies attracting global talent, entrepreneurs and pharma partners. To date, these investments have resulted in the licensing of 27 novel drugs and six new drug classes able to treat indications with unmet medical needs and deliver positive impact to patients. For more information, please visit www.svhealthinvestors.com.
Media Contacts
Pro-dementiadiscoveryfund@prosek.com
[1]https://www.who.int/news-room/...
[2] World Health Organisation – 2023 Global status report on the public health response to dementia
