Benzinga | Jul 20, 2021 07:15AM EDT

Longitude Capital Highlights Closing Of Its Inaugural Longitude Prime Fund, Fund's First Investment In Rapid Micro Biosystems

- Longitude Prime Fund makes first investment in IPO of Rapid Micro Biosystems, the industry leading automated quality-control platform for pharmaceutical manufacturing -

MENLO PARK, Calif., GREENWICH, Conn., and BOSTON, July 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Longitude Capital, a leading healthcare venture capital firm, today announced the closing of the inaugural Longitude Prime Fund, L.P. ("LPF1" or the "Prime Fund") and the fund's first investment in Rapid Micro Biosystems ((&ldquo, Rapid Micro, &rdquo, NASDAQ:RPID). LPF1 closed with $135 million in capital commitments and was oversubscribed. The announcement comes less than a year after Longitude Capital announced the closing of $585 million for its most recent core fund, Longitude Venture Partners IV, L.P.

LPF1 will invest primarily in the crossover and IPO financings of selected breakout companies from the firm's existing investments in its core funds. The Prime Fund's initial investment supported Rapid Micro's $158 million initial public offering in July 2021. Rapid Micro, a company in Longitude Capital's Health Solutions practice, has developed an automated microbial quality control platform to increase efficiency and ensure data integrity in the production of biologics, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies. Prior to the IPO, Rapid Micro had most recently raised an $81 million crossover round in March 2021 to expand commercial operations. Longitude Capital originally backed Rapid Micro in its 2013 Series B financing.

"Over the last few years, we have seen our portfolio companies attract substantial capital and drive attractive returns following the achievement of material de-risking events such as initial clinical trial results or the demonstration of a strong and sustainable commercial launch," said Juliet Tammenoms Bakker, co-founder and Managing Director of Longitude Capital. "The Prime Fund will target these later stage investment opportunities in a way that we believe complements our core funds and enables us to continue supporting our portfolio companies as they mature."

Patrick Enright, co-founder and Managing Director of Longitude Capital, added, "We appreciate our investors' support of this new vehicle as a means to expand our differentiated venture growth investing platform and continue to generate returns for our investors."

Since its inception in 2006, the female co-owned firm has raised nearly $2 billion in cumulative capital commitments across five funds to advance critical medicines, devices, and health solutions to the marketplace.