While other venture capitalists are curbing their efforts in medtech, Wellington Partners intends to maintain its support for the sector earmarking about half of its new €210m WPLS-V fund for European medtech opportunities.

With its WPLS-IV fund now fully committed, Wellington Partners has returned to the market and raised €210m in its WPLS-V fund which will focus on European biotech and medtech opportunities.

Europe's biotech companies can add value by taking a global view, Scrip heard at Bio-Europe.

The head of the German family-owned firm's venture fund tells Scrip that investing very early in promising start-ups gives Boehringer Ingelheim "a little bit of a head start" on rival pharma companies in identifying technologies that could translate into therapies five years down the line .