Longitude Capital has closed the Longitude Venture Partners II, a $385 million venture capital fund dedicated to investments in drug development and medical technology. 

The Fund, which exceeded its target of $325 million, is the successor to Longitude's inaugural investment vehicle, Longitude Venture Partners, which closed in July 2008 at $325 million and exceeded its target of $250 million. The first fund has invested in nearly 20 companies including Amarin, Aptus Endosystems, AqueSys, CardioDx, Civitas Therapeutics, Corcept Therapeutics, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and NxStage Medical.

"Longitude's venture growth strategy in life sciences focuses on building balanced portfolios of primarily mid-stage to commercial-stage companies with clinically de-risked assets and three-to-five year liquidity horizons,” said Juliet Tammenoms Bakker, co-founder and managing director, Longitude. “Our approach has enabled strong absolute and relative performance driven by multiple near-term realizations across our portfolio.  We appreciate the strong support from our existing institutional and individual investors, and are delighted to welcome several new top tier institutional investors into this Fund."

Patrick Enright, Longitude co-founder and managing director, added, "We believe that Longitude Capital's investment strategy is well-suited to current market conditions. In the evolving venture capital market, our experience with PIPEs, spin-outs and recapitalizations, combined with our proactive research to identify contrarian opportunities and 'special situations' helps us exploit value dislocations and accelerate returns."

Probitas Partners acted as exclusive placement agent and financial advisor to Longitude Capital in connection with the offering.