News Release

Carlyle partners with Inova

Growth equity transaction to support Inova’s ambition to become the leading platform for life science collaborations

Lyon, France - Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and Inova, a leading software provider for the biopharma industry, today announced a long-term funding partnership to accelerate growth, fund product innovation and M&A initiatives. Carlyle is investing €60 million and will become Inova's largest shareholder under the deal, while Management and historic investor NextStage AM have reaffirmed their strong commitment.

Headquartered in Lyon, France, with international offices in New York, Denver, and Tokyo, Inova is a market-leading software platform specifically dedicated to the life sciences industry, enabling pharmaceutical and biotech companies to collaborate on workstreams across their organizations. The company supports more than 150 global clients, including many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, and is at the forefront of digital transformation in biopharma collaborations. Inova’s flagship product, 'Inova Enterprise’, serves as a collaborative tool used to manage all processes related to outsourced innovation to laboratories and biotechs, enabling customers to source leads, execute transactions, manage alliances and virtual events.

Leveraging its significant experience across Technology and Healthcare, Carlyle will support Inova in entering its next phase of growth. The investment thesis is based on accelerating Inova’s international expansion, including strengthening its presence in China and the US, investing in the company’s innovative product suite and highly differentiated platform as well as strategic acquisitions.

Gilles Toulemonde, CEO of Inova, said: “We are fully committed to the digital transformation of life science partnering and, with Carlyle’s support, we will greatly accelerate our ambitious development plan to scale Inova and leverage our market-leading platform along the entire partnering value chain, from initial lead sourcing to alliance management. With Carlyle’s support, we look forward to accelerating our innovation roadmap and strategically acquire technologies that complement our global vision for biopharmaceutical partnering.”

Vladimir Lasocki, co-Head of Carlyle Europe Technology Partners, said: “We have been extremely impressed by Inova’s team and product leadership. We are delighted to partner with the company and see a tremendous opportunity to help further build their mission critical product suite, accelerate their global expansion, and become the leading platform serving the partnering industry which lies at the heart of life sciences. We believe that Inova has significant growth opportunities and look forward to leveraging our strategic industry knowledge and global network as the company enters its next phase of development.

Equity for the investment will be provided by Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) IV, a €1.4 billion fund that invests in technology-focused opportunities in Europe and the US. The acquisition of Inova represents another important milestone for CETP’s software practice, following recent investments in 1E and the exits of NetMotion Software and Eggplant. The investment in Inova builds on Carlyle’s long-term global focus on Healthcare and Technology, sectors in which the firm has invested $39 billion since inception.
 

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About Inova 

Inova is a cloud-based solution aimed at helping life science companies locate and manage their biopharma opportunities more efficiently. It offers a platform for partnering events, secure licensing and collaboration opportunities, and successful deal making and alliance management. Inova has over 100 employees and is headquartered in Lyon, France, with offices in New York, Denver, and Tokyo.  Further information is available at www.inova.io. Follow Inova on Twitter @inova_io

About Carlyle

Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $260 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 1,800 people in 29 offices across five continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

Media contacts:

Inova
Sarah Issa
Tel: +33 (0)4 78 27 95 02
Email: sarah.issa@inova.io

Carlyle Group
Charlie Bristow

Tel: +44 (0) 7384 513568
Email: charlie.bristow@carlyle.com

Daphné Claude
Tél : +33 6 66 58 81 92
Email : daphne@steeleandholt.com

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