Breakthrough Properties, the life science real estate investment joint venture started in 2019 by Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital, has announced the final closings for its Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund. The venture has raised $3 billion in direct capital and co-investments, funds that will be used to scale a global portfolio of best-in-class ecosystems for dynamic early-, mid-, and late-stage life science companies.
The $3 billion raised in fund and co-investment capital surpassed Breakthrough’s initial $1.5 billion target. It is the largest real estate fund dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, excluding recapitalizations of existing portfolios, according to CBRE and JLL Research. Capital was raised from a diverse group of institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth individuals on four continents.
In just three years of corporate existence, Breakthrough has established itself as one of the most active players in the life science sector with 4.6 million square-feet of projects in the pipeline across San Diego, Boston/Cambridge, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Oxford, and Cambridge, UK. Breakthrough will use the newly raised funds to finance ongoing developments, which are in various stages of design, construction and pre-development, and fuel its pursuit of additional opportunities throughout the United States and Europe.
Through a range of ground-up campus developments, lab conversions and StudioLabs, the company’s proprietary flex lab program geared toward hyper-growth start-ups, Breakthrough provides cutting-edge environments to the full spectrum of life science innovators – ranging from venture-backed discovery companies to established big pharma anchors. Breakthrough will continue to leverage the market expertise and vast relationship networks of Tishman Speyer, Bellco Capital and its Scientific Advisory Board to create environments for leading biotechnology innovators and offers services to support their long-term business needs.
“Breakthrough was founded just three years ago with a mandate to create and operate inspired, cutting-edge environments for life sciences entrepreneurs and researchers on their quest to discover life-saving treatments for patients,” Breakthrough Co-Founder and CEO Dan Belldegrun said. “We are honored to support our inspirational clients and partners and grateful for the confidence demonstrated by our investors. We look forward to putting these resources to work in support of the next generation of critical discoveries.”
“Breakthrough Properties was created on the conviction that Tishman Speyer’s global real estate and investment platform paired with Bellco’s life science expertise and deep relationships would make for an unbeatable combination,” added Tishman Speyer CEO and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Rob Speyer. “There is an acute and accelerating need for well-located, cutting-edge lab space. The Breakthrough Life Science Property Fund can enable us to deliver more of these projects across the U.S. and Europe.”
“Breakthrough Properties promises a new way to curate environments that foster life-changing and life-saving discoveries,” said Bellco Chairman and Breakthrough Co-Chairman Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS. “Our platform recognizes that best-in-class infrastructure is but one component of a thriving ecosystem. It also requires mentorship, innovation spaces, the ability to collaborate with other leading scientists, and access to venture capital.”
Breakthrough’s portfolio includes The 105 by Breakthrough in Boston, which is fully leased to CRISPR Therapeutics and will open its doors later this year. In 2021, Breakthrough broke ground on its 515,000-square-foot Torrey View by Breakthrough development, a 10-acre research and development campus in San Diego which signed a major prelease with the biosciences arm of global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). Its Torrey Plaza campus, an office-to-lab conversion in San Diego, is leased to a range of innovative companies, including Tandem Diabetes Care, Janux Therapeutics and Protego Biopharma, Inc.
