The Brain Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Impact Partners, aims to provide Paris Brain Institute with permanent financial resources to support the projects of research teams.
Like its predecessor, The Brain Fund, The Brain Fund II is a private equity fund that co-invests in LBO operations with the big funds of the place, without management fees or overperformance premium for co-investors. Its objective is to diversify the sources of funding of the Brain Institute in addition to the support of sponsors, donors and testers, as well as funding from competitive grants obtained by the researchers or by the Institute.
The first fund of 25 million euros, launched in 2022, was subscribed by 24 institutional investors, including the Banque des territoires, but also corporate investors, such as Publicis, Klesia and Engie, and family offices and entrepreneurs. On 30 June 2025, 80% of the fund is committed to 10 investments with 7 management companies.
The Institut du Cerveau and Impact Partners today announced the opening of a second fund of 30 million euros, the first subscriptions of which could be made as early as September 2026.
Financial expertise at the service of the Institute
Following the model of the endowments of the major American foundations, The Brain Fund II is designed to provide lasting support for research: it aims to make 10 to 12 co-investments in three years alongside large buy-out funds in Europe. 80% of the capital gains made by the fund go to Paris Brain Institute, and 20% to the fund’s subscribers.
Investments are made on the recommendation of an expert committee made up of major donors to Paris Brain Institute – such as Cédric de Bailliencourt, director of Bolloré, Jean-Charles Decaux, president of JCDecaux, Maurice Lévy, honorary president of Publicis Groupe, Eddie Misrahi, former president and now senior advisor of Seven2, and Serge Weinberg, president of Weinberg Capital Partners and treasurer of Paris Brain Institute.
Accompanying the search for innovative treatments over long periods of time
“This new source of funding allows researchers to embark on bold and risky projects that require time and continuity,” explains Gérard Saillant, President of Paris Brain Institute. “At the Institut, we are convinced that exploring original scientific hypotheses is essential to making great discoveries.”
“The Brain Funds model adheres to a realistic timeline of increasing knowledge and developing new therapeutic solutions. We believe that it could become a model for funding health innovation, as well as an incentive to mobilize private equity for research,” says Eddie Misrahi, a member of the Friends of Paris Brain Institute Committee.
“We are very pleased to have been able to co-invest, through the first fund, in ten operations with prestigious funds – Keensight, HLD, Seven2, Argos, Weinberg Capital, IK and Eurazeo. They have shown a strong interest in the cause of the brain, which concerns us all,” concludes Mathieu Cornieti, President of Impact Partners.
All the legal work necessary for the creation of the fund and the realisation of the investments was carried out pro bono by the teams of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, in Paris.
