Merlin was founded in 1996 as an advisory firm that specialised in equity investments in European life science companies.

Merlin’s conceptual foundation was the combination of science and entrepreneurship in human medicines. The Firm’s principal founder, Sir Christopher Evans, is the European biotechnology entrepreneur who founded Chiroscience (now merged with Celltech), Celsis, and Enzymatix. Sir Christopher’s companies returned hundreds of millions of dollars to the private equity investors who backed them.

Merlin's philosophy is to be an active investor and supporter of its portfolio companies

In 1997, Merlin established its first investment partnership to provide seed capital for U.K. based biotechnology companies. The companies have since matured into some of the leading private biotechnology firms in Europe. In 2000, Merlin began investing in more developed companies throughout Europe through its second fund. Today, Merlin advises three investment partnerships with total capital in excess of €450 million. The Firm has made 35 equity investments.

Merlin is one of the largest investors in the European bioscience market and has raised more then €1bn in syndicated finance for its portfolio companies.