Next Phase Newsletter

A private/family investment vehicle based in Silicon Valley, CA. The firm makes seed investments via an accelerator arm, and also has a stage-agnostic fund. Seed investments are typically $25,000-100,000, and the firm is capable of making larger investments via the fund. The firm also provides a three-month accelerator program, and works with partners in the healthcare industry to strategically invest in startups. The firm will consider investing in companies worldwide.

The firm is interested in investing in digital health and medical technology and invests in subsectors in which the firm and its industry partners can apply expertise; within medical devices, typically this means products that have a significant software component, including biosensors, wearables and health monitoring devices. Within digital health, the firm’s interests include the following areas: Care Management, Hospital Workflow, Diagnostics, A.I. & Big Data, Population Health, Patient Adherence, Telemedicine. The firm is interested in both consumer applications and enterprise software. The firm works with strategic partners (including major pharma companies and health systems) to identify focus areas for innovation.

The firm prefers to invest in companies with at least two co-founders, one with technical expertise and one with business expertise; for the accelerator program in particular, the firm prefers to work with companies that have a technical expert co-founder. In addition to due diligence on the management team and technology, the firm also considers a product’s potential market opportunity.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email LHI@lifesciencenation.com.

A Mountain View, CA-based foundation provides grants for research into rejuvenation biotechnologies that prevent or reverse age-related tissue damage. Historically grants have ranged from $40,000 to $200,000 although this range may change in the future. Grants are available to researchers worldwide. The foundation normally requests that grants not be used to cover overhead/facilities costs. At present, 15 projects are being supported.

The foundation is focused on projects that counter aging by applying one of seven areas of biotechnology; stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells), gene therapy (specifically WILT; whole-body interdiction of lengthening telomeres), allotopic expression of proteins generated by mitochondrial genes, immunotherapies that target anergic killer T-cells or adipose tissue microphages, tissue engineering to repair collagen crosslinks and damage to elastin structures, antibodies/vaccines that target amyloid, and enzymes that target lysosomal waste. Only biotechnology projects are considered; the foundation does not give grants to medtech or bioinformatic projects in these fields.

As most of these fields of rejuvenation biotechnology are at early stages of understanding, the foundation primarily funds preclinical projects where the impact of their funding will be highest. However, the foundation does not rule out the possibility of supporting a clinical trial for a project

within the field of rejuvenation biotechnology provided that project is not a cell therapy or tissue engineering project.

Historically the foundation grants have mostly been provided to academic/non-profit researchers but the foundation is also open to working with commercial companies. When making funding decisions the foundation puts significant weight on the investigators’ publication records. The foundation does not normally seek any management/advisory involvement in a project. The foundation encourages sponsored investigators to collaborate with each other where synergy exists between projects.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email LHI@lifesciencenation.com.

A venture capital firm based in Chicago, IL focused on early-stage health technology investments with a consumer-focus. The firm is looking for companies with solutions that drive consumer engagement and health accountability. (these do not have to sell D2C, most of their companies do not) The firm manages over $100M in capital with initial investments of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000. The firm is primarily thesis-focused and invests from Seed stage to Series B, with a focus just at or before the A round.

The firm is seeking digital health companies focused on the empowering consumers to be better stewards of their health and their healthcare expenditures. Accordingly, the firm is not interested in technology that solve problems solely within payers and providers, such as billing, care coordination for hospitals, or EHR platforms. The firm is indication agnostic, though has interest in chronic illnesses, social determinants, behavioral health, and personalized care among others.

The firm does not have set management team requirements. The firm will play a very active role post-investment, traditionally by taking board seats, providing key sales introductions, assisting with scaling, hiring, and providing network support.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email LHI@lifesciencenation.com.

A specialized healthcare and life sciences investment firm with over a half-billion dollars in capital under management and expects to close their next fund in 2021. The firm invests in early-stage companies (Seed/Series A) developing innovative new medical technologies, biotechnologies, and digitally-enabled healthcare services. The firm generally invests $4-8 million of equity capital per round and up to $10-20 million over the investment life. The firm is actively investing and will make 3-5 investments in 2021. The firm focuses on USA-based opportunities.

The firm is currently looking for companies developing Medical Devices, Therapeutics, Diagnostics, and Healthcare IT products. For medical devices and therapeutics, the firm is open to the full spectrum of subsector and indication and will consider companies developing orphan indications. In HealthTech, the firm is interested in AI-enabled clinical/diagnostic/workflow platforms but will also consider other companies that fall into the broader Healthcare IT space as well, including mobile health companies developing consumer-facing apps. They will consider companies with proprietary platform technologies as well as single/multiple asset companies.

As an early-stage investor, the firm invests almost exclusively in pre-revenue companies, with significant ownership opportunities. They look for experienced management teams, help build the team, and require a seat on the company’s board.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

A family that runs an established group of companies across multiple industries actively makes direct investments into life science companies in Seed to Series A rounds, and sometimes Series B. Initial average check sizes are between $500k – 1M, though the firm has invested up to $2M. The firm does occasionally participate in pre-IPO rounds with larger commitments, but this has been in companies outside of the life sciences industry. In addition, the group is an LP in some micro-VCs that invest in various sectors, and works with them to identify promising co-investment opportunities. The firm has mainly considered opportunities in USA and Western Europe, but is open to all companies across the globe with the exception of India, as the group already has a strong network there.

Within life sciences, the firm is most interested in medical device companies and has looked into surgical devices, robotics, etc. The firm is open to all regulatory pathways, but prefers 510k companies. Current areas of interest include elderly care/longevity, genetics, and microbiome. The firm will not consider therapeutics or in vitro diagnostics companies; digital health may be considered but is not a high priority.

The firm has no specific company or management team requirements and usually acts as a co-investor. The firm has a strong hospital network as part of their business, and they actively help with the due diligence process.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.