Next Phase Newsletter

A corporate venture/life science investment arm of a large Asia Pacific-based life science, and medical equipment manufacturer, invests from an evergreen fund and prefers to invest at company formation/seed stage, but no later than Series A. Typical investments range from USD1-5M, but the fund will make larger tranched investments in case of therapeutic opportunities. The firm invests in companies worldwide. The firm can act as either a lead or a co-investor role. The firm prefers to invest at company formation or seed stages, with the latest stage they will invest being Series A.

The firm has four current focus areas: women’s health/fertility, life sciences tools & diagnostics, biotech (novel therapeutics), and PMA medical devices. The firm is interested broadly across all indications within these sectors.

The firm prefers to invest in teams with a strong track record but has also worked with first-time entrepreneurs. The firm may or may not take a board seat in a portfolio company. If a company is seeking to expand into Asia, the firm can leverage the capabilities of the parent corporate to help companies with regulatory affairs, market access, and distribution, especially in the life sciences tools and fertility markets.

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

A London-based fund is focused on investing in advanced therapeutics. The firm invests both publicly and privately throughout the US, and Europe. For private deals, the firm makes equity deals in early-stage biotech therapeutic companies. The firm typically looks to make 8-10 deals in the private sector through each yearly cycle and typically allocates between $1M – $5M in each deal. The firm typically follows on these investments, preferring not to lead. The firm typically invests in seed and Series A rounds.

The firm is currently seeking biotech therapeutics that are considered advanced therapeutics. Examples of some therapies that the firm considers as advanced therapies are cell therapies and gene therapies. Currently, the firm is interested in immuno-oncology therapeutics, but is not interested in checkpoint inhibitors. For these therapeutics companies, they prefer that the asset is currently pre-clinical, in Phase I, or ready for phase II. The firm is agnostic in terms of specific indications.

The firm focuses on investing in companies located in the European Union, but typically finds that a good amount of their deals are based in the United States. The firm is open to other geographies, but has yet to see a deal that is particularly interesting to them from other areas.

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

A family office based in the US Southeast invests in healthcare in addition to other sectors. The firm makes equity investments ranging from early stage to full on commercialization, but also provides debt and convertible loan financing. The firm generally looks for USA-based opportunities but may consider deals outside of the USA and has a track record of working with companies globally. The firm seeks to make approximately 6-10 investments per year.

In the life sciences, the family office has a strong interest in medical device and diagnostic companies. The firm considers healthcare IT opportunities to a lesser degree, and will not consider biopharma companies for the most part. The family office is open to devices of all FDA regulatory pathways including 510k and PMA. The family office is very opportunistic regarding the company’s stage of development and will consider products that are both on- and off-market.

The family office is looking for privately held companies backed by an experienced management team. Companies should have a strong exit strategy, including having a direct line of contact with strategic or financial buyers. The firm is open to both leading and co-investing in a financing round.

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

A recently formed venture capital firm is focusing on the big-data aspect of personalized diagnostics. The firm is seeking early-stage companies raising seed to Series B rounds. The firm has a $200M target fund and seeks to make 15 –20 new investments within the year. The firm seeks to make $2M – $4M initial investments per company, but will make smaller initial seed investments. The firm prefers to be actively involved in their portfolio companies, and therefore prefers companies based near the west coast, though is open to other U.S.-based companies.

The firm is focused on early-detection diagnostics, such as discovering cancer when it is still monogenetic versus heterogeneous and already invaded in other parts of the body or detecting Alzheimer’s 8-10 years before dementia symptoms are present. The firm is interested in point-of-care diagnostics (for influenza A/B/bacterial, etc.) that can diagnose specifically and efficiently. The firm is especially interested in technology with a big-data component, and involved in genomics and personalized medicine to provide the right treatment as early as possible. DigitalDx seeks preclinical to clinical-stage technology, though will also look later-stage depending on the opportunity.

The firm requires a smart management team that is diverse in knowledge, and a company with good IP that may come from a leading institution. The firm will usually seek early-stage companies with less than half a dozen people.

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

A Venture Capital company with offices in the US and Switzerland is currently looking to make investments out of its 6th fund. For its earlier stage investments, the firm is looking to make venture-stage investment generally falling in the range of $2-$10 million, although the firm may invest smaller amounts in certain seed-stage opportunities, or more in other cases. The firm also reserves additional capital for follow on rounds. The firm is most interested in companies based in the US and Europe, although they will invest in Australia, East Asia and Israel as well. The firm could make as many as 7-12 investments over the next year.

The firm invests primarily (80%) in therapeutics, with the rest of their investments in diagnostics and medical devices. Within the therapeutics space the firm has historically invested mostly in the oncology space, but are open to all indications. The firm is willing to invest in small molecules, biologics, and cell and gene therapy. The firm is willing to consider opportunities from preclinical through phase III, and, in some cases, may even form a company around several assets of interest. For medical device companies the firm generally looks for companies with a strategy for the European market due to regulatory considerations.

The firm is willing to either lead or co-invest, depending on the deal and the size of their investment. When acting as a lead investor, the firm does seek board representation, but is also willing to be a more passive investor as part of a syndicate.

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

A seed-stage venture fund focusing on the frontiers of the intersection of science and technology is looking for companies that are changing the market standards through innovative approaches. The firm is interested in US-based companies and generally invests in seed-series A rounds, typically when less than $5m is being raised. The firm invests in pre-clinical/in development technologies but prefers there to be proof-of-concept data. For medical devices, the firm will consider devices in the 510k regulatory pathway. For all investments, the firm prefers that there is a deep data science or computational element to the technology being commercialized. The firm will generally invest between $250,000-1M, and will often connect companies to larger funds for later capital raises.

The firm is agnostic to sector and indication, and will also consider platform technologies. However, the firm is looking for companies that use DNA and cellular engineering technologies for diagnostics and therapeutics. Ideally, these technologies are also leveraging computation to accomplish their ends. The firm is not interested in standard therapeutics approaches such as small molecules. For medical devices, the firm is looking for devices that change the paradigms of care, solving an unmet need with a unique approach.

The firm does not require a board seat when investing. Rather, the firm will be as involved as necessary to help the company succeed, whether through personal intervention or through a connection to an external expert.

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

The corporate venture capital arm of a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials makes equity investments into seed and venture stage companies generally taking less than 25% ownership. The firm makes allocations ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $5 million initially with additional capital held for future financing rounds. The firm is looking to make approximately 5-10 investments over the next 6-9 months with +10 being made over the next 2 years. The firm invests in companies located around the globe with a focus on the U.S., Europe and Israel.

Where it comes to Biomedical, the firm is looking for materials science companies in orthopedics and soft tissue repair. The firm also actively invests in human nutritional health, with a specific focus on companies active in personalized nutrition, and companies developing nutritional products. While the firm has invested in companies all the way from seed to PIPE, they generally invest into companies that have products in development or early stage commercialization.

The firm highly values experience in a firms management team and generally looks to take a board seat and play an active role in its portfolio companies. The firm is looking for companies that are interested in cooperation/alignment with their core businesses.

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