Next Phase Newsletter

In 2017 a new investment vehicle was launched by a healthcare focused venture capital firm and a major global strategic player in the life science industry. The firm generally seeks to make equity investments into emerging life science companies in seed and venture stages; however, the fund also considers commercial-stage companies, depending on the opportunity. The investment size of the USD fund ranges from $5 – $25 million. For the RMB fund, typical investment size is RMB 30- RMB150 million. The firm currently focuses on China-based companies or overseas businesses with a China angle.

The firm is looking for new investment opportunities across a wide spectrum of life science sectors, including Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Biotech R&D Services, Medical Technology and Healthcare IT. The firm is agnostic to disease indications but is most interested in areas with large market potential, including Diabetes, Cardiovascular, Musculoskeletal System and Connective Tissue, Diseases of the Eye and Oncology. Rare diseases are generally less of interest. The firm is open to invest in both small molecules and biologics, and it looks for all classes of devices. The funds are most interested in companies in preclinical and early-clinical stage, but they are open to companies in late-clinical and growth stage, on a case-by-case basis.

The firm will invest in both private companies and public companies. The firm is looking to be an active investor, sometimes taking a board seat post-investment.

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

A pharmaceutical company based in Shanghai, China is actively engaged in R&D, sales, and manufacturing of pharmaceutical products. The company has recently developed a strategy to expand its current pipeline of generics by in-licensing of high-potential assets and developing global partnerships and strategic alliances with companies developing innovative medicines. The company is very interested in early therapeutic assets and is actively seeking partnering opportunities.

The firm is actively seeking all innovative products in the therapeutics space including platform technologies. While the company generally takes an opportunistic approach, the 3 main areas of interest are gastrointestinal diseases, respiratory diseases, and oncology. The company has strong domestic expertise in these specific fields and can act as a strong partner to help their assets of interest move through the pipeline and enter commercialization.

The firm seeks to partner with companies that would be interested in entering the China market, and deemed to have the strong potential to do well in China. The company will strongly seek distribution rights for in-licensed products.

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

A venture capital firm with offices across the US, Europe and Asia is currently looking to make new investments into biopharmaceutical and medical device companies from its two funds. The firm looks to invest in early stage companies and can provide up to about $17 million to a company over the lifetime of the investment. The firm is most interested in companies based in the US, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and will also consider exceptional opportunities elsewhere in Europe and in Asia. The firm plans to make approximately 8 new investments over the next 6-9 months.

The firm is interested in companies developing either biopharmaceuticals or medical devices. For biopharmaceuticals, the firm is interested in all modalities including small molecules, biologics, and cell and gene therapies. The firm is primarily interested in platform companies with the potential for multiple assets and strongly prefers technologies to be 1st in class or best in class, often originating from breakthrough chemistry or biology discoveries. The firm is looking for companies with assets in discovery through Phase 1 clinical trials. For medical devices, the firm is primarily interested in companies working on devices that have the ability to treat drug-like markets, as well as devices for self-pay markets. The firm is indication-agnostic in both biopharmaceuticals and devices.

The firm can both lead and co-lead investments, with a preference for taking a board seat. The firm prefers working with management teams with positive track records; however, they are open to working with incomplete or non-permanent management teams as well, especially for very early stage opportunities. The investment team has extensive operating experience and deep networks, which they can leverage to support companies as needed.

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

A venture capital firm based in California, with a parent company in China, has over 30 portfolio companies across a wide variety of sectors including biotech, IoT, AI, etc. The firm’s strong connection with Chinese partners enables the firm to support companies with market entry in China. The firm is currently allocating out of its first fund of $20M and prefers to participate in seed/pre-series A financing rounds with check sizes of no larger than $500K. The firm is currently raising a second fund with a target size of $50M, through which the firm hopes to invest more capital in later rounds (i.e. Series A to B) and provide follow on investments to portfolio companies. The firm seeks investment opportunities globally.

The firm is opportunistic and will seek companies in all parts of the life sciences space: therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare IT, etc. The firm has not invested in therapeutic products so far but is actively seeking new opportunities in the biopharma space, focusing on pre-clinical to phase I assets. The firm focuses on early-stage deals and will consider pre-FDA device products. The firm is open to companies developing products in all indications.

The firm seeks to work with privately owned companies with experienced management teams with a track record of success. The firm likes to see companies with intentions of entering the China market as the firm has a network of resources to support this, but this is not a requirement. The firm generally acts as the co-investor in financing rounds.

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

An innovation center based in the US Midwest that has relationships with major healthcare firms has invested in a total of 14 portfolio companies and continues to seek new opportunities in the life science and healthcare space. The firm has an early-stage focus and participates in seed/pre-Series A financing rounds, with preferred capital structures being equity and convertible notes. Many investments have been focused on the local ecosystem, but the firm will consider opportunities from all across the USA, and may be open to looking beyond the USA if the product of interest is considered highly innovative.

The firm is most interested in healthcare IT/digital health and healthcare services products. The firm’s portfolio does include diagnostics and medical device companies and the firm will consider start-ups in these sectors, but will not consider 510k or PMA devices. The firm is also not interested in the pure biopharma/therapeutics space. For digital health companies, the firm expects to see some kind of traction but is open to those in their very early development stages.

The firm seeks to work with privately owned companies supported by experienced management teams with strong industry expertise and knowledge. The firm can act as either a lead investor or co-investor, and does not always take a board seat in portfolio companies.

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

The corporate venture arm of a global pharma firm has offices worldwide and provides (equity only) seed and venture capital to development stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in well-established companies within life science and biotechnology. The firm’s venture investment activities are structured as an open evergreen fund with its parent firm as the sole investor. The firm invests at any stage of development – seed, venture, and growth. The firm also makes late-stage investments in public/private companies with a positive cash flow. The firm can allocate up to $40M or more depending on specific cases and has no specific limit, but generally allocates between $5M to $20M. The firm seeks companies that are based in North America and Europe. The firm has no current mandate for the number of allocations it plans to make and will evaluate relevant opportunities as they surface.

The firm is opportunistic in the life sciences space. The firm specifically focuses on companies that specialize in the development of novel drugs, new procedures for diagnosis and control of diseases, development of medical devices and instruments, and industrial biotechnology. For therapeutics, the firm is most interested in products that are in pre-clinical and clinical stage. For devices and instruments, the firm only invests in revenue generating companies to finance growth. The firm is very opportunistic in terms of subsectors and indications.

The firm seeks company ownership in return for its seed investments and influential equity ownership for late-stage investments. The firm considers both pre-revenue and revenue generating private and public companies. The firm is generally opportunistic with the management team, but highly prefers an experienced and qualified management team.

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

A specialty pharmaceuticals company based in Europe is seeking to in-license regional rights to assets, with a focus on European rights. The firm is open to a variety of deal structures, including traditional deals involving milestone payments and royalties and also more innovative structures such as profit-sharing. In addition to in-licensing, the firm also invests in life science companies via a venture arm. The firm is open to partnering with companies worldwide.

The firm is seeking marketed or late-stage assets across therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices; in the case of medical devices, clinical-stage products that are ready to file for a CE mark are of interest. In the case of therapeutics, products should be ready to go into Phase III. The firm’s focus areas are gastrointestinal disorders, hepatology, and supportive care/palliative care for patients with cancer. For diagnostics, the firm is interested in stand-alone diagnostics and also diagnostics that pertain to their existing therapeutic product areas. In the medical device field, the firm is focused on its core sectors, and is also open to considering weight loss devices.

The firm has no set requirements for partner companies, but the firm is only interested in in-licensing deals that involve rights to Europe as a whole (including the EU, Iceland, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe). The firm is also interested in acquiring regional rights for other regions, but is more flexible in this regard.

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