Next Phase Newsletter

An early-stage venture capital firm based in Taiwan specializes in seed and early venture investments in technology-heavy sectors. The firm is currently investing from its $40 million fund that is set to close in 2016. Typical equity allocations range from $500K to $3M in seed to series A rounds. The firm generally leads a financing round but is also open to syndication. The firm is currently seeking opportunities from Taiwan and the United States.

Within life sciences, the firm considers medical devices, IVD tools, healthcare internet of things (IoT), and pharmaceuticals. Within medtech, the firm is looking for early stage projects that have significant entry barrier and can address unmet medical need. On-market products are less of interest. The firm is open to all risk levels and all disease indications. The firm is also interested in material science and agricultural biotech.

The firm is an active investor. The firm can work with incomplete teams, assist companies with regulatory strategy and product definition, and help overseas businesses find manufacturing partners in Taiwan. The firm typically takes a board seat in a portfolio company.

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 Toronto, Ontario focuses exclusively on the life sciences industry. The firm is making seed and venture investments from its third fund, and usually seeks to be the first institutional capital in a company. Equity investments are the preferred capital structure; however convertible notes may be employed for seed investments. Initial investments may be as small as $1M (seed-stage companies) with up to $15M allocated over the life of the investment. The firm prefers to lead financing rounds of Canadian companies and co-lead investments based in the United States.

The firm is focused on investments in therapeutics, medtech and diagnostics, and is not interested in health IT or service-oriented companies within the life sciences – the firm invests in IP-centric devices and therapeutic assets. The firm is agnostic in terms of subsector and indication and invests in early pre-clinical up unto Phase III therapeutic assets with the caveat being that the capital needs of the company fall within the fund’s criteria for investment size. As for devices and diagnostics stage of development, the firm invests in products in development and in clinical settings given the aforementioned capital constraints for therapeutics. For medtech, the firm has a preference for 510(k) regulatory pathways but will also evaluate devices with a PMA pathway.

The firm has no strict criteria for management teams and will work with novice entrepreneurs, however those management teams with experience are favored. The firm looks to make about 2/3 of its investments in Canada and the rest in the United States, and typically seeks a board seat along with investment.

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

The strategic investment arm of a life science tools manufacturer invests from an evergreen fund, and is a multi-stage investor. Typical investments range from USD 1-5 million, but the fund may make larger trenched investments in the case of therapeutic opportunities. The firm invests in companies worldwide, and can act as either a lead investor or co-investor.

The firm has three current focus areas; women’s health, life science tools, and regenerative medicine. In women’s health, the firm is currently focused on building a cluster of technologies across the therapeutic, medical device, diagnostic and healthcare IT sectors. The firm is particularly interested in reproductive health, IVF, triple-negative breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, but will consider any opportunity in women’s health. The firm will invest in technologies at any stage of development, including very early-stage technologies. In the medtech space, the firm has a preference for 510k pathways but will look at PMA opportunities if the technology is sufficiently interesting.

The form 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 its parent group to help companies with global distribution and scale up.

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

A global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan is looking for partnering and in-licensing opportunities across the globe.  The firm is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address the diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets.

The firm is currently looking for innovative therapeutics targeting cardiovascular-metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and peripheral arterial disease, acute/chronic heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease. In the oncology space, the firm seeks biologics or molecular targets focusing on tumor cell proliferation, resistance to anti-tumor therapies, cancer immunotherapy, cancer stem cell, and cancer metabolism.

The firm also seeks new platform technologies targeting organ fibrosis and NAFLD/NASH, neurology, immunology, rare diseases, mitochondrial disease, and nucleic acid therapeutics. The following areas are currently out of focus: hypertension, thrombosis, dyslipidemia, psychiatric diseases, and immunodeficiency.

The firm partners with privately held life science companies with experienced management teams and innovative technologies in the abovementioned areas.

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

A venture capital fund based in San Antonio is actively looking to make new investments. The firm makes investments ranging from $25,000 – $500,000 generally in Seed and Series A rounds. The firm also has the ability to syndicate with its LPs for larger investments. The firm is open to leading a round but generally co-invests and strongly prefers to not be the only investor in the round. The firm is most interested in companies based nearby but will consider opportunities throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico as well.

The firm is currently interested in Healthcare IT. The firm is open to reviewing all categories within healthcare IT, but is mainly focused on B2B products, and other technologies where the end user is a medical decision maker. One of the fund’s portfolio companies is a care management system (application) that allows caregivers and patients to coordinate care.

The firm looks for experienced management teams, companies with significant traction and looks to take a board seat on a case-by-case basis. The firm looks to have a fairly hands on role post investment and looks to invest in companies where they can add strategic value outside of capital. The firm likes to see some other venture partners that have backed or are backing the company and does not get involved in rounds with only angels.

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

A Chicago-based family office investment firm focuses on investments in the healthcare industry. The investment size can vary greatly and is very flexible depending on each company’s needs.  The firm provides venture capital and growth capital to healthcare companies. For early-stage investments, the firm targets companies that provide solutions for hospital acquired infections, medication errors, healthcare system operational efficiency enhancements and cost reductions, and chronic disease management, and it typically invests equity or convertible preferred equity in post series A rounds. For growth investments, the firm targets companies with compelling products and strong position in niche markets and with an EBITDA in excess of $2 million. The firm primarily invests in companies based in US.

The firm will consider investments in therapeutics and medical devices, as well as healthcare IT and services. The firm will not consider companies in pre-clinical stage, and typically invests in companies that are near commercialization and commercialization stage.

The firm focuses on private companies with strong and experienced management team. The firm usually takes 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 Venture Capital firm based out of North Carolina recently had a first close on its new fund, with up to 20% of the committed capital going to seed and early stage companies and projects. The firm typically invests between $2 and $4 million initially and $6M to $10M over the lifetime of the investment. Investments are generally in the form of milestone based equity tranches, however the firm also has experience in working with convertible notes. The firm is looking to make 4-6 allocations in the next 6-9 months throughout the United States, however they are focused on companies in the Southeast.

The firm is currently looking for early stage companies in the Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Medical Technology and Healthcare IT spaces. In the Therapeutics space, the firm is opportunistic in terms of subsector but is most interested in indications of Ophthalmology, Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, Anti-Infectives, Metabolic Disorders, Renal Diseases, Oncology, Immunology, Dermatology, and Orphan Diseases. For companies developing therapeutics, the firm is looking for companies primarily with a lead product in preclinical trials, although they will consider companies with products having recently entered Phase I. The firm also has generally stayed away from and is not currently seeking companies working in Wound Care.

In the Medical Technology space, the firm strongly prefers that the company at least has an early prototype of their product and the firm is opportunistic in terms of medical device subsector and is open to all classes of device.  The firm looks for companies in the healthcare IT space to be revenue generating.

The firm often works with spinouts directly from universities, though this is not a requirement as the firm is open to all types of early stage companies.

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