Next Phase Newsletter

A seed-stage investor in emerging life science technologies that was founded in 2003 and is based in the Western US makes about 2 allocations per year. In the past, their typical allocation size has been between $2-5 million, but this amount may increase for future funds; the VC will be raising a new fund in the near future. Investments are made at the seed stage or in Series A venture rounds. The firm invests throughout the USA, and has evaluated investment opportunities globally. Investments are most often in the form of equity, but structures involving debt are also considered.

This group invests particularly in assets at an early, preclinical, stage of development, often acquiring emerging assets from university labs or from pharmaceutical companies. The firm primarily invests in therapeutic assets, and has also made investments in diagnostic technology. They do not invest in medical devices, and have not invested in industrial biotechnology innovation in the past, but is open to proposals in this area. Investments are considered in assets related to any indication. The firm prefers to invest in assets that do not have a management team, as the firm supplies management and technical expertise to develop the technology.

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A family office located in the Western US with around $100 million in assets is looking for a compelling opportunity for allocation within the next 6-9 months. The office invested in more than five deals in 2012, typically between $1-5 million per firm.

The foundation is most interested in medical devices, and will look at firms within the full gamut of medtech subsectors. Typically, the office allocates to firms that have at least one product on the market. They have no strict criteria in terms of a firm’s EBITDA or revenue, but require that any firm in which they invest has goals to lower the cost of healthcare.

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A private equity group based in the Eastern US has over $250 million in total assets under management, has raised three funds, and is currently looking for new investment opportunities in the life sciences space. While the firm has no set time frame to make an investment, they would allocate to a firm within the next 3-6 months if a compelling opportunity were identified. The group typically invests around $5-20 million per company.

Currently, they are looking for firms within the R&D services space. The firm is most interested in analytical services companies, as well as contract research organizations (CROs) that specialize in toxicology, however would consider other companies that fall within the umbrella of the biotech R&D services space as well.

This PE group executes recapitalization, growth equity, and buyout transactions. The firm is only interested in companies that are cash flow positive. With that being said, the firm is looking for firms whose EBITDA is in the $1-10 million range, and has annual revenue that does not exceed $75 million.

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A private equity group based in the Eastern US currently has over $9 billion in assets under management, and is currently looking to deploy capital from its fifth fund – which raised over $2 billion – to life science companies.

The firm has no set timeframe to make allocations, but would invest within the next sixth months if a compelling opportunity were identified. The firm’s investments typically range from $30-50 million. The firm is most interested in biotech R&D service firms, and specifically is looking for contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) and contract research organizations (CROs).

The firm provides firms with growth capital, and also does distressed equity transactions, and therefore is only looking for established firms. The PE has no preference as to where the firm is based, and plans to invest up to 49% of the fund’s assets in firms that are located outside of the US. The firm mainly invests in private companies but will consider public companies as well.

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A technology transfer office based in the UK is currently looking for new investment opportunities in the life science space. The firm currently invests capital in companies based outside of its parent organization, and therefore anticipates investing in around eight companies by the end of 2013. They typically allocate between £20,000 and £20 million per firm. Because institutional shareholders back the firm, they have an evergreen structure, and can deploy capital as soon as a compelling opportunity is identified.

The office is currently most interested in firms in the biotech space, specifically investing in biotech therapeutic and diagnostic firms. They have no particular preference in terms of what indication the company’s product is targeting, and will invest in firms that have products targeting orphan indications.

Investing in both pre-revenue companies, and companies that have positive cash flow, the office will consider firms with products in the preclinical phase of development all the way through to firms that have a product on the market. They have no strict criteria in terms of revenue and EBITDA for cash flow positive companies.

Tags: biotech, biotechnology, CMO, consulting, CRO, family offices, Fundraising, investor, Investors, issue, letter, life, Life Science, life science nation, medicine, nation, news, newsletter, pharma, Pharmaceutical, private equity, research & development, science, startup, venture capital

A venture capital fund with offices in the US and abroad is currently deploying capital from its third fund, which raised around $400 million. The firm was founded in 2001 and currently has nearly $1 billion in assets under management. The firm, which is currently looking for new opportunities in the life science space, has no set time frame to make an allocation, but has a lot of dry powder on hand, and would invest in a company within the next two quarters if a compelling opportunity was identified. The group invests up to $10 million in equity per firm.

The firm is currently most interested in the biotech R&D services and medtech space. Within the R&D services space, the firm is interested in genomics and diagnostic instrumentation. They also invest in companies within the medtech space, and will look at the full spectrum in that space. The firm will not consider any companies within the biotech therapeutics space due to the long time to market for these products.

Currently, the firm is only looking for early-stage pre-revenue companies. With that being said, the firm will not consider medical device companies that currently have a product on the market. The firm provides seed stage and growth capital, and typically takes a minority position (less than 50%) in their portfolio companies, but does usually take a board seat.

Tags: biotech, biotechnology, CMO, consulting, CRO, family offices, Fundraising, investor, Investors, issue, letter, life, Life Science, life science nation, medicine, nation, news, newsletter, pharma, Pharmaceutical, private equity, research & development, science, startup, venture capital

An angel group based in the Eastern US is currently deploying capital from its third fund. With around $15 million in total assets under management, they are looking for new opportunities within the life science space, but have no set timeline to make allocations. The group typically allocates between $250,000 and $2 million per company.

Currently, the angel group is most interested in the biotech therapeutics and medtech space, specifically only those that are targeting orphan indications. The group will not consider therapeutics and diagnostics that are treating any other indications due to the difficulty of the current FDA regulatory framework.

The angel group is currently looking for pre-revenue companies within the life science space. With that being said, they would consider companies in the biotech therapeutics space that have products in the preclinical stage through phase III of development, and in the medtech space the firm is looking for companies that have a product in development, or have a prototype. With that being said, the firm is looking to provide seed capital to privately held, early stage firms.

Tags: biotech, biotechnology, CMO, consulting, CRO, family offices, Fundraising, investor, Investors, issue, letter, life, Life Science, life science nation, medicine, nation, news, newsletter, pharma, Pharmaceutical, private equity, research & development, science, startup, venture capital