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.

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.

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.

A healthcare investment firm based in the Eastern US, which runs both a private equity fund and a hedge fund, is currently looking for new investment opportunities for their second private equity fund, which recently closed at $200 million. The firm has more than $500 million in assets, and has raised two private equity funds and one hedge fund in the past year. They have plans to invest in 3-5 new firms by the end of 2013, typically making equity investments ranging from $10-25 million.

The firm is currently most interested in firms in the biotech R&D services and medtech space. Within biotech R&D services, the firm is looking for contract research organizations (CRO’s) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMO’s). They have also recently started looking for firms within the medtech space, specifically those that are producing medical devices. The firm mainly invests in US-based companies, but has allocated to international firms in the past; they would consider European firms on a case-by-case basis.

The firm provides growth equity, expansion capital, and engages in buyout and recapitalization transactions. The firm only invests in established, cash-flow-positive companies. With that being said, the firm will not consider any companies in the medtech space that do not currently have a device on the market.

A pre-seed and seed stage fund that was established when its state government allocated $7 million in order to promote life science within its borders has managed to grow their initial investment to $20 million. The firm is now seeking new investments in the life sciences space, and typically initially invests around $500,000, but has the ability to invest upwards of $1 million. The firm has an evergreen structure, and thus is always looking for new investment opportunities. With that being said, the firm has no strict timeframe to make an allocation, but would invest in a firm within the next 6-9 months if a compelling opportunity is identified.

This particular firm is interested in the biotech therapeutics and diagnostics space, as well as in medical technologies. Although the firm does invest in therapeutic companies, they are most interested in the diagnostics and medical device space currently. Additionally, they are interested in companies that are developing research tools.

The firm makes seed and seed stage investments, and therefore does not consider firms that have raised a significant amount of venture capital, or more research-oriented projects that are better suited for an NIH grant. Consequently, the firm will consider companies that have a prototype of their medical device, or diagnostics companies that are in the pre-clinical phase of development.

A venture capital fund that has relationships with nearly 50 university partnerships has around $100M in assets, and acts very opportunistically within the life science space. The firm also acquires participation rights for university spinout companies.

About 70% of the VC’s life sciences investments are in therapeutics, 30% of which are distributed between devices, diagnostics, and discovery platforms. Currently, the firm is most interested in therapeutics, and is avoiding med-tech opportunities due to an internal perspective of unpredictability of the FDA’s activities in the med-tech space.

Though they do not have a strict mandate in terms of subsector or indication, therapeutics for oncology, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatories, and ophthalmology drugs have historically done well, and are favored by, the investment team.

The VC does not have a specific timeline for allocation, and will make investments as opportunities arise. Typically, they will invest $500K – $1.5MM initially and reserve 1-3x initial invested capital for follow-on rounds, however the firm is comfortable investing broadly across stage, from seed to late stage, and will selectively invest $100K – $250K in angel rounds on an opportunistic basis. The firm prefers to be a co-investor alongside other firms or syndicates, and lays significant value on investing alongside notable “top-tier” firms.

A private equity group based in the Eastern US, which manages SBIC (small business investment company) funds, has around $200 million in total assets under management. They are currently deploying capital from their second fund, which closed in 2012. The group is interested in sourcing new firms in the life sciences space, typically making equity investments ranging from $1-10 million.

The most important criteria for potential investments for the PE group is the company’s structure. The group provides company owners capital to facilitate majority recapitalizations, majority management buyouts, as well as family successions. Accordingly, they would be especially interested in a firm where a manager is seeking to buyout the company’s owner, a business whose owner is looking to retire, or company owner who is looking for a strategic financial partner. The firm is thus most interested in management teams who are looking to retain or acquire a significant equity stake in their company.

The PE is seeking firms that have at least $1-10 million in EBITDA, and $10-100 million in revenue. The firm is most interested in the suppliers and engineering space. However, they are very opportunistic in terms of sector, and would consider companies operating within any subsector of the healthcare suppliers and engineering space.