An open innovation program that acts as the strategic corporate venture capital arm of a large European pharmaceutical group is looking to make strategic investments, and is capable of accessing separate pools of capital from within the company. The fund is capable of making variety of different size investments with varied capital structures, from equity positions to licensing deals and acquisitions. Other than the asset’s therapeutic area of focus being aligned with the company’s mission, the timing of the asset is an important characteristic, as the fund looks to fully commit to the success of the investment and provide strategic guidance and hands-on involvement from senior decision makers and staff.

The fund is targeting therapeutics in oncology, dermatology and oncodermatology. The fund is looking for assets in pre-clinical, as early as lead optimization stages, to early-stage clinical trials (Ph. I), ideally that need fine tuning and strategic direction. That being said, it is a requirement that the company have some type of tangible asset i.e. not just an idea for a therapeutic. The fund is primarily interested in small molecules and biologics since these are the areas where their expertise lies. For the right opportunity, the fund would consider looking at additional types of therapeutics such as gene therapy, stem cells, etc. that fall within their areas of focus, however the internal process to move one of these products forward would be longer and more complicated.

The fund is actively looking for deals and is open to opportunities globally. The fund does not look to take a board seat along with all investments, unless it makes strategic sense for the company.

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A pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beijing, China has five subsidiaries that focus on different therapeutic areas. The company is interested in collaborations with biotechnology companies through a variety of collaboration structures including co-development, in/out-licensing, co-promotion, M&A, and joint venture. The company highly prefers products from mature markets like Western Europe and North America.

The firm is currently seeking therapeutic opportunities in Oncology and immunotherapy, Respiratory Diseases, Cardiovascular, CNS, Gastrointestinal, and metabolic disease. For small molecule drugs, the company is interested in in-licensing and co-development of assets in phase 2 trials. Earlier assets may be considered but would require closer scrutiny. For biologics, the company is interested in forming joint ventures.

The firm is looking to partner with companies that seek to enter the Chinese market.

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 based in California is currently making investments out of a $200 million fund. The firm makes seed and initial venture investments into companies ranging from $500K to $5 million, depending on the stage and financial requirements of the company – up to $15 million during the company’s lifetime.The firm has a preference for companies based in Silicon Valley, but will consider opportunities globally and looks to make around 5-6 more new investments from the current fund.

The firm is sector agnostic, and its main screening criteria is that the company is operating in a white space (meaning little or no competition) area and having potential market sizes of at least $10 billion. That being said, in the life science space the firm is most interested in medical technology, devices, and diagnostics for massive unmet markets such as diabetes and obesity. Additionally, the firm is interested in lab and provider service companies, although the firm is very sensitive to market size (need to meet the aforementioned market size). The firm has experience in the diagnostic and bioinformatic sectors.

The firm looks to be the first institutional investor in companies and acts as a lead investor. The firm looks to take an active board seat into companies and assist with many aspects of the company’s development. The firm looks for experienced management teams and a history of success is a strong plus.

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A firm with offices in both China and California is currently investing from two funds; a large fund closed in 2015 that focuses on later stage assets and a new $100 million fund closed in 2016 that will target early stage life science opportunities. The firm invests exclusively in the life science sector, and invests globally.  For early stage companies the firm focuses on the USA, but is also interested in opportunities in Europe, Canada and Asia.  The firm makes both venture and growth-equity stage investments, and its allocations are therefore highly varied. From the 2015 fund, investments typically range from $10-30m, though larger investments are of interest as well; the 2016 fund makes investments of typically $2-5 million, generally in financing rounds of $10 million or less. The firm is particularly interested in working with companies that are open to or actively interested in seeking partnerships or opportunities in China.

The firm invests in therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare services, and clinically-oriented healthcare IT, and will consider investing in any indication area or technology subsector; however, orphan indications, dermatology/aesthetics, oncology, and blood diseases are of particular interest in the biopharma space; general surgery, neurovascular, cardiovascular, minimally invasive technologies, women’s health, respiratory care, novel diagnostics and orthopedics are of particular interest in the device space. The 2016 fund focuses on early stage opportunities; from the 2015 fund, the firm in most cases makes investments in products that are in Phase II or Phase III, but earlier investments may be considered for highly innovative products or products that can demonstrate strong efficacy signals at an earlier stage (such as anti-infectives). For devices and diagnostics, the firm looks for products at any stage.

The firm is flexible regarding management teams, and works with both serial entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who lack industry experience. In addition to investing in private companies, the firm is able to invest in public companies by means of PIPEs or public market placements. The firm is interested in investing in companies with products that can demonstrate cost-effectiveness.

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