Serial investors: Comforting figures for VC backers

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:59:56 -0500

The San Diego Business Journal profiles serial entrepreneur Randy Woods, who has raised $20 million so far to back Sequel Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off from NovaCardia. Woods had been the CEO of NovaCardia when it was sold to Merck for $364 million last fall. Earlier, Woods had run Corvas International, which was sold to Dendreon in '03 after a failed clinical trial. Woods' new venture is focused on developing an experimental therapy for arrhythmia.

What Woods finds exciting: "It's being on the edge of the technology that's the next newest and biggest thing." Sounds exciting, but Woods also notes that venture capitalists like to see familiar faces at the helm of those cutting-edge startups.

- read the article from the San Diego Business Journal

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Start-ups snare big rounds of venture funds

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Sagent Pharmaceuticals has lined up $53 million in venture financing, a big first round for the start-up based in Schaumburg, IL. Vivo Ventures led the round for Sagent, which was launched in 2006.

"This venture funding enables us to quickly advance many of our recent development efforts into near-term commercialization while accelerating development of our extensive pipeline," said Jeffrey M. Yordon, CEO. "We are confident that our strong financial position and experienced management team, combined with the extensive experience and capabilities of our business partners, positions us to achieve rapid success in our target specialty product market."

- check out the release for more info

ALSO: Sequel Pharmaceuticals has garnered $20 million in first round funds to develop an experimental therapy for atrial fibrillation that was spun out of NovaCardia after that company was acquired by Merck. Sequel's management is looking to in-license other cardiovascular drugs. Previous NovaCardia investors Domain Associates, Forward Ventures, InterWest Partners, Montreux Equity Partners, and Skyline Ventures participated in the Series A. Release