Venture Capital fund

InterWest closes $650M fund

Maureen Martino — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:11:37 -0400

Life science VC firm InterWest Partners has closed a $650 million fund. The money will be invested in emerging life sciences and information technology investments. The group aims to invest in 25 to 30 new companies, and will focus on early-stage companies in the U.S.

"For 29 years InterWest has been making successful investments by combining the deep domain experience of our investment team with the vision of outstanding entrepreneurs," said Dr. Arnold L. Oronsky, general partner at InterWest. "We take pride in our collaborative approach to working with portfolio companies to develop important life sciences and IT products that produce thriving businesses." In addition to closing the fund, InterWest announced that Chris Ehrlich, Nina Kjellson and Doug Pepper have been promoted to general partner.

- check out InterWest's release

Versant closes $500M fund for early-stage research

Maureen Martino — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:01:14 -0400

Versant Ventures has pulled together $500 million to fund life science companies. The investment group says it will target approximately 30-35 medical device, biotech, and pharmaceutical investments in the U.S. with a focus on funding early-stage and seed opportunities. "The $500 million fund size will enable us to support a full range of entrepreneurial initiatives--from a few hundred thousand dollar seed to a $20 million investment over the full life of the company," said Kevin Wasserstein, Managing Director.

Early-stage funding is a vital and often overlooked part of drug development. Despite the fact that biotech companies are snagging a growing share of the billions of dollars in venture capital, most of that is going toward late-stage developers who can offer investors a better bet at a near-term payback. Start-ups, on the other hand, are dealing with a challenging funding environment.

- see Versant's release

Report: GSK to fund venture firm, back start-ups

Tue, 06 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

In Vivo is reporting that GlaxoSmithKline plans to set aside up to $500 million for a new venture fund that will support its internal R&D work as well as fund start-ups created from de-prioritized assets. GSK President of Pharmaceuticals Russell Greig will take control of the fund June 2, according to In Vivo, relying in part on his contacts developed during his days as senior VP of world-wide business development. The GSK Venture Fund will include SR One, which has invested $550 million in 125 companies but has not sought to directly link their investments to Glaxo's work.

- check out the report from In Vivo

$117M venture firm takes flight in Europe

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

A group of Elan veterans in Ireland have launched a €75 million ($117 million) venture fund for life sciences companies. Fountain Healthcare Partners, based in Dublin, plans to sink anywhere from €500,000 to €7 million in a variety of companies in Europe, with a big focus on Ireland. And the principals expect considerable demand for the cash.

"For companies looking to raise $10 to $15 million to undertake a phase I or phase II study, they really don't have dedicated venture capital funds to raise that money," says partner Aidan King.

- see this release
- read the report in the Wall Street Journal