Volcano Capital United States

Volcano Capital is a family office/venture capital firm based in New York. The firm manages an evergreen fund that operates free from the constraints of traditional venture capital funds. The firm seeks to make seed, venture, and growth equity investments in early to mid-stage medical device companies, but will also consider secured debt to help revenue generating companies with short term cash flow issues. The firm will also consider pre-seed investments. The firm can allocate anywhere from $1M to $10M per company, but generally allocates around $8M. The firm typically does 3 rounds of financing with an initial investment of around $3M. The firm is geographically agnostic, but highly prefers to invest in companies that are based in the US. The firm seeks to make about 3-4 allocations in the next 6-9 months.

Volcano Capital is currently looking for medical device companies with a strong emphasis on products with a 510(k) regulatory pathway. In terms of subsectors, the firm is looking for products specifically in the areas of interventional radiology and cardiology, spine/orthopedics and minimally invasive surgery. The firm is generally opportunistic in terms of indication.

Brian Grulke
Associate 

Walter Greenblatt & Associates United States

Our clients are early-stage biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics and pharmaceutical service companies. When we begin working with a client they are frequently looking to complete proof-of-concept studies, secure intellectual property and other critical preliminary tasks. Typically we raise the first round ($1 - $5 million of capital) needed to accomplish these milestones, usually, but not always from angel investors. After key milestones have been achieved using that money, we generally follow by raising a second round of $5-20 million, usually institutional money, for development and growth

By working this way, we increase our clients' success rate raising capital and building their companies and the returns to the investors we bring into those companies. We have raised over $80 million in early stage funding for our clients (in Seed, Series A and Series B rounds) and delivered realized returns, so far, over $500 million—a realized return to date of over 6X—to the investors who provided that early stage capital, with a number of the companies still driving towards an exit that may increase that figure. Realized (cash-on-cash) internal rates of return for a hypothetical investor who participated in each round of financing offered by WG&A to date exceeds 65% annually.

Walter Greenblatt
Managing Director 

Wellington Partners Germany

Wellington Partners is a venture capital firm based in Munich, Germany, with an additional office in Zurich, Switzerland. The firm specializes in early-stage and growth capital investments in the Technology and Life Sciences sector. The firm has approximately €800M AUM and is currently investing out of a €100M fund for Life Science companies. Depending on the stage of the company, the firm can allocate up to €10M over the life of the investment. The firm can also lead or co-lead financing rounds of up to €30M or higher with syndicates. The firm focuses on European companies but will consider US-based companies with activities in Europe. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

Year Founded
1990
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Rainer Strohmenger
General Partner 

WuXi Venture Fund United States

WuXi Venture Fund is the corporate venture arm of WuXi AppTec, a multinational CRO based in Shanghai China with multiple offices across China and the United States. The fund makes equity investments into technology and life science companies to enhance or leverage WuXi AppTec's platform capabilities. The investment size will be varied based on a case-by-case basis. The firm invests in life science companies across the globe with an emphasis in China and the US.

Alexis Ji
Principal 
Sofie Qiao
Managing Director 

Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. United States

Xeris is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing patient-friendly injectable drugs for various indications with an initial focus on diabetes. The current paradigm for many injectable drugs is to design formulations for delivery in water-based systems.  However, the presence of water is problematic because it actively degrades many molecules often preventing drug products from being packaged for use as a “ready-to-use” solution.  Xeris' patented and patent-pending XeriSol™ and XeriJect™ formulation technologies are transformative in their elimination of water. By replacing water with non-water, bio-compatible carriers already used in other FDA-approved drugs, Xeris solves a number of problems adding significant value to existing injectable drugs and to new drugs in development.  This technology is already being validated with the development of a non-aqueous glucagon formulation that has shown 24 months of room-temperature stability in solution and very positive safety and efficacy in a Phase 2 clinical study. While this product and other glucagon products are being developed and $20M has been raised to support this development, Xeris is seeking to spinoff its earlier stage non-glucagon assets and obtain funding (both equity and non-dilutive) to support these projects.  More specifically, these projects include the development of a non-aqueous, auto-injectable diazepam to replace the current diazepam rectal gel for treatment of epileptic seizures and a non-aqueous, intradermal auto-injectable epinephrine to replace the current, antiquated EpiPen.  

Year Founded
2005
Biotech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
Non-aqueous (no water) injectable formulations
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
Stability data, preclinical data, clinical data, FDA interactions
Current Investors
Large family offices and high net worth investors from the pharma industry
IP Status
3 issued patents and 14 additional applications pending
Dr Yash Sabharwal
Dr Yash Sabharwal
LinkedIn logo Chief Operating Officer 

Zcube | Research Venture

Z-Cube invests strategically in technologies that benefit Zambon’s pharmaceuticals and API chemical businesses. 

Within the therapeutics sector, Z-Cube is interested in new technological platforms that enable Zambon’s therapeutic innovation (Z-Cube does not make developmental-stage investments in new chemical entities, and as Zambon only markets small molecule therapeutics, technologies related to biologics are not of interest). This includes drug delivery innovations, and other enabling technologies for therapeutics that do not have to undergo the full therapeutic approval process in order to reach the marketplace. 

Z-Cube is also interested in diagnostics, particularly point of care diagnostics, companion diagnostics and other diagnostics that are used alongside a therapeutic intervention, and diagnostics that can be used in preventative care or to lower overall healthcare costs. Zambon is also interested in diagnostic technologies used to monitor a chronic condition. 

Zambon’s therapeutic focus areas are respiratory diseases and pain (particularly chronic pain), and the firm is also interested in CNS disorders and women’s health (encompassing osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis in addition to ob/gyn). However in the diagnostics sector, Zambon is interested in all indications. 

Zambon is additionally interested in digital technologies that enhance communication in the healthcare space, particularly between doctor and patient or between general practitioners and specialists. This includes EMR and telehealth technologies, and devices that transmit information wirelessly. 

Zambon is also interested in innovations in high-tech chemistry, including purification of APIs, advanced crystallography, and novel custom synthesis.

Andrea Mills
Lorenzo Pradella