Torrey Pines Investment

Torrey Pines Investment (TPI) was founded in 22 and is based in San Diego CA. The firm has raised two funds and also invests in drug development via a partnership with BioMotiv. TPI makes venture-stage minority equity investments and prefers act as a co-investor but also leads rounds on occasion. The firm invests internationally.

Ron Demuth
President 

Twin Cities Angels Fund II, LLC United States

Twin Cities Angels is an angel group that was founded in 2006 that is based in Minnesota. The group has raised two funds that are The Twin Cities Angels Fund I and II. The second fund is currently looking to invest in emerging companies. The group typically provides seed and venture capital ranging from $ 25.000 to $2 million to life science companies. The group plans to invest in 4 to 6 companies per year. Twin Cities Angels seeks to invest in companies based in the Twin Cities Area of Minneapolis/St. Paul, the state of Minnesota and within a reasonable distance, such as Western Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, and Eastern Dakotas.

Year Founded
2006
Investor Type
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
John Alexander
Chairman & Founder 

TYLT Lab

TYLT Lab was founded in 213 and has offices in Santa Monica CA and in Hong Kong. TYLT Lab invests across a variety of sectors including biotech and medical technology and will be raising a second fund in 215. TYLT Lab typically invests $5-$1 million and prefers to invest in seed or Series A rounds. The firm makes up to 12 allocations per year and is interested in opportunities globally, companies developing products that can impact healthcare delivery in emerging markets such as China or India are of particular interest.
Gerard Casale
Managing Director 

viDA Therapeutics

viDA is a preclinical biotechnology company pursuing the development of first-in-class drugs for the treatment of several inflammatory and age-related conditions of the skin, respiratory, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and neurological systems.Our platform is based on recently identified, specifically extracellular, pathological roles of a family of serine proteases called Granzymes. 

Currently, our focus is specifically on extracellular Granzyme B (GzmB) and its role in a range of disease states involving inflammation and tissue damage. GzmB actively participates in the degradation of key components of the body’s extracellular matrix, which acts as a scaffold for cell binding and provides essential structural integrity for proper function of tissues and organs.

Based on this new mechanism of action, these molecules have shown positive therapeutic outcomes in a number of disease-specific models. viDA has been reviewing MS and the orphan indication of Discoid Lupus specifically.

Our lead compound is in preclinical development and is intended to be a topical treatment for Discoid Lupus. The lead candidate exhibits a high degree of specificity and selectivity for extracellular GzmB. The compound has attractive drug-like properties for topical application and is being assessed for other possible routes of administration amenable to treatment of other diseases.

The Company has developed a library of additional proprietary first-in-class small molecule inhibitors to GzmB. These innovative molecules will have specific properties amenable to treatment of diseases requiring different routes of administration. 

Studies using inhibitors and knockout approaches have demonstrated that GzmB inhibition does not suppress immunity.

 

Biotech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
viDA's platform is based on recently identified, specifically extracellular, pathological roles of a family of serine proteases called Granzymes. 

Currently, our focus is specifically on extracellular Granzyme B (GzmB) and its role in a range of disease states involving inflammation and tissue damage. GzmB actively participates in the degradation of key components of the body’s extracellular matrix, which acts as a scaffold for cell binding and provides essential structural integrity for proper function of tissues and organs. viDA is developing a library of GzmB inhibitors containing both biologics and small molecules focusing on this new mechanism of action.
Alliance & Collaborations
Collaborators from University of British Columbia, Rick Hansen Institute, Institute for Heart + Lung Health, Providence Health Care Research Institute, and Genome British Columbia work with viDA to advance our technology platform and research programs.
Current Financing Needs
viDA has raised $6M equity to date from VC and angel investors 11.4M common shares outstanding (12.6M fully diluted)
Current Timeline
viDA will complete preclinical work to file an IND on our lead program in wound healing in Q4 2015 in preparation for a Phase 1 clinical trial in 2016
Current Investors
BDC Capital
IP Status
viDA's IP covers novel inhibitors, age-related degenerative processes, wound healing, cardiovascular, other inflammatory conditions and use of Granzyme levels as a biomarker.
Recent Milestones
Advanced first-in-class GzmB inhibitor program in tissue repair • Pre-IND studies (efficacy and lead optimization) to complete in 2015 • IND enabling studies (GLP pharm/tox) to initiate in 2015 Expanded library of proprietary inhibitors • Second generation of small molecules and additional biologics in development
Alistair Duncan
President & CEO 

VisionScope Technologies United States

VisionScope Technologies (VSI) is an early stage medical device company utilizing state of the art video hardware, micro-optics (1.4mm) and advanced computational software to bring arthroscopic imaging to the surgeon’s office. The company’s VisionScope Imaging (VSI) system brings gold standard accuracy into the clinic, providing surgeons with direct visualization of patients’ joint space – views that could previously only be achieved in the operating room – providing better outcomes at a lower cost to both MRI and OR based diagnostics.

 Benefits of VSI:    

·     High definition quality of a VSI diagnostic can eliminate the need for a MRI and rule out OR based diagnostic surgery

·     More detailed and accurate than a MRI for joint conditions

·     Significantly reduces the cost of care for individuals and overall healthcare systems

·     Patient centric exam – the patient participates in treatment discussion

Website:
www.myvsi.com
Year Founded
2007
Main Sector
Medtech Subsector
Medtech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
A needle endoscope (1.4mm diameter) houses a miniature fiberscope which allows complete inter-capsular diagnostics in a physician office setting. The endoscope is gently inserted into the joint space (capsule) with pictures and video projected onto a monitor for both the physician and patient to observe. The diagnostic takes place in an office exam room with only a local anesthesia (Lidocaine.) The exam takes less than 10 minutes and requires no stitches or recovery time.
Alliance & Collaborations
None
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
A multi-center, prospective, blinded clinical trial compared the accuracy and efficacy of VSI to MRI and surgical arthroscopy in the diagnosis of knee pathologies. The results: VSI is statistically equivalent to surgical diagnostic arthroscopy (the gold standard) and significantly more detailed and accurate than MRI.
Current Financing Needs
Seeking equity investments
IP Status
24 Issued patents on the core technology
Recent Milestones
Pivotal trial presentation at AOSSM (American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine)
Management Team Highlights
The leadership team has substantial orthopedics and med tech experience at Zimmer, Stryker, J&J DePuy (Hand Innovations), Intuitive Surgical and J&J Mitek (Innovasive Devices)
Hjalmar Pompe van Meerdervoort
CEO 

Vital Venture Capital United States

Vital Venture Capital, founded in 2007, is a venture capital firm with offices in: Simsbury, CT; Bethesda, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Naples, FL; and Lincolnshire, IL. The firm focuses on B2B, SaaS software, medical devices, and diagnostics. The firm seeks opportunities that provide some degree of investment loss protection through strong intellectual property. The firm’s target investment size is $1-3M for each portfolio company spread over 1-3 rounds. The firm invests in companies that are based in the US. The firm is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

Craig Asher
Principal 

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