Texo Ventures United States

TEXO Ventures is a healthcare venture capital firm that was founded in 29 and is based in Austin Texas. The firm operates as a hybrid of angel and venture capital. The recent fund closed at $15.4 million in 212. The firm focuses on making equity investments in the Medical Technology and Healthcare IT spaces at near commercialization or early commercialization stage. The firm typically invests ranging from $3 million to $5 million into a company. The firm plans to make 2-3 investments over the next 6-9 month. TEXO Ventures is open to consider companies across the US. The firm primarily focuses on healthcare which includes Health IT Technology  enabled Health Services Chronic Disease Management Managed Care and Benefit Design. Although medical devices and functional diagnostics are considered for investment purposes Texo Ventures must see a clear regulatory pathway and obvious synergies with healthcare reform within a company. The firm's current investment portfolio includes companies in the area of medical technology. Within this field they are in areas such as diagnostic and therapeutic radiation devices electro mechanical medical devices re-usable instruments biomaterials and non-active implantable.

Philip Sanger
Managing Partner 

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 

Valley Fever Solutions United States

We are focused on Valley Fever, an orphan disease that kills 150 people a year. Thousands are taking drugs for life, and many others have no effective drug therapy options. Nikkomycin-Z is a new, first in class antifungal ready for Phase II testing. Teliable animal models suggest NikZ will be effective. 

With our guidance, the NIH is funding two Phase II trials starting about late 2015. We would like to run a third, sweet-spot-of-market trial as soon as we secure funding. Our Chief Medical Officer is lead author on an NIH study on standard of care drugs for this disease. We plan to try NikZ under a simlar protocol as soon as we secure support. 

Valley Fever Solutions has made our API at pilot scale. The process is robust and repeatable. We are ready to make a large batch as soon as we secure funding. We expect the proof of concept trial can reach at least early readout within 18 months of funding. This can be achieved for less than $10M.

Year Founded
2007
Biotech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
Nikkomycin-Z is a Nucleoside Peptide, first in class new anti fungal.
Alliance & Collaborations
Extensive NIH support
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
NikZ is fungicidal in mice, the best current drugs only limit further fungal growth (fungistatic). We have promising results in some dogs.
Current Financing Needs
$10M for Phase II proof of concept
Current Timeline
Ready to make API (8-12 months) for Phase II trials (following 8-12 months)
Current Investors
Founders
IP Status
12 years market exclusivity - OOPD, QIDP; new patents pending
Recent Milestones
RC3 grant brought our process to pilot scale API; NIH grants funded for Phase II trial, second parallel trial waiting for API (NIH sourcing)
Management Team Highlights
David Larwood (CEO) did early work on two $1B drugs, VP at two pre-Nasdaq companies (took one public, the other later reached $2B valuation); John Galgiani (CMO) is one of the most respected and well known clinicians in Valley Fever
David Larwood
David Larwood
LinkedIn logo CEO 
BIO

David Larwood has been a chemist for decades, most recently leading Valley Fever Solutions as CEO since it was founded in 2007. From 1997 to 2005 he was VP at two pre-NASDAQ companies, taking the second one public for four years until it was sold. The first later went public and reached $2B valuation.

His PhD research at UCSF supported the foundations for PEGylated liposomes, including Doxil. He was the first to make suitable PEGylated lipids and made some of the earliest of these novel liposomes.

He was the first to make Iotrolan, still produced by 12 companies decades later.

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