American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a non-profit foundation that was founded 1924. The firm looks to make equity investments into companies of up to $25 generally in the seed or series A stage. The firm is looking to invest in companies located throughout the United States and is currently seeking new investment opportunities.
Website:
www.heart.org
Investor Type
Biotech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Ross Tonkens
Director Science and Technology Accelerator 

Amorphex Therapeutics United States

Amorphex Therapeutics is an early clinical stage company that was founded to develop products for sustained ophthalmic drug delivery using patented TODDD™ technology. Topical ophthalmic pharmaceuticals are a $5+Billion market, but inaccurate and inefficient delivery systems, poor compliance and excessive side effects undermine their clinical benefits and true sales potential. TODDD™ is a soft, non-invasive device that is completely concealed under the eyelid and continuously delivers therapeutic levels of drug 24/7 over several months. While TODDD™ is soft and flexible, unlike soft contact lenses, it doesn’t contain appreciable water and avoids the surface drying and resulting deposits that irritate and deter many contact lens wearers. In recognition of the potential benefits and their developmental progress, the company’s founders have been awarded three National Institutes of Health (NIH-SBIR) grants for the TODDD™ technology totaling $2.5 million.

TODDD™ has issued patents in major markets and has been successfully tested in safety studies, animal trials with drugs and without drug in humans.

Amorphex is seeking to fund small, 30 - 40 subject, human clinical trials of TODDD™ delivering timolol, prostaglandin and both drugs simultaneously. This funding will also support pre-clinical development of TODDD™ for ocular allergy and inflammation applications.  These milestones will drive dramatic increases in valuation and corporate partner interest.

Year Founded
2010
Main Sector
Biotech Subsector
Medtech Subsector
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
Successful safety studies, animal trials and human proof of concept studies.
Current Financing Needs
$1.1M to regulatory milestone, $2.1M to clinical milestone, $4.6+ M to complete plan
IP Status
Patents issued in US, Europe, Japan and Canada
Mr Robert Thompson
CEO 
Mr Charles Leahy
VP of Clinical Affairs 

apceth GmbH & Ko. KG Germany

apceth is a privately held German Biotech company focused on the development and clinical implementation of innovative biopharmaceuticals based on cell and gene therapy in the field of oncology.

Enabling platform technology for genetic modification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to be used as drug shuttle to target tumors or other areas of interest.

Clinical development:

phase I with modified MSC in gastro-intestinal tumors completed (12/2014)

phase I/II with MSC for vascular disease completed

strong clinical pipeline based on genetic modification of MSC

Implementation of allogeneic cell bank system to accomodate off-the-shelf production of cell-based pharmaceuticals.

Strong network and IP,

interesting preclinical pipeline addressing oncology, lung disease, inflammation.

Secure financing by German Family Offic. Looking for partner/ cofinancing for ongoing clinical development (phase II/III)

Website:
www.apceth.com
Year Founded
2007
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
platform technology for genetic modification of mesenchymal cells
Alliance & Collaborations
strong network with industry and academic partners , national and international
Current Financing Needs
financing planned for 2016 for clinical development phase II
Current Timeline
phase II results oncology in 2016
Current Investors
family offices: Santo-holding and FCP, Munich, Germany
IP Status
more than 30 patents granted for cell and gene therapy/ gene delivery
Recent Milestones
phase I with genetically modified MSC in Oncology completed, First in man
Christine Günther
CEO 
Mr Helmut Jeggle
CFO 

Apple Tree Partners United States

Apple Tree Partners is a private equity fund that was established in 1999 and based in New York, NY, with satellite offices in Princeton, NJ, Cambridge, MA and Brussels, Belgium. The firm controls up to $1.75 billion in assets under management and makes equity investments ranging from $100,000 for academic spinouts to $150 million dollar in later stage deals. The firm seeks to make investments around the globe with a focus on creating and building companies located within the US and Europe.

Year Founded
1999
Investor Type
Biotech Phase of Development
Medtech Phase of Development
Capital Structure Preference
Investment Stage Preference
Sam Hall
Principal 
Aaron Kantoff
Vice President 

Arcus Ventures United States

Arcus Ventures was founded in 2007 and is based in New York City. Arcus Ventures is currently investing from its second fund, which had a first close of $36m in 2014 and is targeting a raise of $100m. The firm typically invests $2-5 million. Arcus invests primarily in the USA but is also open to considering opportunities in Canada.

Myoung-Ok Kwon
Venture Partner 

Artiman Ventures

Artiman is a venture capital company founded in 2 and based in Palo Alto California. The firm is currently making investments out of its fourth $2 million fund. The firm makes seed and venture investments into firms ranging from a few hundred thousand to $5 million depending on the stage and financial requirements of the company. The firm has a preference for companies based in Silicon Valley but will consider opportunities globally and looks to make around 5 investments per year.
Akhil Saklecha
Managing Director 

Astia Angels

Astia is an organization whose mission is to provide women-led startups access to capital resources and executive leadership. Astia was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco California with additional offices in New York New York and London United Kingdom. Astia typically provides access to capital to women-led life science companies through two programs: Astia Venture Lunches and Astia Angels and is in the process of developing a third program: Astia Fund. Companies that apply to Astia Venture Lunches will be vetted by Astia?s Expert Sift process. The selected companies are invited to present to a room of accredited investors: VCs and angels. Companies applying to Astia are also considered by Astia Angels and the investments from Astia Angels are typically under $1 million. Astia is stage agnostic though companies applying should be able to show traction and proof of concept. Companies can be global and must have at least one woman in a leadership position of significant influence and holding equity.
Karen Drexler
Founder 
Sharon Vosmek
CEO 
Sara Frankel
Member 

ATEM Capital

ATEM Capital manages evergreen Life Sciences investment fund - Health Square Fund (HSF). HSF acts as a consolidator of capital flows from the Emerging Markets and invests into the biotech innovation hubs of the US/Western Europe. HSF's international team combines big-picture business perspective with decades of investment scientific legal portfolio risk management and operational experience. The fund is audited by a Big-4 firm. Our Advisory Board comprises high-caliber entrepreneurs VC veterans and seasoned Wall Street professionals.
Alexey Afanasiev
Executive Partner 
Anton Gopka
CEO General Partner 
Elena Ikhsanova
COO General Partner 

Avisa Pharma Inc. United States

Avisa Pharma™ Inc., (AVISA) is a Point Of Care, In-Vivo Platform Technology Company With An Innovative, Integrated System For The Rapid Detection And Monitoring Of Respiratory Diseases. A paradigm shift away from lab based In Vitro testing; an In Vivo, point of care, breath test that measures the whole lung, live organisms, not a single culture sample in a petri dish or PCR;for non sputum producers - the only test that can detect lung bacteria without a sputum culture; A razor/razorblade Model to Drive Rapid Market Penetration and Growth.

Focused initially on respiratory health, the clinical study strategy is to pursue fastest route to regulatory approvals, the detection of Tuberculosis (TB), followed by Healthcare Acquired Pneumonia (HCAP), Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and COPD. These applications have the potential to help save millions of lives and millions of dollars in healthcare costs each year, and a multi billion $ market opportunity.  

$6 million Series A1 Preferred round underway, $4 million received from current investors exercising preemptive rights. Q1 2015 Avisa will be launching a 40 patient pilot TB study in South Africa.

Year Founded
2011
Main Sector
Medtech Subsector
Medtech Phase of Development
Technology Overview
The AVISAR System™ is drug device combination comprised of AV-U13, an inhalable urea solution, the portable AVISAR™ Spec Laser Spectrophotometer and the Aeroneb Solo nebulizer. The AV BreathTest™ allows clinicians to assess the presence or absence of bacteria in the entire lung, non-invasively, within minutes and monitor therapy for better antibiotic stewardship. A paradigm shift away from lab based In Vitro testing. An In Vivo, point of care, breath test that measures the whole lung, live organisms, not a single culture sample in a petri dish or PCR. For non sputum producers - the only test that can detect lung bacteria without a sputum culture.
Alliance & Collaborations
None
Supporting Metrics or Evidence
Pre-clinical, Clinical
Current Financing Needs
Series A1 $6 million, $4 million raised from current investors
Current Timeline
PMA in 2017
Current Investors
Venture fund, private equity investors
IP Status
Issued and Pending Patents
Recent Milestones
Positive Clinical Data in Proof of Concept in Cystic Fibrosis clinical study
Management Team Highlights
CEO 35 years, four successful exits
David Joseph
President - CEO 

Baird Venture Partners

Baird Venture Partners is the venture and expansion capital arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. The Baird Venture Partners team is based in Chicago Illinois and has around $27 million in total assets under management. In 214 Baird closed a fourth venture capital fund at $185 million. The firm is currently seeking opportunities in the life science sector and while Baird has no strict timeline to make investments the group would invest in a new firm within the next 6-9 months if a compelling opportunity was identified. The firm?s equity investments range from $3-1 million but are typically in the $8-1 million range.The firm will only consider investment into US based firms.
Momei Qu
Senior Associate