Life Science Venture Capital Fundraising List

Every venture firm claims to be looking for great companies to support. The reality is that many have no money for new investments, having reserved their remaining cash for their current portfolio.

How can a medical device entrepreneur find the firms that have the capacity for new investments? How can an entrepreneur find fresh money? Wouldn’t it be great if someone created a list of life science venture capital firms that have recently raised money?

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Fresh Money: 2011 Q1

Old Beggar, 1916, by Louis Dewis, painted just... — Image via Wikipedia

According to the Boston Globe, the top New England venture-funded sector in Q1 2011 was medical devices and equipment, at $145 million. That’s great news and a testament to the local medical device innovation economy.

On the other hand, life science venture capitalists in New England closed no new funds in Q1. That’s not great news. There has been some fund-raising activity, so we can hope for a better Q2. In fact, Bessemer Ventures closed a $1.6B fund in early April, which will include medical devices as a target investment sector, so Q2 is off to a good start.

If you’re raising money, you should know which life science funds actually did raise money in Q1 2011. How do you find out? Continue reading “Fresh Money: 2011 Q1” →

Fresh Money: 2010 Q4

Gold Bars — Image by Curtis Gregory Perry via Flickr

On his blog, Michael Greeley recently wrote “My guess is the VC industry will have raised between $10 to $12 billion in 2010 ($28 billion was raised in 2008). From 2008 through 2011 we will have witnessed the VC industry being cut in half.” Ouch.

Less money raised means fewer deals will be done. In addition, longer times-to-exit force VC’s to reserve larger portions of their funds for each portfolio company. For medical device startups, the fundraising environment is as rough as it has ever been.

All the more reason to raise money from VC’s that have relatively new funds. These new funds have longer time horizons, and don’t have to support past (aging) VC firm investments. How do you find these funds?

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Fresh Money: 2010 Q3

Chinese 1 Yuan Coin, Macro Photo — Image by Ivan Walsh via Flickr

Fresh money means that VC’s and PE firms need to make new investments, to put their fresh money to work. So, if you are looking for investors, look for those with fresh money.

Here is an updated list of VC fundraising activities for Q3 2010. Disclaimer: this list is likely not comprehensive, as firms don’t always announce new funds.

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Fresh money

Fresh money is the best money. Fresh money means that VC’s and PE firms need to make new investments, to put their fresh money to work.

Here’s my list of Life Science VC and Private Equity Fundraising for 2009 and the first half of 2010, culled from news articles over the past 18 months. Enjoy.

My list is likely not comprehensive, as firms don’t always announce new funds. I plan to post updates to this list quarterly. Also, I plan to make a table of 2008 and 2007 vintage funds for an upcoming post. Leave a comment if I am missing a fund raise in this table, and I’ll update it.

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