Article preview from Start-Up - September 2008
Find out how Versant Ventures wrapped up $500 million for a new venture fund, an achievement based chiefly on its prowess as an early stage investor.
Article preview from Start-Up - September 2008
Early Stage Investing is Name of Game for Versant
Before Versant Ventures made a name for itself in the health care venture capital world, its name wasn't Versant. In fact, the health care partners who started the now venerable firm nine years ago had soft circled Palladium Venture Capital as the likely moniker for the new health care-only firm. However, after generating some confusion with a private equity firm with Palladium, the partners selected Versant instead, identifying the name that would become one of the more noted brands in health care venture capital.
With a new $500 million fund and more than 70 biopharmaceutical and medical device companies in its portfolio, Versant manages one of the larger pools of capital in health care investing, $1.6 billion. But the firm's partners have remained remarkably consistent in the strategy and size of the fund they're investing. Versant hasn't sought to distinguish itself by raising larger funds with grander plans to invest bigger chunks of money in different stages of companies. "Our strategy reflects the team we have and the expertise we have sitting around the table," says Ross A. Jaffe, MD, one of the founding partners of Versant. "We're going to focus on what we do well, which we believe is working with early-stage companies and with entrepreneurs to really build successful companies over the long-term."
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Companies mentioned in this article:
Advanced Medical Optics Inc.
IntraLase Corp.
Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Bausch & Lomb Inc.
eyeonics Inc.
Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Celgene Corp.
Pharmion Corp.
Genomic Health Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline PLC
Reliant Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Helicos BioSciences Corp.
Insulet Corp.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.
LipoSonix Inc.
Medtronic Inc.
Kyphon Inc.
St. Francis Medical Technologies Inc.
Merck & Co. Inc.
NovaCardia Inc.
Novacea Inc.
ParAllele BioScience Inc.
QLT Inc.
Salmedix Inc.
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