More Midwest Seed-Stage Life Science VCs
Laptop Battery By Michael Rosen • 08/02/04
The Dave Clark Five song Bits and Pieces is a good metaphor for the
apparently holey (as in Swiss cheese) tapestry of Midwest VC seed
and early stage financing efforts to get life science companies off
the ground.
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Thinkpad This weeks column will try to knit together some of these pieces
so the tapestry doesnt fall apart. Last weeks column evoked
responses from a number of readers who remarked on my negligence in
mentioning other seed and early stage life science VCs or angel
groups operating in the Midwest.
While dealing life with your laptop notebook computer, people suing with their laptop because laptop
Microsoft Some new groups came to my attention and I realized that I
forgot a few others. Surprisingly, there are more than I thought.
As we cant have enough of these groups in the Midwest, here we
go:
Wisconsin
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Laptop Computers Wisconsin Investment Partners (WIP)
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Laptop Computer WIP in Madison, Wis. is an organized angel group thats headed by
Dick Leazer (the former head of WARF) and Terry Sivisend (the
co-founder of PanVera, Mirus and a few other biotechs).
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Desktop Computer WIP focuses on early stage life science (biopharmaceuticals,
medical devices and computer software) companies and has invested
in a number of biotech companies in the Midwest (including
ConjuGon).
Notebooks Mason Wells Biomedical Fund I
Lenovo This private equity group has more than $375 million under
management in several funds (one of which is focused on
biotechnology and medical devices).
Hard Drive Mason Wells in Milwaukee was started in 1982 and is funded by
major capital commitments from the merchant bank Marshall &
Ilsley, Northwestern Mutual Life, U.S. Bancorp, Newell Rubbermaid
and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB). The fund
invests between $500,000 and $8 million per company and focuses
primarily on the Midwest. The size of this fund isnt clear.
Travelstar Portfolio companies include CHF Medical Solutions (a medical
device company in Minneapolis), OpGen (in Madison), TeraMedica (a
medical imaging company in Milwaukee) and Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals
(in Madison).
Gateway Frazier Healthcare Ventures
Laptop Parts This California-based VC has set up shop in Madison as a result
of having won (along with Baird Venture Partners) the latest round
of SWIB Midwest start-up company funding.
Software By the way, according to the SWIB Web site, SWIB has pored into
the coffers of four VCs $135 million during the last four years for
investing in Wisconsin and other Midwest high-tech and biotech
start-ups. This investment started in 2000 with $25 million into
the Mason Wells fund and $20 million in the Venture Investor Early
Stage III Fund.
Hard Drives In 2003, Baird Venture Partners (in Chicago and Madison)
received $30 million for its start-up company fund. Baird, by the
way, has ramped up its organization recently by hiring Pete Shagory
from Vector Fund Management to run its life science business.
Electronics But back to Frazier, which has the lions share of investment
from SWIB (or $60 million this year). In total, Frazier has about
$450 million under management and focuses exclusively on
health care (including biotech,
medical devices and health-care services).
Canon Fraziers Web site shows only three investments to date in
Midwest companies. Two of them are medical device companies: CVRx
(in Maple Grove, Minn.) and Diametrics Medical (in Minneapolis).
The third is a drug company: QuatRx Pharmaceuticals (in Ann Arbor,
Mich.).
Desktop Pc With $60 million of SWIBs money under its belt and an office in
Madison, youve got to believe they are troving for technologies and
companies. We will continue to monitor this company. Other than
Steve Burrills Burrill & Co, its the only west coast VC/fund
that has active investments and interest in the Midwest.
Illinois
Desktop Computers Tri-County Venture Capital Fund
Think Pad This new fund is a subsidiary of the Heartland Capital Network,
which is a consortium of financing programs for business ventures
in the
greater Peoria, Ill. region.
Repair The new seed-stage fund, which initially consisted of $2
million, has resulted from the efforts of Peoria community leaders
Glen Barton (former president and CEO of Caterpillar, which is
headquartered in Peoria) and Doug Stewart, regional vice president
of National City Bank.
Data Recovery The fund is managed by Jim McConoughey, president and CEO of the
Heartland Capital Network. It made its first investment last month
in Chicago and Peoria biotech company zuChem. This first investment
was $200,000. Though I couldnt find a Web site for this new fund,
further information about the fund can be found by contacting Kyle
Ham at 309-495-5924 or here.
Cisco This particular fund is a type of follow-on fund that will work
with other larger funds to meet the investment needs of growing
companies.
Keyboard Other components of the Heartland Capital Network include an
angel network (which meets bimonthly to review tech investment
opportunities), a network of Midwest VC contacts and a handful of
other financing options with state programs and loan programs.
Monitor Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation
(BRDC)
Desktop BRDC in Peoria is a unique biotechnology consortium that
combines
government, academia and the
private sector in close working relationships. As a consortium,
BRDC is a research management corporation thats owned by its
corporate sponsors (each which has a stock equity position in
the consortium).
Infosys These equity partners include small publicly owned biotechnology
companies and some of the recognized world leaders in agriculture,
biotechnology and health care. Its corporate sponsors include
Monsanto, BASF, Cargill Dow Polymers, Central Illinois Light, Dow
Chemical, Ft. Dodge Animal Health, PIC International Group, Seminis
Vegetable Seeds, Tyco and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Refurbished Laptops Given its location, the main thrust of this organization seems
to be in technologies and companies related to the fields of animal
sciences, plant science, biocatalysts, materials sciences and
instrumentation.
Wipro The consortium funds university research and has taken an equity
position in companies such as zuChem and Fruitspheres in Peoria.
While its not clear if there is a fund here or how the funding
works, it seems an interesting approach to the agricultural
sector.
Michigan
Lap Top Apjohn Group
Refurbished The eight founding partners of this Kalamazoo, Mich. group all
were senior executives of the Upjohn Company and Pharmacia, which
acquired Upjohn during the mid-1990s (and subsequently by Pfizer in
2003).
Memory The Apjohn Group bills itself as a life science business
accelerator in the fields of drugs, diagnostics, medical devices,
genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. The group launched the
Apjohn Ventures Fund in 2003. In addition to an equity position, it
provides management leadership and services to the companies in
which it invests.
Intel It also bills itself as a group thats networked with other local
and national angel groups and VCs so as to bring in other financing
to a company.
As400 It currently has investments in three biotech companies: Nephros
Therapeutics (in Ann Arbor, Mich. and Rhode Island), SenseGene
Therapeutics (in Kalamazoo) and Afmedica (in Kalamazoo). The fund
appears to currently be at about $25 million, which includes a $1.5
million investment by the state of Michigan.
Averatec The fund looks at 300 deals per year and plans to invest in
three to six deals/companies per year with an average investment
ranging from $250,000 to $2 million.
Hardware EDF Ventures
Dual Xeon Founded in 1987, EDF in Ann Arbor has about $117 million under
management in three funds. It focuses on health care and
information technology that has originated in the Midwest.
Storage EDF has assisted 30 companies from the start-up phase with 17
companies based on technology licensed from universities. EDF
currently has 13 active investments (of which five are in the
health-care space). It initially invests from $500,000 to $2
million per company and can do follow-on investments up to $4
million.
Seagate While most of these investments may have started in the Midwest,
EDF seems to have migrated out of the Midwest with further
later-stage investments. Still, this is an interesting group to be
watching.
Missouri
Computer Sales Prolog Ventures
Computer Hardware Located in the St. Louis area of Clayton, Prolog closed its
first fund in 2001 with investors Alafi Capital, the Danforth
Foundation, Monsanto, Saint Louis University, Carpenters Union
Pension Trust Fund, Stifel Financial, the University of Missouri
and Washington University.
Printers While the size of this fund isnt clear, Prolog typically invests
in Missouri-based companies in the life sciences, health care and
related information technology.
Technology It has investments in 11 companies: APT Therapeutics, Chlorogen,
Divergence, Efficas, Everest, Inoveon, Metaphore Pharmaceuticals,
Quick Study Radiology, Singulex, Stereotaxis and Symbiotics. Prolog
management gets actively involved with each of its companies.
Mainframe RiverVest
Samsung Unlike its fellow fund in St. Louis, RiverVest in St. Louis
doesnt only invest in Missouri companies. While its investments in
11 companies also include west coast-based companies, the
preponderance does seem to be in the Midwest and Missouri.
Computer Repair These companies include Cydex (in Overland, Kan.), Auxeris
Therapeutics (in St. Louis), Centerre Healthcare (in St. Louis),
Velocimed (in Minneapolis) and Kereos (in St. Louis).
Used Computers While the size of their fund isnt clear, RiverVest is investing
in medical devices, biotech, specialty pharma and tools for drug
discovery. Investments range from $500,000 to $3 million initially
and total investments up to $4 to $6 million per company. From its
quarterly newsletter, it appears that RiverVest has about $89
million in its fund.
Network Wrapping Up Midwest Seed, Early Stage Life Science
Funding
Digital Cameras Though the Midwest doesnt have the cluster concentration of seed
and early stage funding in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego or
Seattle, it is encouraging that there are more early stage groups
(VCs and angels) to support our Midwest life science efforts than
meets the eye.
Desktops Im sure I have missed some as wellas I didnt even cover Ohio,
Indiana or Iowa in this review. If any readers of this column are
aware of other groups, please let me know and I will be happy to
include them in future columns. See you next week!
Cognos ___________
Michael S. Rosen is president and CEO of Barbeau Pharma and a
founder and board member of the Illinois Biotechnology Industry
Organization (IBIO). He can be reached at rosenmichaels@aol.com.
This article has been syndicated on the Wisconsin Technology
Network courtesy of ePrairie, a user-driven business and technology
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