InterWest's 10th Fund Will Continue 29-Year Tradition of Investing in
Early-Stage Life Sciences and Information Technology Companies
Firm Promotes Three Partners to General Partner
MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- InterWest Partners, a
leading diversified venture capital firm, today announced the closing of
InterWest Partners X, a $650 million fund dedicated to emerging life
sciences and information technology investments. The firm now has raised
more than $2.8 billion. In conjunction with the fund closing, InterWest
also announced today that Chris Ehrlich, Nina Kjellson and Doug Pepper have
been promoted to general partner.
"For 29 years InterWest has been making successful investments by
combining the deep domain experience of our investment team with the vision
of outstanding entrepreneurs," said Dr. Arnold L. Oronsky, general partner
at InterWest. "We take pride in our collaborative approach to working with
portfolio companies to develop important life sciences and IT products that
produce thriving businesses. We are also gratified and very proud to have
gained the trust and confidence of our limited partners, who include many
blue chip, industry-leading investors. Most of this tenth fund comes from
return investors but we are also very pleased to welcome a select group of
new limited partners."
InterWest will target its new fund towards life sciences and
information technology investments, with the goal of investing in
approximately 25-30 new companies in each sector. Investments will focus
primarily on early-stage companies in the United States, with select
investments in later-stage opportunities.
In IT, InterWest will continue investing in areas of time-proven
expertise, including: software, computing and communications
infrastructure, and semiconductors. InterWest is also helping to shape
several emerging IT markets, including: software as a service (SaaS),
consumer Internet, online advertising, and mobility. In life sciences,
InterWest will continue its decades-long track record of successfully
investing in core therapeutic areas, including cardiology,
oncology/immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology, neurology, and
orthopedics. InterWest has also been noted for its leadership role in
establishing neuromodulation and pain/analgesia as areas for investment.
InterWest's new initiatives in the life sciences market include:
consumer-driven healthcare, drug-device convergence and personalized
medicine.
"As we look ahead to our 30th anniversary in 2009, we are excited to
welcome a third generation of InterWest investors into greater leadership
roles within the firm and the industry," said Oronsky. "With the closing of
this fund, we are pleased to announce that we have promoted Chris Ehrlich,
Nina Kjellson and Doug Pepper to general partner, in recognition of their
investing performance as well as their contributions to the firm as a
whole."
InterWest's team now includes ten general partners: Berry Cash, Chris
Ehrlich, Philip Gianos, Stephen Holmes, Nina Kjellson, Dr. Gil Kliman, Dr.
Arnold Oronsky, Doug Pepper, Tom Rosch and Michael Sweeney. The team also
includes four partners: Bruce Cleveland, Dr. Linda Grais, Ellen Koskinas,
and Khaled Nasr. Executives-in-residence and consultants include: Dr. James
Campbell, Drew Hoffmann, Dr. Susan Knox, Ron Nash, and Gordon Saul.
About the New General Partners
Chris Ehrlich has been a member of InterWest's life sciences team since
2000, with a particular interest in specialty pharmaceuticals, regenerative
medicine, drug-device convergence and pain management. He currently serves
on the boards of BioMimetic Pharmaceuticals (NASD: BMTI), Carbylan
BioSurgery, Follica, KAI Pharmaceuticals, Solace Pharmaceuticals, QuatRx
Pharmaceuticals, Transcept Pharmaceuticals, and Xenon Pharmaceuticals.
Ehrlich was a co-founder of AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals (now Anesiva, NASD:
ANSV), which is developing novel compounds to treat acute and chronic pain.
Nina Kjellson has been part of InterWest's life sciences team since
2002, focusing primarily on investments in biopharmaceuticals. She is a
board member of Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Primera Diagnostics, Sequel, Inc.
and Trius Therapeutics. Kjellson played a primary role in InterWest's
investment in Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Galenica) and led
InterWest's investment in NovaCardia (acquired by Merck).
Doug Pepper has been with InterWest's IT group since 2000, investing in
technology-enabled services, digital media and consumer Internet companies.
Pepper has led several investments for InterWest including Achates Power,
Brand.net, INVIDI, Marketo, OfferPal Media and Varolii. He also co-led
InterWest's investment in Lombardi. Pepper has played a defining role in
InterWest's investment activities in the online advertising and lead
generation spaces.
For complete bios about each member of the InterWest team, visit:
http://www.interwest.com/interwest-team/
About InterWest Partners
InterWest Partners (http://www.interwest.com), founded in 1979, is a leading
diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term
relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently
investing its tenth fund, IW X, a $650 million fund, InterWest has raised
more than $2.8 billion of capital since inception. InterWest has 14
investing partners in Menlo Park, CA and Dallas, TX, who bring together
deep domain knowledge in life sciences and information technology.
The firm's investments in information technology include: CIENA (CIEN),
Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), Crystal Semiconductor (acquired by Cirrus
Logic, CRUS), Cyrix (CYRX; acquired by National Semiconductor (NSM),
Lightera (acquired by CIENA), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft, MSFT),
SiTera (acquired by Vitesse, VTSS), Silicon Graphics (SGI), Stratacom
(STRM; acquired by Cisco, CSCO) and Xilinx (XLNX).
The firm's investments in life sciences include: ArthroCare (ARTC),
Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation (ASPV, acquired by Galenica group,
SWX:GALN), Cor Therapeutics (CORR; acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals,
MLNM), Corixa (CRXA; acquired by GlaxoSmithKlein, GSK), Coulter
Pharmaceutical (CLTR; acquired by Corixa Pharmaceuticals, CRXA), Cubist
Pharmaceuticals (CBST), Epicor Medical (acquired by St. Jude Medical, STJ),
Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH), IntraLase (ILSE), Myogen (MYOG), Spinal
Dynamics (acquired by Medtronic, MDT), TheraSense (THER; acquired by Abbott
Labs, ABT) and Ventritex (VNTX; acquired by St. Jude Medical, STJ).
SOURCE InterWest Partners
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.interwest.com
http://www.interwest.com/interwest-team/
CONTACT:
Eliot Dobris, Feinstein Kean Healthcare, for
InterWest Partners, +1-415-902-1241, eliot.dobris@fkhealth.com
|
