The emerging tech town of St. Louis has also become fertile ground for a community of life sciences companies that are ready to bloom — if they can find early stage funding.
“We’ve got a lot of engineers here who have been working for companies like Sigma-Aldrich and Monsanto that have decided to spin off, so we have some great entrepreneurial ventures in the life sciences,” said Kasey Joyce, the director of investor relations for Cultivation Capital.
The St. Louis-based firm, which invests in early stage technology companies, plans to give some of those emerging life sciences companies a boost with a new $30 million fund. While other VCs might be shying away from these kinds of early stage deals, Joyce said that the firm’s partners saw a clear need in the community for funding that would carry companies from the “seed/friends and family” stage to a proper series A.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
It’s just begun raising the life sciences fund, but Cultivation Capital says it will invest in health IT and related mobile health platforms, medical devices, compound and drug discovery, and plant/seed or biosciences technology. Investments will range from $250,000 to $1.25 million per company and will be focused on startups in the Midwest, Joyce said.
The venture firm launched last year with an early stage technology fund and has already achieved an exit through a company called Gainsight. To lead its healthcare efforts, the firm has added five new partners with backgrounds in the medical device, health IT, pharmaceutical and market research sectors.
Joyce said they’re in the process of closing the first investment for the life sciences fund and have already looked at several other companies.
Although it’s not considered one of the nation’s top life sciences clusters, the St. Louis area is home to some intriguing startups on MedCity News’ radar such as Pulse Therapeutics, which is developing a magnet-based technology to destroy blood clots; EndoStim, creator of a neurostimulation device for treatment of GERD; and Pepex Biomedical, which is developing an all-in-one diabetes testing device.
[Photo credit: Flickr user Joseph Novak]
