Devices & Diagnostics, Pharma, Startups

Bicoastal life science VC aims for $375 million third fund

It looks like Clarus Ventures is planning to reload with investment capital for life science […]

It looks like Clarus Ventures is planning to reload with investment capital for life science companies.

The Boston- and San Francisco-based venture firm revealed in a SEC filing it’s looking to raise up to $375 million for a third fund.

Clarus invests mainly in biotech, with a few medtech and diagnostics companies in the mix.

It already manages $1.2 billion across two funds – a $500 million first fund that closed in 2005, and a second, $660 million one in 2008. With that money it’s backed some 40 companies, including several that exited last year.

Portfolio company NanoString Technologies had an IPO (albeit a rough one) in June, followed by Ophthotech, which raised $167 million through an IPO in September. Oxford Immunotec and Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals also went public late in the year. Pearl Therapeutics, a drug company focused on respiratory disease, got bought up by AstraZeneca over the summer.

An expected bump in healthcare VC this year could help in efforts toward the new fund, too.

[Image credit: Clarus Ventures]

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