Late last week Norwest Venture Partners announced that it has closed its 15th fund with a massive $2 billion haul.
The money will be used to invest in early-to-late stage startups in consumer, healthcare and tech.
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.
Per Pitchbook, this marks a growing trend of venture capital firms raising billion-dollar funds to keep up with the valuations that startups keep racking up. Including this latest fund, the Palo Alto firm has $9.5 billion committed having enjoyed 23 exits in the past two years, according to its news release. In the same time period, it has made 50 investments.
In healthcare, two of the more notable exits were Health Catalyst and Silk Road Medical. Health Catalyst, which develops data analytics tools and services for healthcare organizations,went public in July. The company priced its offering of 7 million shares at $26, raising $182 million, and currently trades at around $34.
Silk Road Medical is a medical device company whose treatments are meant to reduce the risk of stroke. It went public in April at the IPO price of $20 raising $120 million. The stock currently trades at around $37. [Of course, Norwest is known for investing in splashier non-healthcare companies with bigger IPO hauls including Uber and Spotify].
“We have had many high profile exits in the last two years,” said Jon Kossow, managing partner, Norwest, in a statement. “As our portfolio continues to grow and deliver strong returns, we are looking forward to partnering with the next group of founders who will change the status quo in consumer, healthcare, and technology.”
Current portfolio companies in the healthcare sector of Norwest include Omada Health, Neocis (a MedCity INVEST Pitch Perfect award winner), CareCloud, Impel Neuropharma, Qventus, Talkspace and TigerConnect, per its website.
So what kinds of healthcare startups will Norwest look for in 2020 to invest in?
In a blog post penned by Kossow, Promod Haque and Jeff Crowe, they answer the question saying those that “improve health outcomes and make care more personalized, efficient, and cost-effective.”
Photo: atibodyphoto, Getty Images
