Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Venrock carves out a $194M health care fund

By Galen Moore

Venrock has raised a $194 million fund to invest in publicly held or late-stage private health care companies, the venture capital firm says. The company, with offices in Cambridge, Israel, New York and Palo Alto, Calif., raised its last fund, the $600 million Venrock V, in April, 2007. That fund is targeting technology, health care, media and energy.

The firm was originally established as the venture arm of the Rockefeller family, and has about $2.2 billion under management.
The new fund, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, will target publicly held small-cap health care companies, said Venrock partner Anders Hove in a statement. He said the firm will seek strategic advisory roles with portfolio companies in the new fund.

Venrock’s past investments in public health care companies include Sirna Therapeutics (RZY1.MU) and World Heart Corp. (Nasdaq: WHRT). Outside the public space, Venrock’s investments have included Adnexus Therapeutics and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, among others.

Earlier this year Venrock helped battery technology maker Boston-Power Inc. raise $55 million in new funding, which the Westborough-based company says it will use to ramp up manufacturing, sales, marketing and research, and development efforts for its Sonata Lithium-ion batteries. The new round was led by Foundation Asset Management, with participation by other existing backers Oak Investment Partners, GGV Capital and Gabriel Venture Partners.