Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Therapeutics investor Access BridgeGap Ventures launches

By Michelle Lang

A new life sciences-focused venture capital group has popped up in Cambridge. Access BridgeGap Ventures is the new early stage funding arm of New York industrial group Access Industries, which focuses on telecommunications, real estate, and natural resources and chemicals.

The investment group said in a news release that it plans to back three to five companies per year, investing $75 million over the first few years. The main focus for the investments will be early stage companies and technology spinoffs, potentially still in academic labs, in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals and therapeutic devices.

Access BridgeGap was co-founded by senior vice presidents Daniel Behr and Ben Bronstein. A serial entrepreneur, Behr previously founded high-tech firms IN USA, Compact Instruments and Arradiance. He also backed startups at Allied Minds Inc. and Seed Partners. Bronstein served most recently as CEO of Neuron Systems. He has also co-founded Peptimmune and Vidus Ocular, two companies that have since been acquired. On the investment side, Bronstein was managing director at life sciences-focused venture firm Zero Stage Capital.
 
Access BridgeGap has gathered a team of advisors that include William Koster, former Neurogen president and CEO and former senior vice president of worldwide discovery research and early clinical development at Bristol Myers Squibb; Manuel Navia, Althexis founder and CEO, and former Vertex Pharmaceuticals vice president; and Isaac Kohlberg, chief technology development officer at Harvard University.