Alta Partners is a

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

firm based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

which invests primarily in

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

and

life science Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy t ...

companies.

History

The company was founded in 1996 by Dr. Jean Deleage, Ph.D., who was also a founder of the venture capital firms Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. (BEDCO) and

Sofinnova Sofinnova is the name shared by two venture capital firms, Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures. The name Sofinnova is a contraction of the French, "Société de Financement de l’Innovation" or, Innovation Venture Capital Company. Both fi ...

, together with Guy Paul Nohra, Marino Polestra, and

Garrett Gruener Garrett Gruener is an American venture capitalist, most known as the founder of Ask.com and a co-founder of Alta Partners. He was also a candidate for the 2003 California recall special election from the Democratic Party, finishing 28th in a fi ...

, all former general partners at BEDCO. Alta Partners is actively investing out of its latest early stage fund called Alta Nextgen II by managing directors Dan Janney, Pete Hudson, MD, and Bob More. Co founders Jean Deleage and Marino Polestra have died while Garrett Gruener is retired. Guy Nohra is currently managing Alta Spain I out of Barcelona

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The company was founded in 1996 and invests in

and

companies. According to the company website, over the past 22 years, Alta has invested in over 150 companies, including some of the leaders in the

biopharmaceuticals A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

medical technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

, healthcare services, and

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

sectors. The firm is no longer associated with the Boston-based venture capital firms,

Alta Communications Alta Communications is an American private equity firm primarily working with media and the communication sector. Their equity funds are invested in about 100 companies with a total market capitalization approximately $1.5 billion. Alta Commu ...

, or Polaris ventures which also trace their roots to Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co.

Investment funds

Since 1996, Alta has raised nine venture capital funds including four funds in its Alta California Funds series, three funds in its Alta Biopharma Partners series, Alta Partners VIII, and most recently Alta Partners NextGen Fund I with $130 million of investor commitments. The following is a summary of the venture capital funds raised by Alta as of 2018: * 1996 - $130m - Alta California Partners (Early Stage) * 1998 - $180m - Alta Biopharma Partners I (Late Stage) * 1998 - $186m - Alta California Partners II (Early Stage) * 2000 - $212m - Alta Biopharma Partners II * 2000 - $229m - Alta California Partners III (Early Stage) * 2003 - $300m - Alta BioPharma Partners III * 2004 - $184m - Alta California Partners IV (Early Stage) * 2006 - $500m - Alta Partners VIII *2017 - $130m - Alta Partners NextGen Fund I (Early Stage) *2019 - $150m - Alta Partners NextGen Fund II (Early Stage)

Investments

Notable investments include, Kite Pharmaceuticals, ZS Pharma, Esperion, Allakos Chemgenx, DeCode Calistoga, Aerie, Cymabay, Tyra Biosciences. For a full list of investments please go to Alta’s Web site.

References

*Gupta, Udayan.
Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories
2000

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120215082404/http://people.forbes.com/profile/jean-deleage/47837 Jean Deleage(Forbes Profile)

External links

Alta Partners
(company website)
Company profile at BioSpace
{{private equity firms Financial services companies established in 1996 TA Associates Venture capital firms of the United States Life sciences industry

History

Investment funds

Investments

See also

References

External links