Catalio Capital Management LP (Catalio), a life sciences investment firm, has held the close of its oversubscribed second venture fund, Catalio Nexus II, at its hard cap of USD100 million, backed by private equity and hedge fund investors, as well as institutional family offices and foundations. In addition to closing its largest fund to date, Catalio announced the opening of a flagship office in Manhattan to facilitate the firm’s rapid growth.
Catalio has raised nearly USD150 million since inception and invested in 20 innovative, high-growth life sciences companies founded or referred by an elite group of world-renowned serial scientist-entrepreneurs who serve as Venture Partners. This unique structure gives Catalio unprecedented access to proprietary deal flow and best in class technical due diligence on companies developing the next generation of drugs, devices, diagnostics and data-driven insights.
Dr Freda Lewis Hall, the recently retired Chief Medical Officer & Executive Vice President of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), who joined Catalio earlier this month as the newest Venture Partner, says: “Life science is my life’s work. So I could not be more excited to be part of the dynamic Catalio team committed to catalysing breakthroughs in life sciences!”
Catalio invests in companies at all stages of development, from inception to IPO. Its investments this year include liquid biopsy companies Thrive Earlier Detection and Freenome, the drug discovery platform company Recursion Pharma, and mental health start-up COMPASS Pathways (NASDAQ: CMPS), which went public in September.
Co-Founders and Managing Partners George Petrocheilos and Dr Jacob Vogelstein, say: “It is incredibly rewarding to be able to directly partner with the world’s most successful scientist-entrepreneurs to translate their basic research into commercial ventures that enhance the lives of millions of patients around the globe. We truly believe that investment in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors has never been more critical and we continue to see an incredible opportunity for growth in these businesses.”
Key members of the Catalio leadership team include Chairman, Edward J Mathias, who was instrumental in the founding of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and a member of its Board of Directors from the firm’s IPO until his retirement in 2019; as well as General Partners and Investment Committee Members Tom V Brooks and Dr Kenan Turnacioglu. Prior to joining Catalio, Brooks served as an executive at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and later at Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), where he was Vice Chairman & Executive Vice President. Turnacioglu was a Managing Director and head of healthcare investments at Duquesne Capital Management until 2010, when he co-founded PointState Capital Management. He retired from PointState in 2018.
Cooley LLP served as fund counsel.
