MPM Capital

About MPM Capital

About MPM Capital MPM Capital is the world's largest dedicated investor in life sciences. With committed capital under active management of more than $2.1 billion, MPM is uniquely structured to invest globally in healthcare innovation. In addition to its BioVentures family of venture capital funds, MPM invests in the public markets through its BioEquities hedge fund. Primarily in biotechnology, but also in medical devices and biopharmaceuticals, MPM has seamlessly integrated private and public equity products to target innovation in healthcare and, thereby, deliver exceptional returns to investors. The MPM BioVentures and MPM BioEquities family of funds are two distinctly different but highly complementary investment vehicles.
Funds:
MPM BioVentures I (BB BioVentures, MPM BioVentures Parallel Fund) The $230 million MPM BioVentures I family of funds was raised in 1997. The fund is now fully committed with 75% of the investments in biotechnology and 25% in medical devices and other healthcare related fields. The MPM BioVentures I portfolio is comprised of 26 companies with investments ranging from $5-$20 million invested in each portfolio company. Within biotechnology, our investments are split between companies focused on therapeutics and enabling technologies. Roughly 80% of the funds were invested in U.S. companies, 20% in European companies.
MPM BioVentures II At $600 million, the MPM BioVentures II family of funds is among the largest dedicated healthcare venture capital funds currently in existence. MPM BioVentures II, which closed in the first quarter of 2000, has built a portfolio of investments in biotechnology, medical devices, and other healthcare related fields. MPM BioVentures II has invested in 33 companies, with investments ranging from $7-$50 million per company. The fund has invested across the entire spectrum of company development, from start-up through mezzanine and PIPES. 80% of the investments are in U.S. companies, and 20% are in European and Asian companies.
MPM BioVentures III MPM closed its third venture initiative, the MPM BioVentures III Fund, in December, 2002. The largest dedicated healthcare venture capital fund raised, its capital commitments approximate $900 million. The MPM BioVentures III Fund is building a portfolio of 40 to 45 companies, 80% focused on biotechnology and 20% focused on medical device companies, and expects to source 20% of its investments outside the U.S. Its balanced portfolio will be comprised equally of early, mid- and late-stage companies: with the expected financial scale of the MPM BioVentures III Fund and the size of the investment team in place to execute on strategy, MPM will continue to lead the majority of its investments and take an active role as a member of its portfolio companies' boards of directors.
MPM BioEquities The MPM BioEquities Fund is a dedicated biotechnology investment fund designed to provide investors an opportunity to achieve a superior rate of return through investments in public, and to a lesser extent, private biotech companies in the U.S. and abroad. The MPM BioEquities Fund invests with a long bias in emerging biotech on the basis of strong fundamental due diligence. The seamless integration of MPM's private and public platforms coupled with an exclusive five-member Medical and Scientific Advisory Board provide unmatched investment resources. The Fund is focused in the public markets on the small- and mid-capitalization segment of biotech. Market risk is actively managed by shorting individual companies opportunistically. For private investments, the team largely draws on the exceptional deal flow and expertise of the partners and principals of MPM BioVentures.
Partners:
Luke Evnin, Ph.D. Dr. Evnin joined MPM from Accel Partners where he was a General Partner involved in biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare service companies for Accel's funds III, IV, and V. At Accel, Dr. Evnin was also responsible for investment strategy, deal origination, analyses, investment, and gain realization. Dr. Evnin began his career in the field of science. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and an A.B. from Princeton University. Dr. Evnin is currently a director of BioValve, Genesoft, Metabasis, Pi Medical, and Venturi Group, and was previously a director at Atugen, CHF Solutions, Medical SelfCare, EPIX Medical, Sonic Innovations and several other private companies.
Ansbert K. Gadicke, M.D. Dr. Gadicke is the Founding General Partner of the MPM Group. He led MPM's effort to build its Advisory and Investment Banking business from 1992 to 1996 and started its Asset Management business in 1996. Prior to founding MPM, Dr. Gadicke was employed by The Boston Consulting Group where he worked with management of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and health insurance companies. Dr. Gadicke received an M.D. from J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt. He subsequently held research positions in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Whitehead Institute at MIT, Harvard University and the German Cancer Research Center. He has published in leading scientific publications including Nature and Cell. Dr. Gadicke is a director of Arriva, Centagenetix, Endeavor Pharmaceuticals, Kourion, Mindset Biopharmaceuticals, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Pharmasset, and ViaCell. He previously served as a director of BioMarin, Coelacanth, MediGene and TransForm. He is also a member of Advisory Councils for Harvard Medical School, the Health Science and Technology Program of Harvard and MIT, as well as the Whitehead Institute at MIT. He serves as the Co-Chairman of the Alumni Association of the Whitehead Institute.
Nicholas Galakatos, Ph.D. Dr. Galakatos joined MPM from Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he was Vice President, New Business and led the building of spinout companies in the biotherapeutics, diagnostics and drug delivery fields. Prior to Millennium, Dr. Galakatos was at Venrock Associates where he focused on early-stage life science investments. Dr. Galakatos joined Venrock from Ciba-Geigy's Pharmaceuticals Division where he was Head, Molecular Biology Research and Venture Manager in Corporate Planning as a liason to Accel Partners. Dr. Galakatos earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from MIT and performed his postdoctoral work in Molecular Biology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Galakatos is a founder of Millennium Predictive Medicine and TransForm Pharmaceuticals, is the Chairman of TransForm, and a director of Affymax, Critical Therapeutics, GenPath, Sention, and Syrrx. Previously, he has been a director of Caliper and several Millennium spinout companies.
Dennis Henner, Ph.D. Prior to joining MPM, Dr. Henner was at Genentech, Inc. from 1981 to 2001, where, most recently, he was Senior Vice President, Research and a member of the Executive Committee since 1986. His scientific work focused on the expression of therapeutic proteins in bacterial hosts and the development of recombinant antibody therapeutics. Dr. Henner received his Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Virginia and did postgraduate training at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. Dr. Henner is currently a director of BioXell and Tercica Medica.
Robert Liptak, C.P.A. Mr. Liptak joined MPM Capital in March of 2001 as Chief Financial Officer and Principal, and in December, 2002 was promoted to General Partner, retaining the Chief Financial Officer role as well. Prior to joining MPM, Mr. Liptak was Chief Financial Officer of the Geometry Group, Inc., a diversified financial service holding company with $2 billion of assets under management. Mr. Liptak also served as Vice President of Finance for Global Asset Management, a Europe-based asset management company and was a Manager in the Corporate Finance Group of Price Waterhouse. Mr. Liptak received an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University, a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from LaSalle University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Nicholas Simon Mr. Simon joined MPM from Collabra Pharma, Inc., where he was Chief Executive Officer and Founder. Prior to joining Collabra, Mr. Simon spent seven of 11 years at Genentech, as Vice President, Business & Corporate Development. He completed over 50 deals including product out-licensing, strategic alliances, and product acquisitions. In addition, Mr. Simon has several years of sales, marketing and business development experience in the biomedical industry. Mr. Simon received an M.B.A. in Marketing from Loyola College and a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Maryland. He is a director of Biovitrum, InterMune, Genteric, Rinat and Sangstat.
Michael Steinmetz, Ph.D. Dr. Steinmetz joined MPM in 1997 to help start MPM's venture capital activities. Prior to MPM, he held positions at various academic institutions, including the California Institute of Technology and the Basel Institute for Immunology where he was a permanent member. In 1986, he joined Hoffmann-La Roche and held various leadership positions in R&D, initially in Switzerland and subsequently in the U.S. where, as Vice President of Preclinical Research and Development, he was responsible for Roche's drug discovery activities in the U.S. and Roche's global biotechnology efforts. Dr. Steinmetz was trained as a chemist and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Munich. He did academic research in the areas of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Immunology. He is currently Chairman of the Board at BioXell, a director of Acorda, Amphora, Arena, Atugen, Biovitrum, Cellular Genomics, Epigenomics, Idea, MacroGenics, and TaiGen. He served as start-up CEO at GPC Biotech and Atugen, was previously Chairman of GPC Biotech and Coelacanth and a director of Caliper, Hoffmann-La Roche U.S., Millennium and Xcyte.
Kurt von Emster, C.F.A. Kurt von Emster, CFA joined MPM Capital in November of 2000 as a General Partner focusing on public biotech stocks. In March of 2001, he launched the MPM BioEquities Fund, which invests in public, and to a lesser extent private biotech securities. Mr. von Emster spent 11 years with Franklin Templeton Group as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager. At Franklin, Mr. von Emster managed over $2 billion in health and biotech funds, including the Franklin Biotechnology Discovery Fund and the Franklin Global Health Care Fund. Mr. von Emster holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA), is a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), and is a member of the Security Analysts of San Francisco (SASF). Mr. von Emster has a degree from the University of California in Business and Economics. He has been a special guest on Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser and has been a regular guest on CNBC and CNN's MoneyLine.
Kurt C. Wheeler Mr. Wheeler joined MPM from InControl, Inc., where he was Chairman and CEO. Prior to InControl, Mr. Wheeler was a Principal in the life science group at the Mayfield Fund. He has participated in the early stage development of several medical device and biotechnology companies and worked for Eli Lilly & Co. Mr. Wheeler holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University, where he serves on the Kellogg Alumni Advisory Board, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. He serves on the Board of Directors of CHF Solutions, Cryocor, Cardiac Dimensions, Hemosense, IntraLuminal Therapeutics, Scout Medical, SenoRx, Vidamed and Xoft MicroTube.
Last Updated: 01-14-03