Versant Ventures
{{Short description|American Healthcare investment firm }}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Versant Venture Management, LLC
| logo = Versant Ventures.png
| image =
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| former_name =
| type = Private
| industry = Venture capital
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1999}}
| founders =
| location = One Sansome Street, San Francisco, California, U.S.
| key_people = Brad Bolzon (Chairman)
| aum = US$4.2 billion (2023)
| equity =
| num_employees =
| parent =
| subsid =
| products =
| homepage = {{URL|www.versantventures.com}}
}}
Versant Ventures ("Versant") is an American Venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is focused on making investments in the healthcare and biotechnology industries.
Background
In 1999 at the end of the Dot-com bubble, several partners from Brentwood Associates joined with partners from Institutional Venture Partners and Crosspoint Ventures to create two separate industry-focused firms, Redpoint Ventures which focused on technology and Palladium Venture Capital which focused on healthcare. Palladium Venture Capital was later renamed to Versant Ventures. Versant was established in Menlo Park.{{Cite news |last=Reisinger |first=Jenny |date=January 27, 2003 |title=Funding With Versant Ventures |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1043423667452595264 |access-date=May 26, 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526102925/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1043423667452595264 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Redpoint Ventures on making successful tech investments - Aug. 29, 2000 |url=https://money.cnn.com/2000/08/29/technology/redpoint/ |access-date=May 26, 2023 |website=money.cnn.com |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526092655/https://money.cnn.com/2000/08/29/technology/redpoint/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=July 30, 2021 |title=Palladium, Redpoint Round Up First Funds - {{!}} Venture Capital Journal |url=https://www.venturecapitaljournal.com/palladium-redpoint-round-up-first-funds/ |access-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730042034/https://www.venturecapitaljournal.com/palladium-redpoint-round-up-first-funds/ |archive-date=July 30, 2021 }}{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Chong-Moon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK52augjU98C&pg=PA307 |title=The Silicon Valley Edge: A Habitat for Innovation and Entrepreneurship |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-4063-0 |language=en |access-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526094020/https://books.google.com/books/?id=eK52augjU98C&pg=PA307 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|197100166}} |last1=Smagalla |first1=David |title=In PEA's Pages A Decade Ago |newspaper=The Private Equity Analyst |date=September 2009 }}{{Cite web |last=Mack |first=Heather |title=Biotech Firm Versant Ventures Raises Largest Fund to Date at $700 Million |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/biotech-firm-versant-ventures-raises-largest-fund-to-date-at-700-million-11545049800 |access-date=May 26, 2023 |website=WSJ |language=en-US |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526101254/https://www.wsj.com/articles/biotech-firm-versant-ventures-raises-largest-fund-to-date-at-700-million-11545049800 |url-status=live }}
After its establishment, Versant raised $250 million for its first fund, Versant Venture Capital I.
In the mid-2000s, Versant launched EuroVentures, a business incubator based in Basel, Switzerland that formed startup companies by acquiring assets from European drug companies.{{Cite news |last=Gormley |first=Brian |date=April 5, 2013 |title=Versant Ventures Expands Biotech Incubator to Canada |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/DJFVW00020130405e945ar2xs |access-date=May 26, 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526100316/https://www.wsj.com/articles/DJFVW00020130405e945ar2xs |url-status=live }}
In 2011, Versant launched Inception, an incubator based in San Diego that would help create companies using discoveries from academia.
In 2013, Inception expanded into Canada and opened offices in Vancouver and Montreal. Versant also launched another incubator named Blueline Bioscience in Toronto.{{Cite news |last=Gormley |first=Brian |date=August 24, 2015 |title=Versant Launches NYC Biotech Incubator Highline Therapeutics |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/DJFVW00120150824eb8ocp59l |access-date=May 26, 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526102929/https://www.wsj.com/articles/DJFVW00120150824eb8ocp59l |url-status=live }}
In 2015, Versant launched Highline Therapeutics, an incubator based in New York that would launch drug companies out of medical research centers in the state.
In 2017, Versant set up another incubator in Basel named Ridgeline that would help give entrepreneurs access to scientists and wet labs.{{Cite web |last=Paul Taylor |first=Nick |date=March 10, 2020 |title=Versant plots Basel expansion as incubator hits full capacity |url=https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/versant-plots-basel-expansion-as-incubator-hits-full-capacity |website=Fierce Biotech |access-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526102931/https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/versant-plots-basel-expansion-as-incubator-hits-full-capacity |url-status=live }}
Versant invests in companies based in the United States, Canada and Europe. It deploys half its funds towards outside companies and half to developing companies in-house.
Versant is headquartered in San francisco with additional offices in Basel, New York, San Diego, Toronto and Vancouver.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website| https://www.versantventures.com}}
{{Private equity and venture capital}}
{{authority control}}
Category:American companies established in 1999
Category:Companies based in San Francisco
Category:Financial services companies based in California