Life sciences investing is doing relatively well locally, despite slow economy - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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“I think, as I have for a few that there is a lot of good and interestinh and verycompelling technology, whicyh is the basis for developing any companies. So I thinki we have a lot of good materiaol tostart with. “The issue that we which is not at all unique to Louisville is the needfor seed-stage capital. And that is beinh addressed here by a fewdifferent ways. One, there are a coupld of angel groups thathave formed. The state has some The seed fund that I manage is obviouslya So, there are some sources for seed but we always can use more. “And in this current economicc environment, it is even more an issu e because the fund raisingf isvery difficult.
So, we as investors, we need to make sure that we can fund the companiees for longer periodsof time, support them for so they can achieve more milestones and weathef the storm at the same time. with the expectation that once things get bette and these companies get a little further it will be easier to get Are you seeing many new ideas that couldbecomwe companies? “We’re definitely seeing a steady amount. I can’yt really tell you that is it is agrowinhg number. But there seems to be a steady flow from the Are there specific areas or industriea that aredoing well?
“Certainly, in the cancerr area, it looks like the (Jamew Graham Brown) cancer center is doing particularly There have been a couple of stem cell projects that have come out of the “Then, we have this nanotechnology lab that was and one of our investments, OrthoData, came out of … That’s a relatively new facility, but I thino we will see more comin g out. And I am really excited about that. “Thes team that came to the has only been here for a year or two atthis … (I am) pretty encouraged by some of the work that’a going on over there.” How many companies have you invested in through the seed fund and Triathlon?
“The seed fund has five investments in its Triathlon has invested in one of them, in and is very closw to investing in another. “Thehy have been tracking two othersas well. There is a definitelt significant interest in the companies that are beingdevelopede here.” Is it fair to say that without groundbreaking technologies and therapies cannotf advance? “It’s hard to tell. Some of them may kind of withetr onthe vine.” Because they are earlty in their development and there is not a larger pool of local funds for early-stagwe investments, “it would be hard for an outside investo r to come in and (invest at) this earlhy of a stage.
” “There’s always the possibilithy that … an investor from somewherre else would say, ‘jI will invest in your company if you move to Boston or which is obviously not what we want. “Thers is enough grant money, especially with the president’es new budget,” which includes increaser funding for research and development oflife sciences. there is some other grant money availabl through the stimulus package that is hopefullgy going tomake difference.
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