InterWest Press Releases
InterWest Partners Closes its Ninth Fund at $600 million
Venture Firm Continues 25-Year Tradition of Life Sciences and Information Technology Investing
Menlo Park, CA - September 13, 2004 — InterWest Partners, a leading diversified venture capital firm, today announced the closing of InterWest Partners IX, a $600 million fund that will invest in early-stage life sciences and information technology companies. With the closing of this fund, InterWest Partners has cumulatively raised more than $2 billion. InterWest's 11 partners, based in Menlo Park, California and Dallas, Texas, will continue to invest in companies throughout the United States.
InterWest's diversified investment approach, deep domain expertise and superior track record resulted in a high level of interest from investors.
"We are grateful to have received substantial support from existing investors and considerable interest from prospective new investors. This validates our consistent strategy of early-stage, active investing in both life sciences and information technology," said Flip Gianos, General Partner at InterWest Partners. "Both sectors continue to contribute significant investment returns to our limited partners."
Kevin Delbridge, of HarbourVest Partners, LLC, added, "Over the years, InterWest has consistently demonstrated its ability to start and build successful companies in each sector. We are confident they will continue this success and will deploy InterWest IX towards innovative ideas and experienced, entrepreneurial teams."
Since its inception in 1979, InterWest has played a key role in the success of more than 200 companies, including ArthroCare, CIENA, Copper Mountain Networks, Corixa, Cor Therapeutics, Coulter Pharmaceutical, Crystal Semiconductor, Cyrix, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Lightera, Silicon Graphics, SiTera, Spinal Dynamics, Stratacom, TheraSense, Ventritex and Xilinx. The firm's most recent fund, InterWest VIII, a $750M fund, includes the sale of PlaceWare to Microsoft, the sale of Epicor Medical to St. Jude Medical, and initial public offerings from Corgentech (Nasdaq: CGTK) and Myogen (Nasdaq: MYOG).
Mark Lortz, former President and CEO of TheraSense, added, "InterWest invested in us in 1998 when it was hard to get a venture capitalist interested in the medical device business. Throughout the history of TheraSense, from our beginnings to our recent IPO to our subsequent purchase by Abbott Labs for $1.2 billion, InterWest's guidance and seasoned judgment were critical to our success."
The firm plans to begin InterWest IX investments early next year and expects to invest the fund over the next three to three and a half years.
About InterWest Partners
InterWest Partners (www.interwest.com), founded in 1979, is a leading diversified venture capital firm focused on building long-term relationships with entrepreneurs and portfolio companies. Currently investing its tenth fund, InterWest X, a $650 million fund, InterWest has raised more than $2.8 billion of capital since inception. InterWest has a total of 13 partners and general partners in Menlo Park, CA and Dallas, TX, who bring together deep domain knowledge in life sciences and information technology.
The firm's past successful investments in life sciences include: ArthroCare (ARTC), Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (ASPV, acquired by Galenica group, SWX:GALN), Cor Therapeutics (CORR; acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, MLNM), Corixa Pharmaceuticals (CRXA; acquired by GlaxoSmithKline, GSK), Coulter Pharmaceuticals (CLTR; acquired by Corixa Pharmaceuticals, CRXA), Cubist Pharmaceuticals (CBST), Epicor Medical (acquired by St. Jude Medical, STJ), Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH), IntraLase (ILSE; acquired by Advanced Medical Optics, NYSE:EYE), Myogen (MYOG, acquired by Gilead, GILD), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck, MRK) Spinal Dynamics (acquired by Medtronic, MDT), TheraSense (THER; acquired by Abbott Labs, ABT) and Ventritex (VNTX; acquired by St. Jude Medical, STJ).
The firm's past successful investments in information technology include: CIENA (CIEN), Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), Crystal Semiconductor (acquired by Cirrus Logic, CRUS), Cyrix (CYRX; acquired by National Semiconductor (NSM), Lightera (acquired by CIENA), PlaceWare (acquired by Microsoft, MSFT), SiTera (acquired by Vitesse, VTSS), Silicon Graphics (SGI), Stratacom (STRM; acquired by Cisco, CSCO) and Xilinx (XLNX).
