Gary Lazar
Managing Director
California Technology Ventures LLC
Age:
5
Residence:
Encino
Education:
Pre-med, UC Berkeley; M.D., Loyola University
Previous Jobs:
A former oncologist, he moved into the corporate world when he became vice president of development for Salick Healthcare Inc. He co-founded and was president of Value Oncology Sciences Inc., which developed and sold cancer management products and medical software. The venture-backed startup was sold to Columbia Healthcare.
Venture Capital Start:
“I was one of the founders of Value Oncology Sciences and through that process learned about the financial side of starting companies.”
Target Market:
Early stage medical devices and biotechnology, from balloon catheters to hearing aids to gene therapy to tissue-cutting devices. California Technology Ventures invests in companies developing diverse and innovative medical devices and procedures.
Financing:
The firm invests in startups, as well as second round investments and later-stage investments. Initial investments are usually between $250,000 and $2 million.
Investment Philosophy:
“I don’t know if you would call it a philosophy, but we prefer to do early stages, and we only do private companies. We are very opportunistic with regard to biotech or pharma deals. And we don’t in general invest in health care services.”
Recent Fundings:
Redwood City-based SurgRx Inc., tissue-sealing device maker; Fremont-based AngioScore Inc., cardiological device maker; San Diego-based Ceregene Inc., neurological disorder treatments
Boards:
SurgRx Inc., AngioScore Inc., Aliva Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Vivant Medical Inc., Spine Wave Inc.
Gripe:
“Many companies underestimate competition. You could be in a business that makes medical devices and yours may be the only one, but there may be drugs in development to address the same thing. It’s not just looking at the very narrow category of your devices; you need to look at what’s being developed to address that because some things cross over. Also, companies always underestimate the amount of capital that they will need to get to the finish line.”
Exit Strategies:
Since every company and every situation is different, he said there is no uniform exit strategy. “We cash out when the company is ready.”
L.A. Market Outlook:
“There is very little local venture capital in life sciences, very little, which is a very complicated issue. Most of the companies that get started here are financed with venture money that is based somewhere else. There is great opportunity here but very little local capital for life sciences. There’s much more venture capital for technology.”
Biggest Winner:
Vivant Medical, which was sold 18 months ago. “Our investors did very well. All in, it sold for $100 million.”
Biggest Bust:
“There were a bunch of those but they were not ones I had anything to do with. Since I started in 2002 the companies that I had anything to do with did very well.”
Richard Clough
