Member Spotlight: F-Prime Capital
For this deep dive, we spoke to Stephen Knight, M.D., President & Managing Partner of F-Prime Capital.
Tell us about your firm. What makes it different:
F-Prime Capital is a leading global venture capital firm investing in healthcare and technology. We’re proud to champion companies dedicated to directly shaping the future of medicine and technology. With more than $4.5 billion dollars under management and a global portfolio of over 300 companies, we are constantly searching for the next big thing to invest in; sometimes we’ll start it ourselves – over 30 times and counting. We are comprised of investors, engineers, doctors, and scientists who think both deeply and broadly about real solutions to help our companies make a transformational impact and unify our diverse portfolio of growing healthcare and technology companies.
Our funds have become larger and reflect a growing international presence over the course of our history, but we stay true to our entrepreneurial roots thanks to our small, local teams. Connecting minds and driving innovation is a borderless effort.
Along with our sister fund, Eight Roads, our portfolio extends across China, Japan, India, Israel, and Europe. There are few venture firms in the world with a more global reach than ours, which allows us to provide an international perspective and leverage worldwide resources.
What defines your portfolio?
Breakthrough innovation takes time to develop. At F-Prime, we look for entrepreneurs and academics excited to embrace the challenge with investors who share their vision. We take pride in the investments we make, and partner with teams for whom we can provide critical insights at key moments.
In healthcare, we focus on therapeutics, medtech, and health IT and services in a stage-agnostic fashion. In technology we focus on enterprise software, fintech, and frontier tech; while we’re early-stage investors by choice, we are innovation agnostic – backing exceptional teams at any stage.
Through an extensive network of connections and deep ties to cutting-edge academic research, we facilitate the formation of portfolio companies. We have created or co-created over 30 companies including Beam Therapeutics, Denali Therapeutics, and Innovent, and have helped build many others including Benchling, Blueprint Medicines, Devoted Health, Flywire, Iora Health, and Toast.
Tell us about the current VC landscape in your geography/region.
F-Prime has offices in Cambridge, San Francisco, and London – three of the world’s leading healthcare and technology innovation hubs. Our sister fund, Eight Roads, operates in London, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Mumbai. Working together with a global mindset, we can provide international perspective and world-wide resources.
What are the benefits of being an NVCA member?
NVCA has exceptional resources that foster strong connections with our peers to share experiences, recommendations, and learning opportunities. The organization provides broad exposure to the full venture landscape, allowing us to apply findings from other industries to our work in healthcare and technology.
What’s ahead for your firm in 2023?
We are patient investors and remain committed to seeking out innovative founders and ideas, as well as support companies that aspire to address some of the biggest issues in their fields. We have several portfolio companies that have exciting milestones on the horizon and are always looking for opportunities to add to our portfolio.
As entrepreneurial activity continues to rise, great ideas and thinking are likely to follow as a result. We look forward to expanding our team’s expertise and reach as we establish and advance innovative new companies.
