BOSTON and LONDON , Jan. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SV Health Investors, the venture capital and growth equity firm, has promoted Michael Balmuth to Managing Partner from Partner and Houman Ashrafian to Partner from Venture Partner and Entrepreneur in Residence.
SV manages seven funds that aim to support entrepreneurs and companies that create breakthrough treatments and healthcare solutions. The firm has a multi-sector focus; it invests in early-stage opportunities in biotechnology; early-stage and revenue-stage opportunities in medical devices; and growth equity opportunities with healthcare services and digital health companies.
Mr. Balmuth focuses on the healthcare services and digital health sector. Since he joined SV in 2014, he has furthered the firm’s relationships with VCs, entrepreneurs and other members of the digital health ecosystem. His work has led to SV’s investments in Aligned Telehealth and Centauri. He has also served on the SV deal teams for such portfolio companies as Ximedica, Aerocare and Maestro, and has supported the firm’s fundraising activities. He is based in SV’s Boston office.
Mr. Balmuth joined SV from Edison Ventures, where he was a general partner and head of the firm’s healthcare information technology practice. Before that, he was a general partner at Summit Partners, where he led the East Coast activities of the firm’s Accelerator Fund. He was previously an investment banker at Broadview International. He began his career at IBM. He holds a BA in engineering sciences from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“Mike Balmuth has helped advance SV’s goals of creating value for our limited partners, supporting promising entrepreneurs and helping transform healthcare to improve patients’ lives. The past year was notably active, and Mike was a key driver of our work and progress in identifying promising investments in the digital health area. We are delighted to elevate him to Managing Partner,” said Gene Hill, Chairman of SV Health Investors.
Dr. Ashrafian joined SV in 2016 and was charged with creating innovative new biotechnology companies in which SV could own significant equity as a founding and co-founding investor. He has since launched two companies that are now in the firm’s portfolio: Sitryx and Ervaxx. Dr. Ashrafian also supports SV deal teams, as well as companies and projects of the Dementia Discovery Fund, a novel venture capital fund, managed by SV, devoted to developing breakthrough therapies for dementia including Alzheimer’s. Dr. Ashrafian is based in SV’s London office.
Before coming to SV, Dr. Ashrafian was vice president and head of the Clinical Science Group at UCB Pharma. He is a co-founder of the company Heart Metabolics that developed a treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. The drug, Perhexiline, is now in advanced clinical trials and has orphan drug designation. He is also an honorary consultant cardiologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, and visiting professor and head of experimental therapeutics at the University of Oxford. Dr. Ashrafian is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and holds BM BCh and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford.
“Houman Ashrafian has accomplished a vast amount in his short time at SV, and all of his work has the potential to make an important difference for patients. We are honored to promote Houman to Partner,” said Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SV Health Investors.
SV Health Investors’ funds have approximately $2 billion of capital commitments under management. Over the past 20 years, SV has invested in over 175 companies. During 2017, the firm closed on its sixth flagship fund at its target of $400 million.
Contact:
Katarina Wenk-Bodenmiller
Sommerfield Communications
+1 (212) 255-8386
katarina@sommerfield.com