Hatteras Venture Partners appointed Andrew Witty as Chairman and Norman “Ned” Sharpless, M.D., as Managing Director of Hatteras Discovery Innovation as the healthcare-focused venture capital firm expands its company-creation and later-stage investment strategies.
Hatteras also announced the first closing of Hatteras Opportunity Fund II, which is targeting $100 million in capital commitments.
The closing brings Hatteras’ total capital under management to more than $1 billion.
Witty previously served as Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline and UnitedHealth Group and has a longstanding relationship with Hatteras.
He previously served as a Venture Partner at the firm from 2017 through 2019.
As Chairman, Witty will bring experience spanning pharmaceuticals, healthcare delivery, and global health as Hatteras continues developing its investment platform and supporting its portfolio companies.
Sharpless joins Hatteras with experience spanning medicine, scientific research, biotechnology company creation, and government leadership.
He previously served as Director of the National Cancer Institute and as Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Sharpless also co-founded G1 Therapeutics, which was later acquired by Pharmacosmos A/S.
His relationship with Hatteras dates back to the creation of G1 Therapeutics, where Hatteras was the company’s first institutional investor.
Sharpless will lead the renewed Hatteras Discovery Innovation strategy, which is modeled on the firm’s original Hatteras Discovery initiative launched in 2012.
That strategy seeded 11 companies and contributed to multiple public listings and acquisitions.
Companies created through the initiative also helped produce two FDA-approved medicines, Cosela and Xipere.
The next generation of Hatteras Discovery will source opportunities through the firm’s academic and industry relationships.
Sharpless and the Hatteras team will evaluate promising seed-stage scientific discoveries, form companies around selected programs, and provide the people, capital, and resources needed to accelerate their development.
The strategy is designed to give Hatteras greater ability to participate in company formation from the earliest stages of scientific development.
At the other end of the investment lifecycle, Hatteras Opportunity Fund II will provide concentrated follow-on capital to selected existing portfolio companies approaching significant clinical, regulatory, or commercial milestones.
The strategy builds on Hatteras Opportunity Fund I, which invested additional capital into selected later-stage companies within the firm’s portfolio.
HOF I investments included HistoSonics and Perfuse Therapeutics approximately 2.5 years and 1.5 years, respectively, before major exits involving those companies.
Hatteras plans to use HOF II to continue making high-conviction investments in companies from its core funds as they approach important development milestones and potential liquidity events.
Together, Hatteras Discovery Innovation and Hatteras Opportunity Fund II expand the firm’s ability to invest across the healthcare company lifecycle, from translating early-stage scientific discoveries into new businesses through supporting more mature portfolio companies as they approach commercialization and potential exits.
Hatteras Venture Partners is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and invests across biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health technology.
With more than $1 billion under management, the firm supports healthcare businesses from company formation and seed-stage development through later-stage clinical, regulatory, and commercial growth.
KEY QUOTES:
“To build great healthcare companies, you must have a great team. The addition of Andrew and Ned brings a complementary set of relationships and experiences to our longstanding and next-generation partners. Andrew has a rare breadth of perspective across pharmaceuticals, healthcare delivery, and global health. Ned is an accomplished oncologist, scientist, founder, and public-sector leader, making him the ideal person to lead a new generation of company creation at Hatteras.”
Clay Thorp, Founding General Partner of Hatteras Venture Partners
“Hatteras has always paired scientific ambition with discernment and a practical understanding of how enduring healthcare companies are built. I am pleased to return and help the team extend that approach at an important moment for the firm and the healthcare industry.”
Andrew Witty, Chairman of Hatteras Venture Partners
“Hatteras took an early bet on G1 Therapeutics and worked alongside us for years to turn an academic insight into a public biotechnology company with an approved medicine. That experience is central to what we want to recreate through HDI: find exceptional science early, bring the right people and resources around it, and build companies capable of producing meaningful therapies.”
Norman “Ned” Sharpless, M.D., Managing Director of Hatteras Discovery Innovation
