Garrett Smith, a University of California San Diego bioengineering PhD alumnus, has launched ReefHaven Ventures as founding managing partner, a San Diego-focused venture capital fund dedicated to early-stage medical technology startups with a focus on reinvesting in the local innovation ecosystem. Smith previously founded his first company as a doctoral student, stewarded technologies through FDA approval, led multiple startups to successful acquisition, directed early innovation partnerships for Johnson and Johnson Innovation, and oversaw a corporate venture capital fund for MedeonBIO.
ReefHaven Ventures is focused on startups at the convergence of medical technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics, and has already made three investments in UC San Diego-affiliated medtech companies: KatoMed, which developed a navigation tool for spine surgery; Acurion, which offers an AI-powered oncology precision medicine technology at the biopsy stage and was co-founded by UC San Diego professor Ludmil Alexandrov; and Dragon Vascular, which has developed a single-pass technology for immediate clot removal in acute ischemic stroke patients and is led by Jacobs School of Engineering alumnus Erik Engelson. The firm has more than two dozen investments planned in San Diego medtech companies over the next few years.
Smith’s earlier ventures include Nasseo, a nanotube surface technology company he co-founded during his doctoral research that won first prize at the 2012 UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge and reached FDA clearance and commercialization, and Oculeve, a non-invasive neurostimulator for dry eye disease that he helped build as a BioDesign Fellow at Stanford, which was later acquired by Allergan for $125 million. Smith has also served as founding program director of UC San Diego’s first biomedical accelerator, Blue LINC, now operating as Health Link, and currently serves on the MedTech Accelerator Executive Board at the university’s Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, where he and ReefHaven investment partner Nicholas Mourlas host weekly office hours for founders and researchers.
KEY QUOTES:
“I’ve always believed and seen first hand that UC San Diego innovation rivals anything out of the Bay Area.”
“San Diego lacks the same supporting ecosystem, especially when it comes to early stage investors.”
Garrett Smith, Founding Managing Partner, ReefHaven Ventures
“UC San Diego consistently ranks in the top 10 universities nationally for startup creation. This campus has launched more than 800 companies based on the bold ideas formed and tested right here, and roughly 60 percent of them are in the life science sector.”
“I’m excited to see how we can further amplify our campus efforts to ensure the breakthrough technologies discovered at UC San Diego make it into the hands of those who need them, by cooperating with investors like ReefHaven.”
Paul Roben, Associate Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Commercialization, UC San Diego
“Garrett Smith is the real deal. I watched him have rapid success at Oculeve. And his translational work in bioengineering at UC San Diego has been inspiring.”
“Reef Haven Ventures has captured my imagination. I can’t wait to see the start-up acceleration that will result.”
Erik Engelson, Board of Trustees Emeritus, UC San Diego Foundation
