Mountain Group Partners a Nashville-based venture capital firm, announced the closing of an above target amount of $128 million in its third fund (“MGP Fund III”). Mountain Group will continue its strategy of investing in early-stage companies within human and animal life sciences and disruptive technologies. “We are extremely pleased with the support received from our existing and new investors for MGP Fund III and look forward to continuing to build businesses that improve the lives of others,” said Joe Cook, III, Managing Director at Mountain Group.
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Mountain Group takes a unique, hands-on approach to venture investing based on the deep operational experience of the Firm’s Partners. Within life sciences, Mountain Group focuses on opportunities in diagnostics, medtech, and drug development across human and animal health. The Firm’s technology strategy predominantly targets companies in healthcare IT and business services. Successful investments since inception include Aspire Health, Castle Biosciences, G1 Therapeutics and Silicon Ranch, among others. “MGP takes a long-term approach to investing and has played a crucial role in our success,” said Reagan Farr, President and CEO of Silicon Ranch, “They have never failed to provide insightful strategic advice and have been willing to roll up their sleeves to help us achieve optimal, desired outcomes even under the most challenging of circumstances.”
The Firm is pleased to announce that MGP Fund III has already made five investments including two in the fast-growing animal health sector. In May 2022, the Firm partnered with Merck Animal Health and NovaQuest Capital Management in co-leading a $35 million Series C financing for Targan. Targan is aiming to bring individualized care technologies to the poultry, aquaculture and swine industries. “The animal health sector has been a quality addition to our Firm’s historically human focus given the overlap in technical knowledge required and shorter development timelines,” said Rob Readnour, Managing Director at Mountain Group. “We expect the sector to continue its growth trajectory as people’s attitudes toward their pets at home and the food they consume continue to shift.”
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Another primary focus for MGP Fund III will be in diagnostics, a sector in which the Firm has developed a quality track record since its first fund. Earlier this year, MGP Fund III continued this effort by leading an investment in Mindera Health, a company developing a proprietary dermal biomarker patch to predict treatment response for patients with dermatological diseases. “Advances in genomic research have led to an increased understanding of the unique properties associated with specific diseases and conditions,” said Joe Cook, III. “We feel well-positioned to develop technologies that use biomarkers to generate actionable information for providers, improving patient outcomes from initial diagnosis to post-treatment surveillance.”
In February 2022, MGP Fund III invested in Silicon Ranch, a solar independent power producer, alongside Manulife and TD Greystone. Silicon Ranch is a fully integrated provider of customized renewable energy, carbon and battery storage solutions for a diverse set of partners across North America, ranging from Facebook to TVA to the U.S. Navy, with a portfolio that includes more than 4 gigawatts of solar and battery storage systems spread across 150 facilities in 15 states and Canada. “We are still in the early stages of the global energy transition and find ourselves at an inflection point defined by both critical need and enormous opportunity,” said Byron Smith, Managing Director at Mountain Group. “We are thrilled to continue our decade long partnership with Silicon Ranch. As the first outside investors in the company, we continue to take pride in the large role we have played in this transition.”
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