OneVentures appoints Dr Graeme Wald to life sciences investment team

OneVentures, a venture capital fund focused on investment in high growth and transformative technology and life sciences companies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Graeme Wald as a Venture Partner.

OneVentures, which has $170 million of funds under management, invests in technology and life sciences companies providing human and investment capital, and plays an active role in leadership and fund raising for its portfolio companies. Its most notable achievement in life sciences is its investment in Hatchtech. OneVentures currently owns nearly 40% of the company and has led financing rounds that raised over $24 million over the past six years.  Representing Hatchtech’s largest shareholder and acting as Chairman of the company, OneVentures’ Paul Kelly played a leading role in securing a $279 million licencing deal with Dr Reddy’s for the company’s lead product, egg lice treatment Xeglyze™. The transaction could return up to $100 million to OneVentures’ investors.

Dr Wald, brings more than 20 years of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and healthcare investment and research to OneVentures,  holding senior roles in both the buy and sell side. His most recent position was Investment Director at Bioscience Managers, a specialist life science fund manager.  Graeme has also held equity research roles at Wilson HTM, UBS and Merrill Lynch. In 2007 he was named as the top rated analyst in Australia for pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnology, as measured by investment returns and recommendations, by Starmine.

OneVentures said Graeme’s appointment reflects the firm’s global focus. Dr Wald, was previously aNon-Executive Director of NexVet where he assisted in guiding the Company to a listing on NASDAQ. OneVentures partners between them have previously led 4 Nasdaq listed companies as either founder/co-founder and/or CEO with combined market values of over $1B and have led numerous MA transactions in US and Europe.  OneVentures continues to build out its strength and leverage its international networks in driving Australian innovation and companies through to significant value in global markets.

Managing Partner of OneVentures, and head of the LifeSciences team, Dr Paul Kelly said, “We are very pleased to welcome an investment professional with Graeme’s experience to the LifeSciences and Healthcare team. His academic background, experience in capital markets, and work with a wide range of healthcare and biotechnology companies aligns with our vision to add value to our investments by helping to foster growth and nurture companies along the commercialisation journey.

“We’re seeing a definite increase in venture capital investment in the Australian market; innovation is firmly on the government agenda, and new investment funds such as the Biotechnology Translation Fund will be integral in attracting new interest in early stage technologies. We’re very committed to building our team, and presence in this area, to continue to translate great Australian research and innovation, into commercial products addressing global market needs.”

ENDS. 

For more information, contact:

Paul Kelly
Tel: +61 2 8205 7379
Email:[email protected]

Kyahn Williamson
WE Buchan
Tel: +61 40 101 8828
Email:[email protected]

About OneVentures

OneVentures is a Sydney-based venture capital firm with $170M under management that invests in emerging Australian companies with differentiated products particularly in the information technology and life sciences sectors that address large and growing global markets.  OneVentures is managed by a team of partners with a track record of hands-on business execution and operational management: a unique blend of highly successful entrepreneurs, technology business founders and corporate executives with a strong technical and scientific pedigree, extensive off-shore experience and networks combined with investment management expertise.  This skill-set makes the team ideally suited to supporting and mentoring entrepreneurial management to help them drive growth and create value in their companies and subsequently, through leveraging collective experience, reduce portfolio company risk and enhance portfolio returns for OneVentures’ investors.

OneVentures Innovation Fund I and OneVentures Innovation and Growth Fund II are formed as Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnerships (ESVCLPs). ESVCLP returns are tax free on income and capital account for national and international investors. The OneVentures Innovation Fund I is a $40 million venture capital fund raised in 2010 and is supported by the Australian Government through the IIF (Innovation Investment Fund) program with this funding matched by institutional investors, individual high net worth investors and family offices. The IIF is an Australian Government venture capital initiative that provides investment capital and managerial expertise through licensed venture capital fund managers to investee companies.

OneVentures Fund II is a $100M later stage venture growth fund focusing on technology rich companies.  The Fund is particularly interested in companies developing products in the following sectors: healthcare, education, mobile, media, cloud computing and data, security and privacy, machine learning, software, sensors and robotics or food security.

Read more about OneVentures at www.one-ventures.com