Monthly
Program: February 11, 2010
“The Current Investment Climate in Early Stage Life Sciences and Innovation Capital as a New Model”
Two industry veterans discuss the current market for early stage investment for life sciences and a new alternative approach, innovation capital, which funds projects in lieu of companies. ************************
Richard J. Pinto chairs the Venture, Technology and Entrepreneurial Services Practices of Stevens & Lee (an AmLaw 200 law firm) and serves as Managing Shareholder of its Princeton office. He also serves as a senior advisor for technology based deals for the firm’s affiliate, Griffin Financial Group, a FINRA licensed investment bank with over 30 professionals focused on raising institutional financing and M&A transactions for middle market companies. Making use of resources from both organizations, Rick recently founded and heads Griffin Technology Partners,a virtual innovation fund focused on funding and developing promising emerging technologies, primarily life sciences in the Mid-Atlantic region. Rick has extensive experience with corporate governance, financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing, and complex commercial agreements for companies in information technology, the life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, and a variety of other industries. He is also recognized as a mentor and facilitator of entrepreneurship, whether for new companies or for new projects within larger organizations. Rick serves on the Boards of the New Jersey Technology Council, its IT/Software Industry Group, Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network, the New Jersey Entrepreneur's Forum, the Einstein’s Alley Corporation, and the Business Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, for which he also serves as Chair of its Life Sciences Committee and Co-Editor of its "Corporate and Business Law" newsletter. As recently published in New Jersey Monthly, Rick has been recognized by his peers as one of the state's top corporate finance lawyers. He is a graduate of Yale College (B.A., cum laude) and University of Virginia (J.D.) . Walter Greenblatt, MBA, Managing Director, Walter Greenblatt & Associates is a veteran life science-focused investment banker, raises seed capital and early institutional funding: typically Seed round, Series A and Series B capital for fast-growing life science startups including WuXi Pharmatech (which ultimately went public on the NYSE),
MedAvante, Advanced BioHealing, QuantumBio, Lerner Medical Devices and many others in various therapeutic areas.
In addition to raising early-stage capital, he works closely with clients on strategy, often serving as their acting CFO for a period of time. Additionally, Walter Greenblatt & Associates represents clients in M&A and business development transactions for companies developing therapeutics, medical devices and pharmaceutical services including, among others: PTC Therapeutics, Pharmacopia and then its acquiror Ligand and Seedlings Life Science Ventures. Walter is an experienced entrepreneur and “hands-on” operating executive himself, having successfully founded, grown and sold a profitable business in Manhattan from 1985-1995. Before that, he was with Bain & Company. Walter received his MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School after graduating from Yale (summa cum laude) and receiving a Masters in Politics, Philosophy & Economics from Balliol College, Oxford University. Walter Greenblatt & Associates, a FINRA registered broker-dealer focusing exclusively on early stage life science companies, is located in Princeton, New Jersey.
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