5 Cord Blood Investors Impacting the Global Marketplace

Inspired by the acquisition of Cord Blood Registry by AMAG Pharmaceuticals for $700M in June of 2015, this post considers five cord blood investors that are impacting the global marketplace.  It includes traditional investments, acquisitions, and contributions from wealthy founders. If you are operating within the cord blood industry, you need to know these market investors.

Top 5 Cord Blood Investors

Five leading cord blood investors are highlighted below, as well as a description of their cord blood investments to date.

1. ABS Capital Partners & HLM Management

In 2002, the world’s largest cord blood bank, Cord Blood Registry, announced that it had received a total of $18 million in funding from ABS Capital Partners and HLM Management.¹

ABS Capital Partners is a leading private equity firm with $1.4 billion under management and has offices in Baltimore, San Francisco and Boston. HLM Management is a Boston-based venture capital and public equity investment management firm with investments in the health care and information technology sectors.

2. KKR & Company

In a recent landmark funding event, KKR & Company invested $65 million in China Cord Blood Corporation, the largest cord blood bank in China, in 2012.²

The investment allowed China Cord Blood Corporation to focus on the development of its research capacities and the discovery of new applications for umbilical cord blood derived stem cells. KKR & Co. L.P. (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) is an international private equity firm operated by Henry Kravis and George Roberts that specializes in leveraged buyouts. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York, USA.

3. Bay City Capital

Bay City Capital, a life sciences venture capital firm based in San Francisco, has also invested a total of $10 million in SynGen, a med-tech company that manufactures tools used to harvest stem and progenitor cells found in cord blood.³ In 2013, SynGen received FDA approval for three products used to process cord blood.

The investment began when Bay City Capital invested $5M in a Series A preferred stock financing of SynGen in April of 2012. The support then continued with financing in the form of convertible notes. On October 6, 2014, SynGen announced that it had secured additional financing from Bay City Capital, LLC. Those notes brought Bay City’s total investment in the company to $10M, and additional funds may be made available subject to the company achieving specified milestones.⁴

Most recently on July 7, 2015, SynGen announced that it had raised another $2.3 million from Bay City Capital in a private offering that will support ongoing operational costs of the company.⁵

4. GTCR, LLC

In 2012, GTCR, LLC, a large Chicago based private equity fund, made a major investment in Cord Blood Registry, though the amount invested was not made public.⁶

The company GTCR, LLC, was founded in 1980 as Golder Thoma & Co. by Stanley Golder and Carl Thoma, although it later became known as Golder, Thoma, Cressey, Rauner, Inc. (GTCR), as new members joined the firm. Since the company was founded in 2008, GTCR has invested more than $10 billion in over 200 companies, making it a major player in the private equity sector.⁷

Because GTCR, LLC, holds Cord Blood Registry (CBR) as a portfolio company, it was a central participant within the deal to sell the company to AMAG Pharmaceuticals in June of 2015. Since GTCR has not announced further funding for CBR following its initial investment on September 9, 2012,⁸ GTCR accomplished a relatively efficient turn-around time from initial investment to exit strategy.

5. Excalibur (Private Equity Firm) and Christopher Evans (Biotech Entrepreneur)

Finally, while the billionaire Richard Branson put his name and branding power behind the Virgin Health Bank in the UK, he did not invest any money in the deal. Instead, the company was largely funded by the private equity firm Excalibur and the biotech entrepreneur Christopher Evans, with an ownership stake estimated at as high as 65 percent.

While the UK branch was founded in 2007 by Branson and Evans, it had by 2009 changed its name and relocated its headquarters to Doha, Qatar, as part of a new partnership with the Qatar Science & Technology Park. Most recently, the position owned by Excalibur was bought out by Qatar investors last year, allowing Excalibur to get an (undisclosed) return on their £8 million investment.

To learn more, view the “Complete 2017-18 Global Cord Blood Banking Industry Report.”

Footnotes

¹   Thefreelibrary.com, (2015). Cord Blood Registry Receives $18 Million Investment. – Free Online Library. [online] Available at: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cord+Blood+Registry+Receives+$18+Million+Investment.-a092844307 [Accessed Nov 6, 2014].
²   M., Sands, A., Sands, A. and Sands, A. (2014). Signs of validation for investors in cord blood banking – the industry consolidation – Total Biopharma : Total Biopharma. [online] Totalbiopharma.com. Available at: http://www.totalbiopharma.com/2013/06/11/signs-validation-investors-cord-blood-banking-industry-consolidation/ [Accessed 14 Aug. 2017].
³   SynGen, Inc., (2014). SynGen, Inc. Secures Additional Financing From Bay City Capital – SynGen, Inc.. [online] Available at: http://syngeninc.com/syngen-inc-secures-additional-financing-bay-city-capital/ [Accessed284 Aug. 2017].
⁴   Ibid.
⁵   Sacramento Business Journal,. ‘Regenerative Medicine Company Syngen Raises $2.3M In A Private Offering – Sacramento Business Journal’. N.p., 2015. Web. 8 July 2017.
⁶   Investors Hub, (2014). Cord Blood America Inc. CBAI Post # 87083. [online] Available at: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=85434933 [Accessed 20 July. 2017].
⁷   Gtcr.com, (2014). About Us – The Leaders Strategy – Chicago Based Private Equity Firm – GTCR Golder Rauner. [online] Available at: http://www.gtcr.com/about-us/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].
⁸   GTCR, LLC, (2014). Portfolio Companies: Cord Blood Registry. [online] Available at: http://www.gtcr.com/our-focus/healthcare/portfolio/cord-blood-registry/ [Accessed 7 Aug. 2017].