Catapult Ventures has announced that Kevin D’Silva has been appointed as a Venture Partner with its GM&C Life Sciences Fund.
Alderley Park, UK – 17 October 2017. Catapult Ventures has announced that Kevin D’Silva has been appointed as a Venture Partner with its GM&C Life Sciences Fund. Kevin D’Silva, who becomes the Fund’s third Venture Partner, will assess investment opportunities and work with the Fund’s smaller investments to help companies successfully grow, with a particular focus on medical devices.
Speaking on the new appointment, Catapult CEO Nick Wright said: “I am delighted to welcome Kevin to Catapult as a Venture Partner specialising in medical devices and related technologies. Kevin has been known to Catapult for many years and was Chairman of two of Catapult’s recent life science exits. His skills and experience add significant gravitas to our specialist life science team in Alderley Park.”
Commenting on his new appointment, Kevin D’Silva said: “I am delighted to be joining Catapult Ventures and the GM&C Life Sciences Fund. I’ve been very impressed by the Fund’s deal flow and am already working closely on an exciting investment opportunity. The team at Catapult are good people to work with and their recent track record is very impressive.”
Kevin has held a number of non-executive and Chairman positions, including Monica Healthcare, which generated a 3.5x cash return for Catapult, and Crystallon, which generated a 5.2x cash return. He is also a Director and former Chairman of both Surface Transforms plc (AIM listed) and Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging Ltd.
Kevin was a founding director of international diagnostic company Ferraris Group plc, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and he created Salusinvest in 2006 to invest in a number of EU and US life science businesses. Kevin is also a former Director of Acuity VCT 3 and Octopus VCT 1.
The GM&C Life Sciences Fund is a specialist seed and early stage venture capital fund targeting life sciences businesses with a presence in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington region. The Fund was launched with a first close of around £31m in October 2015 and has invested in 16 companies to date, with a number of deals in progress. It is actively seeking high-potential innovative life sciences companies in which to invest.
About GM&C Life Sciences Fund
Managed by Catapult Ventures, the GM&C Life Sciences Fund is a seed and early stage venture capital fund targeting life sciences businesses located in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire & Warrington region.
The Fund is the result of a collaboration between Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire East Council, and Manchester Science Partnerships and can be invested in ‘Life Science’ businesses across the following sectors:
- Pharmaceuticals
- Biotechnology
- Diagnostics
- Life Science contract research organisations (CRO)
- Healthcare technologies
- Medical devices
With contributions from both private and public sector partners, the size of the Fund, at launch, is around £31m. Full details can be found at: www.gmclifesciencesfund.com
About Catapult Ventures
Catapult Ventures is an independent venture capital fund manager that has been investing in UK businesses across a range of sectors since 2002. Catapult’s owners operate a number of discrete funds on behalf of public and private sector investors with a total of c. £130m under the owners’ management. Notable realisations (over 4x return) include Blackstar Amps (4.3x), R5 Pharmaceuticals (4.7x), Whelan Refining (4.7x), QEK (4.5x), Lumora (5x), Oxford Cryosystems (5.2x), Systems Integration (4.9x) and Accutronics (9.1x). Catapult also invested in Abzena (AIM: ABZA) which listed in 2014.
