Prospect Venture Partners

Prospect Venture Partners is a Palo Alto, California-based life-sciences venture capital firm founded in 1997 by Alex Barkas, Ph.D. and David Schnell, M.D., both formerly of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Since inception, the firm has raised more than $1 billion of committed capital from foundations, endowments, pension funds, and other institutional limited partners across three flagship funds — Prospect Venture Partners I through III — making it one of the most established dedicated biomedical venture firms on the West Coast. The four Managing Partners are Alex Barkas, David Schnell, Russell Hirsch, M.S., Ph.D., and Jim Tananbaum, M.D., together representing decades of combined life-sciences venture experience. Prospect leads rounds and ultimately invests $10 million to $20 million per company across new-company incubations, first and second venture financings, and later-stage private and public expansion capital. The firm's mandate is commercially attractive biomedical enterprises with outstanding entrepreneurial management teams, proprietary products, and innovative technologies. Across its history, Prospect has recorded approximately 161 investments and 38 portfolio exits. Notable exits include Amira Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $475 million in 2011) and Gloucester Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celgene for $640 million in December 2009). The most recent disclosed exit was Nanosys in September 2023. Prospect's founding pedigree — two Kleiner Perkins partners building an independent life-sciences franchise in 1997 — gave the firm early access to the first generation of genomics and biotechnology companies and established LP and syndication relationships that have compounded over nearly three decades. Though the firm did not close a Fund IV and is not making new primary bets, its existing portfolio and governance roles continue to generate activity across its established base of biotech, pharma, and medical-device holdings.