Portfolio News
February 14, 2019
University of Minnesota First in U.S. to Offer New Targeted Therapy for Recurrent Brain Tumors
Tempe, Arizona & Minneapolis, Minnesota – University of Minnesota Health (M Health) is the first health system in the United States to begin offering GammaTile Therapy™, a new approach to treating recurrent brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy is an FDA-cleared, surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT™) that is designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors. The first patient was treated by University of Minnesota Physician, Clark C. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. At University of Minnesota Health, our mission is to advance new, safe, and effective therapeutic options for the many brain tumor patients who did not respond to the standard-of-care therapies,” ... READ MORE
BlueStone News
August 17, 2018
USNews & World Report: State Funding to Spur Development of Bioscience Startups
Santa Fe, New Mexico – A state economic development fund is providing up to $3 million to help spur growth of New Mexico bioscience startups. Gov. Susana Martinez announced Thursday the Catalyst Fund will provide the funding to BlueStone Venture Partners LLC which in turn will match the state funding and invest in technology companies in early stages of development. Martinez's announcement says BlueStone Venture Partners is a new venture capital firm with a focus on life science technology investments. The Catalyst Fund is comprised of $10 million in public money allocated by the New Mexico State Investment Council, $5 million from... READ MORE
BlueStone News
August 16, 2018
Governor Susana Martinez Announces New Catalyst Fund Commitment to BlueStone Venture Partners
Santa Fe, New Mexico – A new venture fund is scouting for local health science startups to invest in, backed by $3 million from the state Catalyst Fund. BlueStone Venture Partners LLC, with offices in Tucson and Santa Fe, must match the state commitment with $3 million from private investors, making at least $6 million available for emerging early-stage companies based in New Mexico. This is the sixth state investment in local venture funds since last year, when the State Investment Council launched the $20 million Catalyst Fund to boost venture activity in New Mexico. To date, Santa Fe-based Sun Mountain Capital, which manages the Catalyst Fund, has approved about $13 million for venture funds that commit capital to local startups to prove their technologies and move to market... READ MORE
BlueStone News
BlueStone News
December 17, 2018
BlueStone Venture Partners, A Local Venture Capital Fund
Tucson, Arizona – The mantra, “Why not us?” has been used across a wide spectrum of issues ranging from economic development to politics to sports. In Southern Arizona and the Southwest region, it is applying to venture capital, an industry that has been notably centered in two hubs – the Bay Area in California, including the Silicon Valley and San Francisco, and the finance centers in Boston and New York. But that is headed for change, said Tom Nickoloff, who launched a venture capital fund, BlueStone Venture Partners, with Tucson businesswoman Mara Aspinall, a healthcare industry CEO, and investment adviser. “There are going to be these other hubs,” Nickoloff said. “I’m not saying we all want to be Silicon Valley. But there’s only so much housing, so much infrastructure you can pack in an area. There are quality-of-life issues that we can take advantage of in the Southwest... READ MORE
New Portfolio Company
January 31, 2019
GT Medical Technologies Announces $10 Million Financing to Support Launch of Targeted Therapy for Patients with Recurrent Brain Tumors
Tempe, Arizona – GT Medical Technologies, Inc., a company dedicated to improving the lives of patients with brain tumors, today announced that it has raised $10 million in a Series A financing led by MedTech Venture Partners with participation from BlueStone Venture Partners. Funds from the round will support the commercialization of GammaTile™ Therapy, an FDA-cleared, surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT™) for patients with recurrent intracranial neoplasms (brain tumors). The company recently launched a limited market release of GammaTile Therapy and is making it available at select medical centers in the United States. “GT MedTech’s mission is in line with our investment goal of supporting innovative technologies that address unmet needs in vital disease areas,” said Radu Cautis, partner and managing director of MedTech Venture Partners “We are enthusiastic about the potential of GammaTile Therapy to address the shortcomings of current treatments... READ MORE
New Portfolio Company
October 9, 2018
BroadSpot Imaging Corporation Expands Series A Investment
Richmond, California – BroadSpot Imaging Corporation, a medical device company focused on transforming patient access to superior eye-based diagnostics for ophthalmic and other medical conditions, has expanded the second tranche of its Series A funding for a total closing of $8.6M. BroadSpot will use the funds to manufacture and launch its first suite of low cost, ultra-widefield imaging devices and related software services. Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP), a leading venture capital firm with domain expertise in optics and advanced materials, led the expanded Series A financing. PVP was joined in making successive investments by Camino Real Capital Partners (CRCP) and welcomed new investors, BlueStone Venture Partners (BlueStone) and Burwell Investments into the expanded second tranche... READ MORE
BlueStone News
July 27, 2018
BlueStone Venture Partners Announces Initial Funding Close and State of New Mexico Investment in Its Inaugural Venture Fund
Tucson, Arizona & Santa Fe, New Mexico – BlueStone Venture Partners, with offices in Tucson, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico, announced its First Close for the BlueStone Life Sciences Innovation & Technology Fund, LP. BlueStone is focused on Series A and B equity investments in opportunities in the advanced materials, biopharma, healthcare information technology, medical devices, and molecular diagnostics markets. BlueStone has developed an investment thesis for the Fund based on evaluating strengths and favorable attributes including attractive valuations and low cost of market entry found in the Life Science market in the Southwest US. Based on this investment thesis, the Fund will invest primarily in companies with a geographic focus in the Southwest region of the United States but will also invest in companies that exhibit these positive “Southwest-like” attributes... READ MORE