Forward Ventures

The firm's website does not name individual managing partners or investment committee members. It describes a team of investment professionals with backgrounds in entrepreneurship, venture capital, biological sciences, operations, and corporate management who take leadership positions on portfolio company boards.

Forward Ventures invests directly in companies. The firm has managed five distinct funds and has seeded companies from scratch, which suggests a model built around direct equity stakes rather than fund-of-funds commitments. It does not advertise investing as a limited partner in other managers' vehicles.

The firm's primary focus is biopharmaceutical therapeutics. Its public portfolio and investment criteria do not reference medical devices, diagnostics, health IT, or healthcare services, which suggests those sectors fall outside its historical mandate.

The firm's location in San Diego — an elite biomedical cluster housing UCSD, Scripps Research, and the Salk Institute — provides local academic sourcing. It has also licensed assets globally, as when it acquired a German-developed drug to create Tioga Pharmaceuticals, and on multiple occasions has seeded companies from scratch by assembling teams around compelling scientific opportunities.

The firm invests in all stages of company development. Its most recent fund focuses on biopharmaceutical products in early clinical development, and the firm has historically entered at seed, startup, and expansion or late stages, often holding positions through IPO or trade sale.