HighCape Partners

Kevin Rakin and Matt Gline, both co-founders with prior life sciences operating experience, lead investment decisions. Rakin previously founded Advanced BioHealing, sold to Shire for $750 million. Gline was CFO at Dermira, a public biotech acquired by Eli Lilly. The firm's transaction record, including the Quantum-Si SPAC merger in 2021, indicates decision-making authority rests with the two partners.

HighCape functions primarily as a SPAC sponsor with growth equity capabilities. Its first vehicle, HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp., raised $115 million in a September 2020 IPO and completed a merger with Quantum-Si in June 2021. The firm's strategy involves identifying a single platform company per vehicle and providing operational leadership post-close, rather than managing a diversified early-stage portfolio.

HighCape targets commercial-stage life sciences companies — those with existing FDA clearance or approval that require operational and commercial expertise to scale. This sits between early-stage venture capital, which funds pre-approval research, and late-stage buyouts, which target mature, diversified platforms. The firm has publicly stated its focus on growth-stage opportunities where technology risk is reduced and commercial execution is the primary value driver.

HighCape concentrates exclusively on life sciences, with a disclosed focus on medical technology, biotechnology, and tools companies. Within that universe, the firm targets platforms with FDA-cleared or approved products. HighCape has not disclosed investments in biopharma, digital health services, or healthcare IT, and its public activity suggests a preference for device and instrumentation platforms over therapeutic drug development.

HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp., the firm's SPAC vehicle, merged with Quantum-Si in June 2021 to take the company public on Nasdaq under the ticker QSI. Following the merger, HighCape partners Kevin Rakin and Matt Gline joined the Quantum-Si board. The transaction provided Quantum-Si with approximately $500 million in gross proceeds to commercialize its single-molecule protein sequencing platform.

HighCape's SPAC structure inherently involves institutional co-investors through the PIPE (private investment in public equity) process. The firm has not publicly disclosed a fund-of-funds program or traditional LP co-investment vehicle. Its capital base includes family offices and institutional investors who participated directly in the HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. IPO and subsequent Quantum-Si transaction.

Kevin Rakin co-founded Advanced BioHealing, a regenerative medicine company acquired by Shire in 2011 for $750 million. He has served on boards of multiple life sciences companies including Quantum-Si. Matt Gline was CFO of Dermira, a dermatology biotech that went public in 2014, guided it through multiple financing rounds, and remained through its 2020 acquisition by Eli Lilly for $1.1 billion. Both bring operator rather than traditional private equity backgrounds.