Life Science Angels

The group is chaired by Allan May, a serial medical-device entrepreneur and investor. Individual investment decisions are made by member investors who perform their own due diligence and choose whether to participate in each syndicated round — there is no centralized investment committee that deploys a commingled fund. Screening committees of experienced members vet opportunities before presenting them to the broader membership.

Deal flow comes primarily through the deep life-science networks of its membership, many of whom are former operators, clinicians, and executives at major device and diagnostics companies. The group also receives referrals from venture capital firms, university tech-transfer offices, and incubators concentrated in California and the Minnesota medtech cluster. Members frequently co-invest alongside top-tier healthcare VCs that bring the group into syndicates early.

It is a pure angel network — members invest their own capital directly into companies on a deal-by-deal basis rather than through a pooled fund. There is no management fee or carried interest collected by the group itself beyond any administrative dues. This structure means each investor retains full discretion over which deals they fund and how much they commit.

The group focuses on pre-revenue and early-commercial-stage companies, usually post-proof-of-concept but pre-Series B. Typical initial checks range between $250,000 and $1 million, with the syndicate frequently participating in seed and Series A rounds alongside institutional venture funds. Members often reserve capital for follow-on investments in subsequent rounds.

The group actively co-invests alongside healthcare-focused venture capital firms, and its members routinely appear in syndicates led by top-tier medtech and healthtech VCs. This co-investment model is core to its strategy — it allows angel-scale checks to access institutionally led deals and provides VCs with a syndicate of clinically and technically literate individual investors.

The group focuses narrowly on life sciences and avoids sectors outside medical technology, diagnostics, digital health, and drug delivery. It does not invest in generalist software, consumer internet, clean energy, or therapeutics requiring lengthy FDA drug-approval pathways — its expertise and deal flow are built entirely around devices and health IT.

As of late 2023, the group reports over 30 portfolio exits. While specific deal terms are generally undisclosed, acquirers of its portfolio companies have included large strategic medical-device firms such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Abbott. The exit count is unusually high for an angel syndicate and reflects the group's focus on regulatory-clearance-stage companies with clear acquisition pathways.