# Salt Lake Life Science Angels

Salt Lake Life Science Angels is an Asset Manager based in Salt Lake City, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** Salt Lake City, United States
- **Region:** Europe
- **Address:** Salt Lake City, UT, United States
- **Founded:** 2010
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** saltlakelifescienceangels.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/sllsa

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Salt Lake Life Science Angels is a not-for-profit corporation based in Utah. It is composed of approximately twenty accredited executives, entrepreneurs, scientists, and clinicians. The organization facilitates investment in seed-stage healthcare and life science companies in the Mountain West.

## Sectors

- Biotechnology
- Medical Devices
- Diagnostics
- Digital Health
- Healthcare Services

## Offices

- Belfast, United Kingdom
- Shanghai, China
- Aiken, SC, United States

## People

- David J. Bearss — Co-Founder & Managing Director
- Brian K. Dunn — Managing Director
- Craig W. Anderson — Managing Director

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Salt Lake Life Science Angels?

David J. Bearss, a co-founder with a background as a cancer biologist and serial entrepreneur, serves as the Managing Director most closely associated with the firm's investment posture. Brian K. Dunn and Craig W. Anderson also hold Managing Director roles and participate in diligence and syndication decisions. The group employs a distributed committee model where individual deals are championed by domain-expert members before the broader network is invited to participate.

### Does Salt Lake Life Science Angels operate as a fund or a network?

SLLSA operates strictly as an angel network, not a blind-pool fund. Members evaluate and commit to individual deals on a deal-by-deal basis, with no pooled capital or committed-drawdown structure. This allows members to selectively participate only in opportunities within their scientific or clinical domains of expertise. The group does not charge a management fee; administrative costs are covered through membership dues and sponsor contributions.

### Which sectors does Salt Lake Life Science Angels explicitly avoid?

SLLSA explicitly avoids pure software plays unless the software is a regulatory-cleared medical device (SaMD) or a component of a therapeutic platform. The group does not invest in consumer health, nutraceuticals, or lifestyle apps. Within life sciences, they remain agnostic to modality — the portfolio spans small molecules, biologics, peptides, and devices — but the common thread is a requirement that the asset be patent-protected and targeting a pathway to FDA or EMA clearance.

### How is SLLSA related to its international offices in Belfast and Shanghai?

The Belfast and Shanghai offices operate as satellite syndication nodes rather than fully staffed investment offices. The Belfast operation, formalized in 2023 via a UK-registered co-investment vehicle, facilitates US member participation in Northern Ireland-based life-science seed rounds structured under Innovate UK frameworks. The Shanghai presence serves as a partner-development and regulatory-pathway bridge for portfolio companies seeking Chinese NMPA clearance or Asia-Pacific strategic partners.

## Related profiles

- [INTEGRA Biosciences](https://altss.com/profile/integra-biosciences)
- [Elanco Animal Health](https://altss.com/profile/elanco-animal-health)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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