Atlas Venture's Christopher Spray
Christopher Spray, a senior partner in the technology sector, spoke to Science|Business’ news editor Thomas Lau about the fund’s strategy and its view on university spin-outs.
Spray established Atlas Venture's Boston office in 1986 and was responsible for US operations until 1998. Since then he has been based in the firm’s London office, and is currently Chairman of the Management Committee, which guides the firm’s overall strategy and business operations and has primary responsibility for the firm’s limited partner relationships.
How would you describe the VC investment environment in 2006 so far in Europe? And what’s your prediction for the rest of the year?
2006 has started very strong for venture investing in Europe, outpacing 2005. We’ve seen a number of great opportunities, though there are also more investors, so pricing is often under pressure on early-stage deals.
What's hot these days for investment?
Our European Life Science team continues to see exciting opportunities in spin-outs from academia, carve-outs from pharma companies and drug development plays. The continuing evolution of the web, including collective intelligence and social networking are areas where our European Technology team sees great opportunities. In addition to recent investments in this space, some of our more established portfolio companies are also maximising their use of the web as a platform – Cognima with its photo sharing service ShoZu is an example.
What criteria does Atlas Venture have for new investment in Europe?
We invest in early-stage technology and life sciences companies with unique intellectual assets and large addressable markets. Historically our geographic focus has included all of Western Europe, as well as North America; and we are actively looking at opportunities in Asia.
How much money does Atlas typically invest in these companies?
Our investments range from $5 million and $25 million over the life of our investment - our typical investment is about $10 million to $12 million.
Lots of criticisms are directed towards universities' spin-out companies. Do you think they are justified? Could we expect to see Atlas investing more in spin outs?
We have a strong track record of investing in spin-outs from academic institutions. The issues these businesses face are the same as any other – they require unique technology, a large potential market and solid execution by talented management teams.
We help all our portfolio companies to realise their potential in all these areas. In addition to Renovo, which was spun out of Manchester University and completed a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in March, examples of our successes in spinouts include: Alnylam (NASDAQ: ALNY) which was spun out of MIT; and Morphosys AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: MOR) which was spun out of a Max Planck Institute.
How active is Atlas in looking for investment opportunities in Asia? It seems like that’s where all the hype is coming from.
Our portfolio is leveraging business development opportunities in both India and China. The region is very busy, with many US and European venture firms looking to establish a presence. We’ve seen some opportunities in the technology sector in India and China but haven’t made any investments yet. Our Life Science team has been active in Japan. We founded the Atlas Venture Biopharma Partnering Conference in Tokyo. Held on 20 June, and now in its second year, we expect attendance by over 200 high-level licensing and business development executives from 65 Japanese companies; and will showcase 38 European and North American biotechnology companies.
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