US-based venture capital firm TauTona Group has closed its first fund at $50m using a model of close partnership with healthcare companies and a research and production laboratory in-house to develop new drugs.
Duke Rohlen, chief executive of TauTona, said: "TauTona is focused on rapid, capital-efficient innovation and on delivering highly differentiated products.
"We fill an enlarging gap in today’s funding environment for early-stage technologies, and I believe we can work with strategic corporations in a fundamentally more collaborative way."
TauTona focuses on aesthetics, cardiovascular and advanced wound care and within each of those areas it wants to make an asset sale or strategic partnership earlier than a typical venture-backed company. The firm is based in Kansas City, which is where VC peer MPM just opened an office last week.
This strategy is similar to peer Third Rock Ventures, which closed its second fund above target last month.