JP Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital hired a leading biotech investor as it continues to build out its team after having disclosed two recent investments.
Joseph SilettoJoseph Siletto, a former managing director at Vivo Capital, will join Stephen Squinto’s unit at JP Morgan to help the firm find new biotechs and life sciences startups to invest in.
Siletto will be a co-managing partner on the JP Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital team alongside Anya Schiess and Gaurav Gupta, both of whom joined in late 2022 to help Squinto launch a fund. All told, the team includes about a dozen people and a suite of advisors, including industry veterans like Vertex executive chair Jeffrey Leiden, Dana Farber Cancer Institute CEO Laurie Glimcher and ex-Seagen CEO David Epstein.
The team recently closed its first biotech VC fund, which came in above target with more than $500 million.
Endpoints News spoke with Schiess, who previously founded Healthy Ventures, about Siletto’s appointment and what’s next for the team. Here are some takeaways from the interview:
‘Deal flow has been great’: The team has looked at about 1,000 companies so far and is averaging about five to six company meetings per day, Schiess said. “We haven’t seen much of a decline in the number of companies being founded or anything with the broader decline in venture,” she said.
Anya SchiessTwo investments have been disclosed thus far: antibody-drug conjugates developer Enlaza Therapeutics and mRNA genomic medicines startup Exsilio Therapeutics.
“I think you’ll see more announcements from us in the next few months,” she said.
Siletto rounds out the team for the near-term: The expanded team plans to invest in Series B through pre-IPO companies across biotech, diagnostics, health tech and services, medical devices and life sciences tools.
“We’re piecemeal figuring out how to do that and what the right team to bring in is,” Schiess said. “You’ll see over time we’ll add people of that same caliber of Joe, Steve Squinto, Gaurav, etc, but for the next three to six months, I don’t think you’re going to see that announcement from us.”
AI’s impact: “We all talk in biotech [about] computational drug discovery and things like that, and that’s important for sure, but where we’re seeing it first is we’re seeing it in a lot of medical devices,” Schiess said.
She pointed to examples like computer brain implants, closed-loop insulin systems and home dialysis.
All about the process: Schiess said the team is focused on making strategic deals.
“You not only have to make sure you’re seeing the right deals, but you have to make sure that you’re able to triage them, ask the right questions as well as then convince the founders — when there’s a company you want to invest in — to let you lead the deal,” she said.
“We won’t always be the highest term sheet. Maybe we won’t ever be the highest term sheet,” Schiess added, “but certainly our strategy is not ‘Hey, let’s go out and just pay more for everything.’”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify that Joseph Siletto is not involved in the first fund that was announced last month, according to a JPM spokesperson.