Investment Team
InCube Ventures is led by Mir Imran, a prolific medical innovator and company builder. Under Mir's leadership, InCube Ventures has access to ventures formed by InCube Labs - a multi-disciplinary research lab that has been a highly productive source of medical device companies. Mir and InCube Labs have formed 20 companies over the past 25 years, creating a series of multi-billion dollar markets along the way. In addition to Mir, the team consists of proven healthcare entrepreneurs, executives and investors.
- Mir Imran, Managing Director
Mir Imran founded InCube Labs, a multi-disciplinary research lab, and InCube Ventures, a life sciences venture fund, to focus on his passion: creating medical solutions that change the standard of care in critical healthcare markets. Mir began his career as a med-tech entrepreneur in the late 1970's and has founded numerous game-changing companies since those early days.
Over the decades, he has become one of the leading inventors and entrepreneurs in healthcare. Mir now holds more than 200 issued patents and is perhaps most well-known for his pioneering contributions to the first FDA-approved Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, a device sold to Eli Lilly and is now part of Guidant. Additionally, Mir has invented a number of breakthrough devices that set new standards of care for their industries.
As an entrepreneur, Mir has founded more than 20 medical device companies; 15 of his companies have seen "liquidity events" (IPO/Acquisition). Mir currently holds board seats with Bodymedia, Corhythm, eGeen, Entrack, Fe3, Intrapace, Modulus, Neurolink, NFocus, and Spinal Modulation. Mir is also Chairman and CEO of InCube Labs and Modulus Inc., a manufacturing and product development company focused on the medical device market. For more information on Mir and his companies, go to www.incubelabs.com and www.modulusinc.com.
- Andrew Farquharson, Managing Director
Andrew is an investor and entrepreneur with two decades years of experience building, restructuring and acquiring companies in life sciences. A founding member of InCube's venture fund, Andrew is also an advisor to InCube Labs, LLC, which develops breakthrough medical technologies under the leadership of Mir Imran.
Prior to joining InCube, Andrew served as a Partner in the Halo Funds, where he completed a Kauffman Fellowship and led investments in a portfolio of life science firms. These investments include Intrapace (obesity), Penumbra (ischemic stroke), Sonoma Orthopedic Products (bone repair), SwitchGear Genomics (gene regulation) & Spinal Modulation (pain management). Andrew has also been an active angel investor in a broader variety of ventures.
Earlier in his career, Andrew served as Executive Vice President of sales, marketing and research for Operon Technologies. During his tenure there, Andrew built a global sales force from scratch, grew revenues of synthetic DNA products to $40M in two years, and helped to negotiate a sale of the business to QIAGEN for $150M. He subsequently acquired a company in Japan for QIAGEN, and restructured it into the company's global operations. Prior to Operon, Andrew held several roles in research operations at Genentech, Inc., where he managed $200M of protein therapeutic production and optimized cell lines for expression. Andrew has also co-founded a gene design business in agricultural biotechnology (Glucazyme), launched a company in microfludics (Innovadyne), sat on a wide range of boards, and developed strategies for healthcare firms as a consultant with Deloitte & Touche.
Andrew holds a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University and a Bachelor's from the University of California at Berkeley.
- Wayne Roe, Managing Director
Wayne pioneered the field of new product reimbursement planning and is widely recognized as America's foremost expert on third party payment and pharmacoeconomic strategy for new drugs, biologics and personalized medical therapies products.
Wayne was the founding officer and chairman of Covance Health Economics and Outcomes Services, Inc. from 1988 through 1999. Prior to that, he served as vice president for Economic and Health Policy for the Health Industry Manufacturers Association. He has been an advisor on health policy and medical innovation to the U.S. Congress, the Medicare Program and the Blue Cross Association. Wayne played a major role in developing and executing successful commercialization and reimbursement strategies for EPO, GCSF, Alfa Interferon, Ceredase, Enbrel, MRI imaging, laparoscopic surgical procedures, and scores of other blockbuster life sciences innovations.
Wayne has served on Boards of more than a dozen innovative life sciences companies over the last 20 years. He currently sits on the Boards of Directors of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Celera Genomics, Hemaquest Inc., Fe2, Intrapace and Spinal Modulation. He is a strategic advisor to the Maryland Life Sciences Incubator, and serves on the executive committee of the Maryland Angels Investment Fund.
- Bill Ringo, Venture Partner
Bill Ringo served as the Senior Vice President Strategy and Business Development at Pfizer from 2008-2010. Bill currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Barclays Capital and executive in residence at Sofinnova. In addition, Bill serves as Chairman of the Board for Sangamo BioSciences, which is focused on research and development of novel DNA-binding proteins for therapeutic gene regulation and modification, and holds a Board seat for Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company committed to improving the lives of people with cancer. Bill also serves on the Board of Directors of BioCrossroads, a public-private collaboration of corporate, university, government and entrepreneurial leaders that supports Indiana's life sciences research and corporate strengths in life sciences while encouraging business development in the region.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Bill served as an executive in residence at Warburg Pincus and Sofinnova Ventures. From 2004 to 2006, he was President and CEO of Abgenix, Inc., a biotechnology firm focused on developing human antibodies as agents to treat cancer and other serious diseases. At Abgenix, he led efforts to transform the organization into a more focused product company by strengthening the senior management team and enhancing an existing partnership with Amgen, which purchased Abgenix in 2006.
Bill began his career at Eli Lilly & Company in 1973 and during his 28-year tenure there he held a number of senior positions, including Product Group President for Oncology and Critical Care, President of Internal Medicine Products, President of the Infectious Diseases Business Unit, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for U.S. Pharmaceuticals. He retired from Lilly in 2001. Bill holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.B.A. from the University of Dayton.
- Matt Harrison, Venture Advisor
Matt Harrison brings more than 15 years of technology and entrepreneurial experience to InCube. Matt serves as an advisor to InCube Ventures and he also leads Business Development efforts locally in San Antonio as InCube Labs establishes its Texas presence. Prior to joining InCube, Matt was the General Manager Texas Instruments' Medical Business Unit, where he was responsible for overall direction, growth, strategy, promotion, and execution of the business. Matt began his career with Texas Instruments in the mid-90s and led the creation of two internal business units, one focused in optical networking and the other in digital power. Both businesses today are profitable and represent more than $50M in revenue for TI. In 2003, Matt left TI to co-found Commoca, Incorporated (an IP phone communications company) where he served as COO and was a member of the Board of Directors. In August 2006, Matt rejoined TI to lead TI's medical initiative. Matt volunteers his time as a board member for multiple non-profit organizations. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.
- Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Steve Jurvetson is part of our DFJ InCube Ventures team, and is the Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world. He was the founding VC investor in Hotmail (MSFT), Interwoven (IWOV), and Kana (KANA). He also led the firm's investments in Tradex and Cyras, acquired for several billion dollars. Current Board positions include Synthetic Genomics, IMMI, NeoPhotonics, and ZARS.
Previously, Steve was an R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, where seven of his communications chip designs were fabricated. His prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research (TEM atomic imaging of GaAs), and computer design at HP's PC Division, the Center for Materials Research, and Mostek. He has also worked in product marketing at Apple and NeXT Software.
As a Consultant with Bain & Company, Steve developed executive marketing, sales, engineering and business strategies for a wide range of companies in the software, networking and semiconductor industries. At Stanford University, he finished his BSEE in 2.5 years and graduated #1 in his class, as the Henry Ford Scholar.
Steve also holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He received his MBA from the Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also serves on the STVP Advisory Boards and is Co-Chair of the NanoBusiness Alliance. He was honored as "The Valley's Sharpest VC" on the cover of Business 2.0 and chosen by the SF Chronicle and SF Examiner as one of "the ten people expected to have the greatest impact on the Bay Area in the early part of the 21st Century."