J.P. Morgan Asset Management has announced the launch of a new life sciences private equity team, Life Sciences Private Capital.
The new team will invest in early and growth stage healthcare companies across multiple strategies aligned to specific market opportunities, with a focus on novel therapeutics and technologies in several target areas. These include genetic medicine, oncology, neurodegenerative disease, rare diseases, autoimmunity, AI/ML platforms, metabolic diseases and neuropsychology.
The new team sits within J.P. Morgan Private Capital, a growth equity and private credit investment platform. The platform finances private companies and taps into pre-IPO value creation opportunities in the consumer and technology, climate technology and life sciences sectors.
Life Sciences Private Capital’s management team
J.P. Morgan Asset Management has hired Stephen Squinto as chief investment officer and managing partner of Life Sciences Private Capital.
Joining Squinto as co-managing partners of the investment strategy are Gaurav Gupta and Anya Schiess.
“Our new Life Sciences Private Capital team combines some of the industry’s most revered biotech investors, operators and founders with J.P. Morgan’s extensive healthcare ecosystem to capture compelling investment opportunities in the biotech sector, which is on the cusp of a golden age of therapeutic innovation,” said Brian Carlin, chief executive officer, J.P. Morgan Private Capital.
“Through Steve, Gaurav and Anya’s deep company-building experience, the team will bring a unique ability to partner with portfolio companies and add significant operational value beyond financial investment.”
“I’m thrilled to join J.P. Morgan to launch the Life Sciences Private Capital team. Our major focus will be to offer our investors a differentiated investment platform that harnesses our deep operational expertise to act as true partners to the companies we invest in – from building strong leadership teams, guiding early drug discovery efforts, designing clinical development programs, and navigating the regulatory environment through to commercial launch strategies,” Squinto said.
“As advances in genomics, biomarkers and data science converge, we are seeing firsthand the transformative impact that biomedical innovation can offer to patients at all stages of life and we expect much more to come in the next decade. J.P. Morgan’s existing presence in the healthcare sector will give us a significant sourcing advantage as we seek to identify innovative and transformative therapeutics companies.”