Q&A with Atlanta’s Dr. Jay Yadav on new $100M VC fund
Mammoth Scientific, a health science and technology venture capital firm, on July 13 announced the launch of a $100 million venture capital fund. Co-founders include Atlanta’s Dr. Jay Yadav. Here’s a Q&A in which Yadav talks about the new fund:
Q: Dr. Yadav, tell us about your business background and how that relates to the new VC fund?
A: I have an entrepreneurial spirit, which has led to a long history of creating medical innovations particularly related to heart failure and stroke. These healthcare treatments, including the CardioMEMS which involves an implantable sensor and a pillow that measures a heart failure patient’s pulmonary artery pressure warning of worsening heart failure faster than more traditional measures like weight gain, have created more than $1 billion in shareholder value for companies that I have led. The CardioMEMS and Angioguard, Inc. — a stroke treatment — are two of creations I founded that are now Class I recommendations of the American Heart Association. CardioMEMS was acquired by Abbott and Angioguard is now part of Johnson & Johnson.
Additionally, I founded MiRus, a molybdenum rhenium (MoRe) based alloy for spine and cardiovascular devices which is intellectually protected. MoRe is the first novel medical alloy cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration in more than three decades and there are over 115 patents across the globe to protect medical usage of the MoRe alloy. I bring this experience of creating innovations which are then patented and acquired by major companies to my latest role at Mammoth.
Q: Are there particular kinds of health science and tech firms that the new VC fund will focus on or that you are especially interested in, and why?
A: We are primarily looking for early-to-growth-stage life science and bio tech companies. Our intent is to add value through a deep functional understanding of healthcare delivery; contracting; private and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reimbursement; creation of the new CMS reimbursement pathways; the FDA; the European Union; data regulatory requirements; and informative data technologies.
Q: What stage of business are you most interested in investing in?
A: We are focused on those who are primarily Series A or beyond, although we can make time for those who are moving out of seed rounds, provided they have great intellectual property, a superior team and understand product market fit.
Q: What kind of founders are you most interested in?
A: We are looking for founders with a clear vision, who have garnered a team with palpable energy. We want them to be dedicated to using their strong intellectual property to bring innovation where the rest of the world has accepted stagnation.
Q: Approximately how many investments is the new VC fund likely to make, and roughly how much is each investment likely to be?
A: We are targeting around 10 investments in Fund 1.
Q: Is there anything else you would like people to know about the new VC fund?
A: One of the competitive edges Mammoth has comes from its creation of venture capital investment pathways for the highly underserved RIA advisory market. Through proprietary fintech, Mammoth has integrated groundbreaking 2021 SEC and healthcare investment rules. The U.S. RIA market manages more than $5.7 trillion but has historically been hindered from providing venture capital investments to clients – accredited and qualified investors in Atlanta and beyond – due to regulatory challenges, uncertainty around risk and how to best engage investors. Mammoth has created a pathway for compliant marketing, sales and management designed to keep wealth managers at the center of their client relationships, and to be able to guide them as it relates to investing in venture capital.