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Polaris Exits: Three for Three in Q2
In the second quarter, three Polaris-backed companies achieved significant exit milestones with leading biotechnology company aTyr Pharma going public, pioneering healthcare IT company Phytel being acquired by IBM, and novel inhaled therapy platform provider Pulmatrix merging with publicly-traded Ruthigen. All three were founded and led by Polaris Repeat Entrepreneurs -- special individuals who have built multiple companies with us. Read more about their stories below:
On May 12,
aTyr Pharma, went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol LIFE. Based in San Diego, CA, aTyr is developing novel therapeutics in the groundbreaking area of physiocrines. The company is focusing first on the treatment of rare disorders associated with the immune system.
aTyr Co-Founder Paul Schimmel and
CEO John Mendlein are both Polaris Repeat Entrepreneurs, with Paul founding
Alnylam and
Sirtris and John leading
Adnexus and serving on the board of
Fate Therapeutics. Congratulations to the entire aTyr team and
Polaris Partner Amir Nashat who together have reached this important milestone.
On May 5th,
IBM
announced that it had closed on the acquisition of Polaris-backed
Phytel,
the leading provider of population health management software. Now, a central component of IBM's Watson Health Unit, Phytel and its 55 million patient registry will bolster IBM's
efforts to apply advanced analytics and cognitive computing to help primary care providers, large hospital systems and physician networks improve patient outcomes and healthcare quality. Phytel Founder & CEO Steve Schelhammer previously led Polaris-backed Accordant (acquired by Advance PCS /CVS Caremark in 2002). Kudos to Polaris Partner Dave Barrett who has worked closely with Steve and the Phytel team, helping them transform their cloud delivery platform and SaaS business and grow another ground breaking technology.
 On June 15, Polaris-backed Pulmatrix merged with publicly-traded Ruthigen and began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the new combined name Pulmatrix and the ticker symbol PULM. Polaris Repeat Entrepreneur, Dr. Robert Clarke, President and CEO of Pulmatrix will assume leadership of the new entity, which will be based in Lexington MA. He previously served as Senior Scientist at Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), which we backed and was acquired by Alkermes in 1999. Per Clarke, this transaction "will provide a strong financial foundation to further Pulmatrix's mission of innovative inhaled product development for patients with significant unmet needs in respiratory disease." Congratulations to the entire Pulmatrix team and Polaris Partner Terry McGuire who served as a senior Board Member since the company's inception.
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| Welcome to the Polaris Family! Meet some of our newest transformative technology and healthcare companies that recently joined our Fund VII portfolio! We are proud to call you partners!
 SimplyInsured has developed the only online "instant quote" health insurance marketplace and administrative technology platform for small businesses.
SQZ Biotech is pioneering the novel CellSqueeze platform which was invented at MIT and enables a variety of materials to enter a cell with unprecedented efficacy.
 CliQr is leading the charge in solving one of the IT department's biggest challenges: managing the increasing multitude of data-centric cloud applications across private and public clouds.
Drizly is the Boston-based technology company powering a superior online shopping experience for beer, wine and liquor for distributors, retailers and brands -- a $100 billion market in need of innovation and disruption.
Xtuit was founded by Polaris and others to develop therapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases and recently emerged from stealth mode with their Series A round of funding.
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| Mary Blair Promoted to Polaris Vice President of Finance
This past quarter, we were pleased to promote Mary Blair to the position of Vice President of Finance. Mary has served as the firm's controller since our inception in 1996 and has played an integral role in our operations since Day One.
In her VP role, Mary will work closely with our managing partners to lead and oversee finance operations of all GP and employee activities, budgeting and administration.
In his note to the Polaris team, Managing Partner Dave Barrett shared: "those of us who've worked with Mary over the years greatly value her dedication, contributions and incredible grasp of our business."
We couldn't agree more and look forward to working with Mary in her new role.
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|  Polaris and M.I.T. Bring Post-Docs Together @ 3rd Annual Career Symposium On April 30, Polaris, in partnership with the Office of the Vice President for Research at MIT, hosted our 3rd annual career development symposium for more than 125 MIT post-doctoral students. This year's event, "Postdoc 2.0: Exciting Careers in Emerging Companies," brought together some of the finest PhD professionals in Boston to discuss how they came to enjoy successful careers outside of academia. The program comprised three panels which addressed career paths, life inside a startup, and qualifications for candidacy at an emerging company. Our panels were moderated by Polaris partners Amir Nashat, Paulina Hill and Alan Spoon and included the following individuals: Maria Zuber, Ph.D., Vice President for Research, MIT
Robert Langer, MIT Professor and Founder of more than 20 venture-backed companies
Anant Agarwal, Ph.D., CEO, edX
Nagesh Mahanthappa, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Scholar Rock
Larry Bacow, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Tufts University
Tuck Rickards, Head of Digital Tech Recruiting, Russell Reynolds
Peter Blume-Jensen, Ph.D., CSO, XTuit
Maria Palasis, Ph.D., CEO/CSO, 480 Biomedical
Alex Aimetti, Ph.D., Associate R&D Director, Biomaterials, InVivo Therapeutics
Akin Akinc, Ph.D., Director, Alnylam
Teppo Jouttenus, Ph.D., Director of Alliances, Outlearn
Kathryn Kosuda, Ph.D., Co-Founder & VP of R&D, Vaxess
Trevor Parsons, Ph.D., Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, Logentries The goal of the program is to inspire these incredibly bright students to consider applying their talents at the multitude of emerging startup companies in New England and across the country. Judging by the growing attendance and reception for the event, there is increasing interest in these compelling opportunities. |
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