Australian venture capital firm OneVentures has announced the appointment of John Westwater and Kelly Constable to its healthcare team.
OneVentures said Dr Westwater and Ms Constable will help drive growth across its healthcare sector portfolio and provide insight and access to their extensive networks in the healthcare ecosystem in Australia, the US and Europe.
OneVentures launched its $170M Healthcare Fund III (Fund) in December 2016. It is a licensee of the Australian Government Biomedical Translation Fund (BTF). The Fund is investing $10-20 million in companies commercialising medical devices, drugs in clinical development or diagnostics.
It has invested in five healthcare sector companies including Kira Biotech, developing novel antibody treatment to induce immune tolerance for autoimmune and other disorders, Blade Therapeutics, a company developing small molecule drugs for the treatment of fibrosis, and BiVACOR, creators of the first Total Artificial Heart for replacement of a patient’s failing heart.
According to OneVentures managing partner, Dr Paul Kelly, “We are excited to have John and Kelly bring their experience and expertise to OneVentures. Biomedical and Healthcare innovation is moving at a rapid pace and both bring their respective and specific backgrounds to OneVentures as we continue to focus on commercialising Australia’s exceptional medical innovations globally, especially as technology and healthcare innovation are integrating at a dramatic rate.”
Dr Westwater brings almost 20 years’ global life science experience across operational, venture capital and investment banking roles, having most recently held the role of CFO of Elastagen. He was previously a principal at Nomura Phase4 Ventures in London.
Kelly Constable is also serving as OneVentures director on the board of Prota Therapeutics, and member of the Advisory Committee for the Fund, focusing on internationalising existing portfolio companies and identifying new opportunities. She currently holds the position of co-founder and CEO of AULUS Partners and is the chief strategy officer for Omico, a precision oncology clinical trials platform.
Dr Westwater said, “I am delighted to join the OneVentures healthcare team and in particular the opportunity to support emerging life science companies on their journeys to becoming Australia’s next wave of success stories.”
Ms Constable said, “I have great respect for the OneVentures approach to healthcare investing in Australia and the vital role this plays in accelerating life sciences technologies for patients. There is no doubt healthcare investing will be an increasingly important national endeavour for Australia in the post-Covid19 world. I look forward to contributing to OneVentures’ portfolio architecture and execution and supporting Australia’s entrepreneurs.”