Proximal Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm, has closed its first investment fund at $27.5 million.
The debut fund attracted backing from several strategic investors, including Domino Lane, SignalFire, Kleiner Perkins, Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments and PagsGroup.
Individual investors also participated in the fund, among them Nan Li and Zavain Dar, co-founders of Dimension.
Fund to Target AI-Native Companies Across Pharmaceutical Industry
Proximal Ventures plans to use the capital to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies developing artificial intelligence-driven solutions for the life sciences sector.
Its investment strategy covers the pharmaceutical value chain, with a focus on AI-native businesses working in areas such as computational drug discovery, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization.
Firm Offers Hands-On Support to Early-Stage Founders
Founded by Sahir Raoof, Proximal Ventures works closely with entrepreneurs from the earliest stages of company development.
The firm supports founders in testing and validating business ideas, developing go-to-market strategies and establishing relationships with pharmaceutical executives, potential design partners and customers. Its involvement can begin even before a company is formally incorporated.
Portfolio founders also receive access to Proximal’s advisory network, which includes senior figures from the pharmaceutical and technology-driven biotechnology industries.
Among the advisers are Amy Abernethy, co-founder of Highlander Health and former Principal Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Kim Branson, Chief AI Officer at GSK.
Sahir Raoof Brings More Than a Decade of Life Sciences Experience
Raoof brings over 10 years of experience working with and investing in businesses serving the life sciences industry.
He previously served as the first commercial hire and Vice President of Business Development at Iterative Health.
He also developed biopharmaceutical research partnerships at Flatiron Health, which was subsequently acquired by Roche.
Earlier in his career, Raoof covered biotechnology and outsourced pharmaceutical services at J.P. Morgan.
Most recently, he led investments in the technology-driven biotechnology and pharmaceutical technology sectors at SignalFire.
Proximal Begins Investing Following Fund Closure
With its inaugural $27.5 million fund now closed, Proximal Ventures is actively investing in early-stage founders developing the next generation of life sciences companies.
The firm will focus on supporting businesses applying artificial intelligence across different stages of pharmaceutical research, development and commercialisation.
