Patient Square debuts Elevage, a bookend med-tech funding platform, with $300M in support

Healthcare investment firm Patient Square Capital debuted a medtech-funding platform one year after launching a similar play focused on growth-stage therapeutics companies. 

The platform, Elevage Medical Technologies, is designed to support the growth of medical device companies by providing capital and strategic expertise. Patient Square said it’s committing $300 million to the portfolio company, which will be led by Evan Melrose, a healthcare executive and physician.

The announcement comes one year after Patient Square formed Enavate Sciences, to invest in and support therapeutics companies, and made an initial commitment of $300 million. Patient Square installed James Boylan, formerly president and head of investment banking at SVB Leerink, as CEO. Both Enavate and Elevage operate as Patient Square portfolio companies. 

Last fall, Enavate took the lead on a pair of financings. The company led a $118 million Series B round for autoimmune therapeutics firm Zenas BioPharma, intended to advance a Phase 3 registration program for lead asset obexelimab. 

Enavate also spearheaded a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing for Compass Therapeutics, which is developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat cancer. In both cases, Boylan joined the company’s board as a director.

Elevage will seek to replicate that model on the med-tech side. The platform will back firms that are “at the cusp” of impacting patients, with the aim of supporting “a number of product launches,” said Patient Square managing partner Jim Momtazee in a statement.

Melrose, Elevage’s newly appointed CEO, brings more than 25 years of experience, most recently as founding managing director of healthcare-oriented investment firm Spindletop Capital. Before that, he served as founding managing director of VC firm PTV Sciences and as a director with life sciences PE/VC Burrill & Co. 

“This is an exciting time for innovation in the medical device field,” said Melrose. “I look forward to partnering with the Patient Square team and leveraging our combined operational, technical and clinical expertise to become the leading partner in the sector.”

Momtazee, a 21-year veteran of KKR, formed Patient Square in 2020 with a $3 billion target. This past February, the firm closed its inaugural fund with about $3.9 billion in total commitments.