Peregrine Ventures, which specializes in life-changing medical technology investments in Israel and around the world, is the most active investor in Israel in the health technology sector over the past year, according to Startup Nation's Central's Health Tech 2024 Map report, after making 15 healthcare investments in 2024.
Peregrine, which manages approximately $600 million in five investment funds and invests in companies at all stages—from pre-seed to advanced stages—invested in the following companies in 2024: Variantyx, Insightec, Kahr Medical, Magneto Thrombectomy Solutions, Magnisity Medical, Cordio Medical, Endomatic (two separate investments), Althea Medical, Evicure, Terrapeutics, Trojan, Snipe Medical, Focal Medical, and Kanso Diagnostics.
“We continued to make significant investments in healthcare technologies in the domestic and international markets, even in a challenging year,” said Eyal Lifshitz, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Peregrine Ventures. “Israel remains a beacon of innovation and creativity in medical technologies, a fact that fuels our ongoing commitment to supporting groundbreaking companies.
“Recently, we have identified a growing trend in which strategic investors are involved in startups at earlier stages,” he continued. “Such early partnerships can provide essential expertise and certainty to both management and financial investors. However, this approach requires strategic partners to develop tools tailored to investing in young companies. While some strategic partners are actively working towards this goal, others struggle or ignore it, which can lead to lost access to breakthrough technologies.”
The Peregrine Fund focuses on neurology (injury and brain damage), cardiovascular, and oncology investments.
Peregrine builds clusters of complementary technologies and offers diverse approaches to each of the fields, which include pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health, and robotic technologies. The fund's portfolio in the brain sector includes prominent companies such as BrainQ, which offers an innovative treatment that improves stroke rehabilitation; EndoStream, which develops minimally invasive technology for the treatment of brain aneurysms; Insightec, which provides non-invasive surgical tools for diseases such as primary tremor and Parkinson's, Althea Medical, and Magneto Thrombectomy Solutions, which is revolutionizing the field of blood clot removal.
In the field of cardiovascular treatments, Peregrine invests in innovative companies such as Restore Medical, which addresses heart failure through heart chamber redesign without valve treatment; BioRefine, which offers technology for repairing bicuspid and tricuspid valves without the need for an implant; Cordio Medical, which provides a digital solution for patients with heart failure through speech analysis; and Ionara Bio, which develops small molecules for the treatment of heart failure and diseases of the heart muscle.
Peregrine's oncology cluster includes companies such as Kahr Medical and Nectin Therapeutics, which develop drug treatments for cancer patients; OncoRedox, which specializes in identifying signs of cancer through the analysis of body fluid samples; and Snipe Medical and Magnisity, which develop advanced technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Peregrine is also expanding its investment areas to include technologies for treating lung diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Peregrine Ventures, founded in 2001 by brothers Eyal and Boaz Lifshitz, invests in groundbreaking life sciences companies in Israel and around the world. Its portfolio includes companies in biotechnology, medical devices, and digital health, which are designed to improve patient outcomes and healthcare systems' efficiency.
Top quartile of performance rankings
Peregrine funds consistently rank in the top quartile of performance rankings in metrics such as number of exits, investor returns, and internal rate of return (IRR). Notable exits include CartiHeal, acquired by Smith & Nephew (NASDAQ: SNN) for $330 million, the largest Israeli biomed exit in 2023; OutSense Diagnostics, which specializes in early detection of diseases such as colon cancer through analysis of toilet discharge and was acquired by an unnamed company; CardioValve, which specializes in catheter-based valve replacement and reduces the need for open heart surgery, was acquired by Venus Medtech (HKG: VMTHF).
CardioValve was born from a spin-off of Valtech Cardio, one of Peregrine's early-stage investments in the company that was acquired by Edwards Lifesciences. The combined value of the Valtech Cardio and CardioValve deals is over $1 billion.
Beyond financial investments, Peregrine provides hands-on support in team building, regulatory guidance, and business strategy. Through its proprietary Incentive Incubator, operated in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb and Becton Dickinson, Peregrine helps early-stage companies access critical resources and multidisciplinary expertise to enable growth and innovation.
For more information, visit www.peregrinevc.com.