Essex Woodlands Establishes Shanghai Presence

Article preview from Start-Up - December, 2012

Essex Woodlands, the large growth equity and venture capital player, became the latest US-based venture capital firm to officially enter the China market by opening an office in Shanghai. The firm joins the community of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Orbimed Advisors, Vivo Ventures, and Warburg Pincus LLC, which have offices in the city.

Essex Woodlands Establishes Shanghai Presence

Article preview from Start-Up - December, 2012

The health care industry long ago became a global game for multinational pharmaceutical and medical product companies. To survive, large device and pharmaceutical companies must penetrate emerging markets – particularly China – and access those growing markets, and venture capital firms with hopes and designs of being a firm of some global heft must follow. Essex Woodlands, the large growth equity and venture capital player, became the latest US-based venture capital firm to officially enter the China market by opening an office in Shanghai. The firm joins the community of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Orbimed Advisors, Vivo Ventures, and Warburg Pincus LLC, which have offices in the city.

Essex Woodlands, which is still investing its $900 million fund, has always looked globally for opportunities to invest. In addition to offices in the US, the firm maintains an office in London and has considered investing in India and China, largely eschewing the former in favor of the latter. The firm has made two investments in China – China Cord Blood Corp. and MicroPort Scientific Corp. Both have offered liquidity opportunities for investors. MicroPort went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2010.  China Cord went public that same year after being acquired by a public shell company.

The Shanghai office represents Essex Woodlands’ first full press into China. Managing Director Scott Barry, who previously managed the firm’s growth equity investments, will split time between the US and China. He’ll be aided in China by new hire Managing Director David Yang, who spent the past five years in China working on behalf of Warburg Pincus. Barry says the office will be an extension of the Essex Woodlands overall strategy.

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