Lilian Zhou

Moelis’s deep commitment to the financial sponsor community was reflected in the first quarter of the year, as we provided a range of private equity solutions to sponsors and their businesses. We look forward to continuing this momentum with our clients throughout 2024. Click below to learn more about our recent sponsor transactions. #M&A #Capital Markets #CapitalStructureAdvisory #PrivateFundsAdvisory

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If you're looking to gain insight into the future of healthcare and biotech innovation, don't miss out on David Khougazian's interview. As an Executive Partner at Flagship Pioneering in Boston, David brings a wealth of experience to the table. In the interview, he discusses his international background, his passion for delivering meaningful differences for patients, and his unique approach to driving innovation in uncharted territories. Check out the full interview to learn more about how David operates "into the wild". 👉link in the comments #biotech #healthcare #innovation #sustainability #Boston

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PE - The Future of PE Investing Is All About...(Source: Partners Capital) Great data-driven insights from Partners Capital (an Investment Management service acting for endowments & foundations investing as LPs in PE) - by Daniel L. & Stan Miranda at Partners Capital: https://lnkd.in/eszXTMej "...we believe the Private Equity industry is currently experiencing a paradigm shift that will result in all Private Equity investors (LPs and GPs) focusing almost exclusively on the ability of the PE firm to grow portfolio company earnings faster than under the previous ownership. We refer to this as the PE owner’s post-acquisition operational value add (PAOVA), which is their set of skills and tools that are a core source of value creation. We believe the future is about identifying the firms with the greatest – and most repeatable – PAOVA capabilities." #business #pe #privateequity #investing #growth #valuecreation

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This one moved fast and demonstrates the sheer prowess of the investment bank's capital markets #distribution access and capabilities to raise capital within existing bank clients across asset and wealth management and investment banking. Congratulations J.P. Morgan Asset Management on raising their inaugural #biotechnology venture capital fund with over $500 million in commitments, attracting strong support from investors including institutional allocators, strategic corporate partners, #familyoffices and high net worth individuals across North America, Europe, the #MiddleEast, and #Asia, as well as JPMorganChase & Co. which can invest a more significant amount from it's balance sheet as part of the 2020 Final Volcker Rule excemption for covered funds, allowing a bank to sponsor a venture capital fund and not be subject to the current 3% limit (or any other limit) on the percentage of such a fund’s ownership interests they can hold, allowing for a more substantial bank balance sheet commitment, often up to 15-20%. The track record of the team is truly remarkable and under J.P. Morgan's leading global healthcare franchise, should have a distinguished advantage in the market for investment and talent sourcing, networks, and liquidity value creation for investors. The Fund invests in private biotechnology companies across stage, modality, therapeutic area, and geography. The Fund's early company formation activities and portfolio investments span cardiometabolic disease, oncology, immunology, and genetic medicines. The #trackrecord of the team is no doubt stellar and we had the opportunity to review in detail and look forward to tracking this progress of this Fund I. #fundraising #alternativeassets #privatemarkets #venturecapital #jpmorgan #capitalmarkets #healthcare #lifesciences #fundmanagers #institutionalinvestors #wealthmanagement https://lnkd.in/ew-sK9b6

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Hot off the press from my Cliffwater colleague William Dornbrook: Startups on Sale: The Opportunity in VC Secondaries This paper outlines our perspectives on venture capital secondaries, an asset class at an important inflection point for future growth. Structural changes in private markets, a growing need for liquidity from LPs, and near-term headwinds in the IPO market have led to increased investor interest in VC Secondaries. Amid this backdrop of highly motivated sellers and improving metrics for startup quality, we believe VC Secondaries are priced attractively.

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I love this! Thank you to Rachel Brown from Beauty Independent to kick-off this exchange with Andrew Ross' provocative thesis and have us all react to it. I truly enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the topic of the shortening lifecycle of beauty brands. Here is a snippet of mine: "Because beauty brand lifespans are shortening, it is important that we are able to differentiate brands with staying power from brands that will end up being a flash in the pan. There are much more of the latter than the former in the market right now, and if a brand is not well-positioned, it will be challenging for that brand to survive over the long-term. That’s why we focus on understanding each brand’s differentiators and long-term relevance." See more here: https://lnkd.in/esVbwnu2 and you will discover what Kevin Murphy, Odile Roujol, Rich Gersten, Tina Henry Bou-Saba, Oliver Nordlinger, Claire Chang, Manica Blain, Sonya Brown, George Birman had to say. #beautyindustry #beautyinvesting Stride Consumer Partners

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I’m a strong believer in the idea that leading is largely about building empathy. The job isn’t just helping others understand the mission - it’s helping them complete the mission and building alignment through personal context. To take it a step further, you can’t be empathetic if you aren’t curious. Curiosity drives us to ask deeper questions - those questions build empathy and, then, we become more aligned.

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Join us tomorrow for a panel discussion on the complex relationship many FirstGens have to money and how that affects founders, investors, operators and others. See you tomorrow! https://lu.ma/9rixyzgs

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Navigating the New MedTech Funding Landscape! Join us as we dive deeper into the evolving funding landscape for medtech companies. In the past three years, accessing capital has become more challenging, prompting startups to adopt innovative commercialization strategies. In this episode, we chat with industry experts from Hatch Medical, L.L.C., PAVmed Inc., and others, who share insights on how strategic partnerships with midsize companies can help navigate regulatory hurdles and leverage economies of scale. 📈🤝 Listen here: https://ow.ly/SciP50SQaWp Learn how startups are attracting investors by demonstrating value and achieving critical milestones. Discover strategies for positioning your startup as an attractive acquisition target by focusing on accretive value and understanding the funding environment. We also explore the transformative potential of AI and emerging technologies in the MedTech space. 🧠💡 Dr. Acklon and Todd highlight the importance of clear applications and robust data management practices to overcome regulatory challenges. #MedTech #Funding #Innovation #Startups #AI #Podcast #HealthcareInnovation

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This will be a fascinating SynBioBeta talk - on how the combined tools of synthetic biology allowed Creyon Bio to build a successful drug in a few months 😳

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Our partner Eddie Eltoukhy has identified these opportunities in Biotech. Eddie has a PhD in bioengineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and over a decade experience as an operator. Reach out to him if you are working on these areas of biotech. Pear VC - Technology-Driven Therapeutic Platforms Companies developing therapeutic assets with a core product engine Proprietary tool, workflow, or samples leading to novel biological data sets Preference for omics platforms or high throughput screening / engineering workflows First-in-class or best-in-class drugs - Next-Generation Therapeutic Modalities Technologies to improve the efficacy, safety, access, or reach of next-gen modalities including the following: Genomic medicines (gene tx & gene editing) Cell therapies Targeted protein degraders Antibody-drug conjugates Radiopharma - Precision Medicine New technologies supporting the discovery of novel biomarkers and the generation of proprietary data sets for applications in: Disease screening Therapy selection Recurrence monitoring - Life Sciences + AI Software Platforms Software & AI-driven platforms to improve all aspects of life sciences R&D, including: Target discovery and validation Drug design and optimization Manufacturing Regulatory Clinical development

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Great NYT article about the US private secondary market highlighting an early mover I co-founded, Forge, and another I invested in and advised that's bringing things to the next level, Destiny (D/XYZ). A couple of my heroes and colleagues, Sohail Prasad and Kelly Rodriques, are quoted extensively. Written by Erin Griffith, a veteran journalist who has followed private markets for nearly two decades, the good insights outweigh a few things that beg for clarification. The public comments, by contrast, are mostly misunderstanding and misinformation. If you've ever worked for a long time at … well, anything… and then you read a news article about it, you probably know the feeling. Private markets are not "shadowy and often enigmatic." It's not that mysterious or complicated, people. It's just a fresh approach to an old business. * rant about Stripe * The article amplifies and conflates misleading claims by Stripe disparaging forward contracts as possibly worthless with others questioning secondary stock solicitations as likely scams. Stripe is twisting stock ownership legalities as if it doesn't want its employees to benefit from shares it's been awarding them for the last 14 years, not unless and until Stripe says they can. We used to run into that at Forge, companies granting equity awards then pulling them back with hidden strings, threats, and bluster to keep control over when, where, whether, and how employees could raise cash from the stock they fully earned as compensation for their loyalty and hard work. Say an employee wants to buy a home or car, pay for medical bills or their children's education. Or leave to start their own company. Sorry, those shares management paid you in lieu of cash, they didn't really mean it. The pinnacle was Airbnb's hired gun CFO calling us "bottom feeders" for facilitating employee stock sales without his permission. As if Airbnb wasn't doing the exact same thing, in their case illegally, monetizing tenants and their apartments. Happily awareness has grown. The Airbnb guy was soon out, and the general understanding came to acknowledge that once an employee earns their stock fair and square it's theirs. Market participants see this as a matter of fairness, but more to the point as a benefit to everyone involved including the company that issued the stock. So most companies encourage a secondary market. Rather than tensions rising, the long term trend is a growing acceptance of stock sales initiated by employees and early investors. Forge, for its part, has found it more effective to work with the companies and honor their wishes rather than butting heads with them as we sometimes did in the early days. I guess Stripe didn't get that memo. Or the people who post comments to New York Times articles.

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We are at the intersection of legacy and innovation, where the futures of established baby boomer businesses hang in the balance. How do we blend traditional values with modern strategies to ensure these enterprises not only survive but thrive in the face of economic shifts? We want forward-thinking investors who are passionate about molding resilient, recession-proof businesses for the future. #InvestInLegacy #StrategicInvestment #FutureOfBusiness #InnovationInInvesting

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Multiple expansion will play a more diminished role in driving returns for the foreseeable future. Cold Bore Capital Management is pre-positioned to drive organic growth in the new market landscape through investment in high-performing human capital, implementation of proven frameworks, and preservation of established legacies.

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Thank you Mark Tepsich for sharing the latest UBS Family Office Quarterly and inviting me to discuss a critical subject confronting family offices. I had the pleasure recently to speak with Leora Zach, CFA on North Star strategic planning for direct investments. 2024 has been a year filled with unprecedented changes in a post-pandemic world. Inflationary pressures, geo-political instability, digital acceleration, looming climate goals, supply chain disruptions and cyber (in)security have converged, creating formidable barriers to success for private business owners. Family offices are in a unique position to address these challenges strategically and proactively. Applying the North Star framework will reposition a portfolio company by defining and advancing the organization toward newly established long-term goals. This improved vision for the future is aptly termed, the North Star.   The framework is a post-investment portfolio support, business planning and value creation instrument delivering on long term compounding growth. This concept aligns well with family offices’ “patient” capital mindset and the desire for institutionalized governance. You can listen to the podcast, “Moving organizations toward their North Star”, here:   https://lnkd.in/efKWcWgD And thank you to Brittany Chajkewicz for facilitating the podcast. #familyoffice #privateequity #northstar

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As I said right at the start of this week's The Heart of Healthcare Podcast, Shivdev Rao is one of the most exceptional founders I have ever worked with. He is also a great human being. In this week's episode he shares what is it like leading the 🚀 that is Abridge and some awesome life lessons. IMHO this is a great listen for founders building in both the AI and healthcare fields!

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Reflecting on the enriching discussions at the recent PEWIN - Private Equity Women Investor Network CIO Roundtable in Boston. It was a joy to hear from panelists Letitia Johnson (Amherst College), Deb Shufrin (Colby College), Abigail Wattley (Williams College), and moderator Sarah Samuels, CFA, CAIA (NEPC, LLC). Some of my key takeaways: From the CIO perspective, alignment with the board is paramount. Portfolios experience ebbs and flows, emphasizing the necessity of a board committed to long-term strategies. Data underscores the repercussions of misalignment—allocators often undermine value by prematurely exiting positions for liquidity needs or reacting impulsively to market fluctuations. Across the board, CIOs prioritize firms that can articulate their competitive edge, foster sustainable organizations with top-tier talent, culture, and succession planning, and demonstrate agility in evolving markets. A robust LP base providing long-term support and institutional guidance is also crucial. Success isn't about funding billionaires—it's about supporting determined individuals committed to sustained success. Privates demand more than short-term commitment—they require a relentless desire to succeed over time. For a deeper dive into the role of CIO, I highly recommend The Counting House by Gary Sernovitz. #CIOInsights #PEWINRoundtable #InvestmentStrategies

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