04 11 07

Prolog Ventures Is Recognized for Investments in Women Entrepreneurs

Prolog Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in life science investments, will be recognized by Astia (formerly the Women's Technology Cluster) for its investments in women-led companies. Prolog will receive The Shattered Glass Award for the highest number of investments in companies with a woman CEO during 2006 (current fund smaller than $250 million).

"We're honored to receive this award, although the primary reason that Prolog backed these women CEOs was their leadership, talent, and drive to bring breakthrough health products to tens of millions of people who want them," said Ilya Nykin, managing director of Prolog Ventures. "Opportunities like these are part of our strategy to invest a meaningful share of our capital in life science solutions for the emerging healthy-living space, for people who want to enjoy a healthy life, consume healthy products, and live in a healthy environment. Our definition of the healthy-living space includes fast-growing sectors such as functional foods, personal care products, bioenergy, and eco-friendly agriculture."

One woman CEO in the functional food sector who received an investment from Prolog last year was Lara Jackle. Her San Francisco company, LightFull Foods, helped create a new product category — satiety-enhancing foods — and quickly achieved strong market penetration. "We launched our company in 2006, and already we have products represented in more than 1500 retail stores across the country, including Whole Foods, Safeway, and Wegmans," said Jackle. "The concept of satiety is ranked among Datamonitor's top ten food trends for 2007."

In addition to LightFull Foods, Prolog has invested in other healthy-living companies in the consumer-product sector including Corazonas Foods (Los Angeles, Calif.), which offers snack chips that lower cholesterol; Dreamerz Foods (San Francisco, Calif.), which offers all-natural products that support relaxation and sleep; and The Natural Dentist (Boston, Mass.), offering botanically formulated oral-care products that promote healthy gums and teeth. Examples of investments in other healthy-living sectors include Divergence (St. Louis, Mo.), which is developing environmentally safe solutions for the control of parasites and other pests; and Akermin (St. Louis, Mo.), which is developing portable biofuel cells based upon its proprietary enzyme-electrode technology.

"Prolog has established itself as an early leader in this emerging healthy-living space. To date, we've invested in ten such companies — nearly half of our portfolio," said Nykin. "These opportunities allow us to diversify, balancing our traditional life science investments with ones that offer nearer-term returns. While these companies also have a scientific foundation, their product development timelines and costs are more manageable. They typically have a faster path to market, so winning products become evident much sooner. And their regulatory environment is often more favorable."

Prolog Ventures will receive The Shattered Glass Award at the Third National Venture Capital Awards ceremony on Apr. 12 in Mountain View, Calif.

About Prolog Ventures

Prolog is a venture capital firm specializing in life science investing. Since its launch in 2001, Prolog has financed more than 20 early-stage companies. The firm is managed by a team of professionals with extensive experience as both investors and entrepreneurs. Prolog focuses on traditional healthcare opportunities as well as emerging areas – such as nutrition, wellness, plant science, and enabling platforms – in which it has built one of the largest portfolios in the country.

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