Polaris Venture Partners Announces First Investments From Its Sixth Fund

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Jul 14, 2011) - Polaris Venture Partners Fund VI LP, a $375 million fund which closed last year, announced several of its first investments of 2011.

Polaris will continue its successful strategy of diversification, investing in the areas of technology, healthcare and growth-equity, with a particular focus on taking early stakes in disruptive opportunities that maximize return for its limited partners.

Thus far in 2011, Polaris has 10 new investments across the three areas: five in technology, four in life sciences and one in growth-equity. Representative investments include:

ReadyforZero: a debt management platform that, in its first couple of months, has helped consumers monitor and begin to eliminate more than $42 million of credit card debt.

DeNova Care: an early-stage health services company creating a new paradigm for improving women's health. By integrating state-of-the-art technology and specialized care management, working in close partnership with health providers, they aim to enable better access and early diagnosis to women about diseases, including certain forms of cancer.

Seamless Receipts: enabling retailers to email sales receipts to their customers while utilizing purchase history data for retargeting.

Xtuit: a new start-up based on breakthrough science with broad-reaching implications. The company is pursuing a novel approach to improving existing drug therapy through technology that has the potential to dramatically improve the translation of cancer drugs from animal models to human studies. The company's scientific founders include a team that Polaris has worked with before, and Alan Crane, a Polaris partner, will serve as chairman.

Digicert: a fast-growing, leading provider of high-assurance online authentication services.

Neuronetics: pioneering the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a completely non-invasive form of neurostimulation, for the treatment of depression.

Biff Labs: a stealth technology startup focused on structuring social data.

"With Fund VI, we will continue our strategy of identifying compelling opportunities, investing early and closely partnering with great entrepreneurs and scientists," said Terry McGuire, Polaris General Partner & Co-Founder. "We can point to successful businesses such as Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and LogMeIn, and the explosive growth of such emerging companies as Shoe Dazzle, as demonstration that this strategy is a win-win for both entrepreneurs and LPs."

In 2010, Polaris Venture Partners was the sixth-most active venture capital firm in industry, investing in 53 deals, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Report. "As far as we can determine, Polaris VI was one of the ten largest venture funds raised last year," added McGuire. During 2010, Polaris' LPs experienced seven liquidity events, including: Alimera (IPO), Asthmatx (acquired by Boston Scientific), Internet Brands (acquired by Hellman & Friedman), Ironwood (IPO), LogMeIn (secondary public offering), Sentillion (acquired by Microsoft) and Thing Labs (acquired by AOL).

About Polaris Venture Partners
Polaris Venture Partners is a partnership of experienced investors, operating executives and entrepreneurs. The firm's mission is to identify, invest in and partner with seed, early stage and middle-market businesses having exceptional promise, helping them to grow into market-leading companies. Polaris invests in businesses across a number of sectors including technology, consumer services, and life sciences. Past Polaris-backed successes include: Adnexus (acquired by BMS), Advanced Inhalation Research (acquired by Alkermes), Akamai Technologies (AKAM), Allaire (ALLR, acquired by Adobe), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Asthmatx (acquired by Boston Scientific), Athenix (acquired by Bayer), Glycofi (acquired by Merck), Ironwood (IRWD), LogMeIn (LOGM), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA), Powersoft (PWRS, acquired by Sybase), Solidworks, and TechTarget (TTGT). Its current portfolio includes notable investments which include: Adimab, Art.com, AscendHealth, e-Rewards, Focus Financial, LegalZoom, LivingProof, MarkMonitor, ShoeDazzle and Quantcast. For more on the firm, its mission and its portfolio companies: http://polarisventures.com.