Fundraising FoxUpStart Ventures
Venture capitalSalt Lake City · Seed–Series A · 4 people tracked
Find your way into UpStart Ventures
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to UpStart Ventures
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the UpStart Ventures team. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Investment thesis
UpStart focuses on seed and early-stage healthcare investing, backing companies founded on breakthrough technologies emerging from major research universities centered in Utah and surrounding states. Target opportunities include medical devices, drug delivery systems, and diagnostics, along with longer-horizon investments in biopharma products and platforms. The firm's core belief is that more value is generated through the formation and hands-on initial management of leading-edge life science companies than through traditional venture investing in pre-existing companies at either early or later stages.
Source: firm website, verified Sep 26, 2026.
Team · 4 people
from the firm's website & public directoriesWhat they invest in
from 4 of 16 portfolio companiesBiotech ×4Healthtech ×4Medical Devices ×3Digital Health ×2FemTech ×1
HQs:United States×3
Investments · 16 tracked
founders shown can be your intro path
Sera Prognostics develops women's health diagnostics focused on pregnancy, including the PreTRM blood test that predicts an individual's risk of spontaneous preterm birth in singleton pregnancies and the LikeMine platform that compares pregnancy outcomes using U.S. pregnancy data.
BiotechDigital HealthFemTechHealthtechSalt Lake City, US
Douglas Fisher(Executive Officer)Jay Moyes(Executive Officer)inGregory C. Critchfield(Executive Officer, Director)inAndrew A. Sauter(Executive Officer)inZhenya Lindgardt(President and Chief Executive Officer)in
BoardMansoor Mirza(Director)
Board seatDennis Farrar· per SEC Form D
Co-investorsaMoonExcelestar VenturesIntermountain HealthOUP (Osage University Partners)Vivo CapitalCatalyst Health Ventures+1 more
Elut is a clinical-stage medical device company developing patented drug-eluting devices that provide controlled, sustained therapeutic release, with a current focus on treating orthopedic and periprosthetic joint infections.
BiotechHealthtechMedical Devices
PhotoPharmics is a clinical-stage medical device company developing non-invasive, light-based photo-neuromodulation therapies for neurodegenerative disease, with a focus on Parkinson's disease.
BiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesSalt Lake City, US
Kent Savage(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardGavin Christensen(Director)inTed Stanley(Director)Daniel Adams(Director)
Co-investorsKickstart
Q Therapeutics develops allogeneic, human glial progenitor cell therapies for currently incurable diseases of the central nervous system.
BiotechHealthtechMedical DevicesSalt Lake City, US
Co-investorsEPIC VENTURES
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Catheter ConnectionsComplexaContraDynDecipher GenX, Inc.G6, Inc.JST ResearchMedAnalyticsMedCathetersNeuroAdjuvantsNumira, Inc.VeritractXableCath
Exits · 1
1 IPOsSera PrognosticsNASDAQ: SERA
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has UpStart Ventures made?
- UpStart Ventures has 16 tracked investments, 1 of which have exited.
- What stage does UpStart Ventures invest at?
- UpStart Ventures invests at the Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does UpStart Ventures focus on?
- UpStart Ventures focuses on Biotech, Digital Health, Healthtech, Medical Devices.
- Where is UpStart Ventures located?
- UpStart Ventures is headquartered in Salt Lake City, US.
- Who does UpStart Ventures co-invest with?
- UpStart Ventures most often shares deals with aMoon, EPIC VENTURES, Kickstart, among 7 tracked co-investors.
Images
Similar investors
Amadeus Capital Partners is a UK-based deep tech venture capital firm founded in 1997 that invests in technology companies from seed to growth stage. Since inception it has backed over 200 companies and raised more than $1.3 billion.
.jpeg){kind=logo}
B Capital is a global investment firm backing early to late-stage technology innovators across technology, healthcare, and energy & resilience sectors.
Breyer Capital is a venture capital firm that backs high-impact entrepreneurs, making strategic investments guided by founder passion and its network of experienced investors.
Canaan Partners is a venture capital firm with over 30 years of history, backing companies across technology and healthcare sectors through close, hands-on partnerships with founders.
Capricorn Partners is a Belgium-based, partner-owned independent management company for alternative investment funds, investing in innovative companies across digital, health and clean technologies with an ESG focus.