Why us?
Deep tech, science-driven founders and the increasing power of computer science are the ingredients we believe will continue to produce great companies. Learn more about our team below.
Trusted partners
We’ve dedicated thousands of hours getting to know the brilliant communities of Caltech, JPL and Berkeley. Over more than thirty investments to date, we’ve built a reputation for being good strategic partners that go the extra mile for founders.
Commercial expertise
Our startup and company-building experience in healthcare, life sciences, software, big data and machine learning enable us to identify high growth opportunities of deep technology breakthroughs and meaningfully assist founders on their translational paths to commercial success.
Connection makers
With over 80 years of combined experience, we have relevant relationships that span Silicon Valley, Caltech, JPL, Berkeley and the Fortune 500. Whether it’s helping a founder build their team, close a partnership, or raise their next round, we routinely connect our portfolio companies to best-in-class experts, business partners, and fellow investors to win in the marketplace.
David leads Freeflow with a focus on investing in and supporting the leading science-based companies that fuel our strategy. Combining his background in finance, deal-making, business development and fundraising, he brings a unique perspective and skill set that drive the growth of Freeflow. With a particular expertise in fundraising, David is a sought after guide for the often uncharted territory of fundraising, especially for early stage deep tech companies.
David began his career as a CPA at PwC and a Consultant at Bain & Company, working on both the buy and sell side advising companies and private equity firms on investments in venture capital and leveraged buyouts, mergers, and acquisitions. During this time he learned the best practices of deal-making, including sourcing, diligence, negotiation, and execution. He then was an early product manager at Google and a senior executive at several startups, including his last, Disqus, which had a successful exit.
It was during this time that he experienced firsthand the disruptive force of computer science, particularly machine learning and artificial intelligence, and saw how it could be utilized to solve challenging technical and business problems.
David is also a member of the Information Science & Technology (IST) Council at Caltech. The Information Science and Technology (IST) initiative is an institute-wide effort that seeks to provide a new intellectual framework enabling ideas from computation to integrate into and transform disciplines across Caltech, e.g. physics, chemistry, biology and planetary sciences.
Kevin Barrett has nearly 30 years of start-up, deal-making and operating experience in the healthcare services, medical device and life sciences industries. Among the roles he has served are: (1) executive-in-residence with Bain Capital Ventures and SV Life Sciences; (2) chief development officer of PolyMedica Corporation, the nation’s largest provider of diabetes testing supplies; (3) senior vice president of commercial operations at BG Medicine, a biotechnology start-up; and (4) chief operating officer of Synergy Informatics, a venture-funded startup sold to Quintiles Transnational, the largest provider of outsourced services to the pharmaceutical industry.
More recently, Kevin was president and CEO of Altegra Health, a private equity portfolio company that provided revenue cycle management services to health plans. Under Kevin’s leadership, Altegra grew revenue and earnings over 400%, leading to the successful sale of the company to Change Healthcare in 2015 for over $900M.
Steve Roy is our Operating Partner who combines his previous experience as co-founder, start-up marketing leader and brand consultant to collaborate closely with portfolio companies to craft and amplify their stories. Prior to Freeflow, he held lead roles in strategy, marketing and communications at organizations focused on innovation, science and technology. These include start-ups A123 Systems (energy storage), Disqus (online communities), VendOp (supply chain) and Aloft AI (drone software) as well as large entities Philips, Johnson & Johnson, The National Cancer Institute and GE among others.
Advisory Board
Fred Wilson
Advisor
- Co-founder of Union Square Ventures (USV)
- Chairman of the NYC Department of Education’s CS4All Capital Campaign and co-Chairman of Tech:NYC
- Freeflow LP
Chris Farmer
Advisor
- Founder of SignalFire
- Recognized leader in the use of machine learning & artificial intelligence to find & support investments.
- Previously at General Catalyst and Bessemer.
- Freeflow LP
Benjamin Clinger, P.C.
Advisor
- Partner at Kirkland & Ellis Bay Area office with expertise in acquisitions across a wide range of sectors.
- Previous experience on behalf of many leading private equity firms.
- Freeflow LP
Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re focused on the founder communities of Caltech and Berkeley. We spend months and sometimes years getting to know the brilliant people there working on solutions in human and planetary health. This deeper investment of time spent with founders greatly increases our ability to invest in teams we truly believe in, with technology that’s disruptive, proprietary and on the path to commercialization. It’s a simple formula we’ve been executing since 2019 and we’ll continue to hone.
Our goal is to provide science-driven companies with non-science advantages in areas like fundraising, marketing, recruiting and strategy. Through our time, tools and resources, we help to build these capabilities within our founders and their teams. Particularly at early stages, companies that can raise awareness, build a brand and establish mindshare with key audiences gain a competitive advantage in their ability to attract talent, new investors and customers.
The deep tech companies we invest in are pursuing large-scale market opportunities measured in billions of dollars. Most of the companies in our portfolio leverage computer science, AI and machine learning which remain highly attractive assets for large companies, institutional investors and public markets.
The demand for human health products and services is essentially ‘infinite’. Aging populations and a continued rise in both chronic and acute diseases, combined with a prolonged period of medical innovation stagnancy has created an opportunity for upheaval and transformation in the healthcare industry.
Exit paths for planetary companies are also compelling given public pressure to take more impactful steps to reduce carbon and transform the energy economy more rapidly. Investment in planetary health technologies is now outpacing spending on fossil fuels.
We’re currently invested across 13 industries with 6 focused in human health and 7 in planetary health. This provides us with diverse exposure to large-scale market opportunities without over-saturation into any single trend or cycle.
Our Human Health industries include: Therapeutics, Diagnostic, Med tech/medical devices, Rx discovery & development platforms, Consumer health and Biomanufacturing.
Our Planetary Health industries include: Automation and robotics, Carbon capture and storage, Energy creation and storage, Water treatment, recovery & management, Geospatial data collection, analytics & application, Advanced/additive manufacturing and Advanced electronics.