Venture capital firm Catalio Capital Management spins out of Camden Partners

Two Baltimore VCs are debuting Catalio Capital Management LP to invest in biomedical technology companies after spinning out of Inner Harbor-based growth equity firm Camden Partners.

The venture capital firm started as Camden’s Nexus division in 2016. With the spinout complete, it is now rebranding as Catalio — Greek for “catalyze” — and is led and wholly owned by managing partners George Petrocheilos, 28, and R. Jacob Vogelstein, 42.

Portfolio companies include Johns Hopkins University spinouts commercializing cancer testing breakthroughs, such as Thrive Earlier Detection Corp. and Personal Genome Diagnostics, as well as Baltimore medical device firms Sisu Global Health and eNeura.

“Our move to independence represents the natural evolution of our business, which has built a track record of investing in a variety of breakthrough biomedical technology companies around the globe,” Petrocheilos said in a statement. “Camden and its CEO, David Warnock, played a critical role in helping us create Nexus by providing the operating capital we needed to launch our first fund, and they have continued to support us over the past years as we have grown. We are grateful and thankful to David and Camden for the confidence and support they have shown and provided to us over the past four years.”

Key members of the team are also continuing with Catalio. These include Tom V. Brooks, who is general partner. Brooks served in executive roles at Baltimore-based Constellation Energy and was a senior member of the team that developed the domestic power business at noted investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. Serving as chairman is Edward J. Mathias, who previously served as a partner and played a role in founding prominent D.C.-based asset management firm The Carlyle Group, and was a member of the management committee at Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price.

Catalio will also continue have a group of 25 venture partners, who are prominent researchers and scientists from institutions like Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford and University of California San Francisco, and also have entrepreneurial experience starting at least two companies. They own a stake of the firm’s fund, and are active in referring companies that Catalio may invest in.

The firm’s investments will range across the spectrum of venture capital, ranging from early to growth stages.

“I believe the unique composition of our team at Catalio allows us to identify the next generation of breakthrough biomedical technology companies and catalyze their development from inception through IPO,” Vogelstein said.

The result of the spinout is a new venture capital firm in Baltimore, with a focus on investing in a category of technology where the region has noted strengths stemming from its leading researchers and institutions.

“Since its founding, Camden Partners has been dedicated to building impactful businesses in Baltimore, including companies such as Paragon Bioservices, Towne Park and Pinnacle Automotive,” said Warnock. “By spinning off Nexus, we hope to allow the platform access to additional capital and talent, as well as continue to make Baltimore a center for biopharma investing.”