| Company type | Private ownership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Private equity |
| Predecessor | Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | One Embarcadero Center San Francisco, California, United States |
Key people | |
| Products | Venture capital |
| Website | www.altapartners.com |
Alta Partners is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco which invests primarily in biotechnology and life science companies. [4]
Cofounder Guy Nohra later relocated in Barcelona, Spain, to cofound Alta Life Sciences [5] in 2016. [6]
Dan Janney joined Alta as a partner in 1996, when the firm was founded; Pete Hudson and Bob More joined in 2017. [7]
In 2000, the firm launched two VC funds, Alta California Partners III and Alta BioPharma Partners II. [8] It raised its ninth fund, Alta Partners NextGen Fund I, in 2017. [7] Two new healthcare VC funds were launched in 2004: Alta BioPharma Partners III and ACP IV. [9]
In May 2022, the company filed a lawsuit against BRC Inc. [10] (NYSE:BRCC), [11] the surviving entity of a 2021 merger between SilverBox Capital and Black Rifle Coffee [12] ) in the Southern District of New York, which alleging a breach of contract, and seeking damages due to BRC's refusal to allow Alta to exercise warrants in 2022. The suit was settled in June 2025, with Alta paying BRC $1,000,000, and BRC issuing 2,300,100 shares of its Class A common stock to Alta. [11]
Notable investments have included Ellie Mae, Be Inc., Ilex Oncology, Connects Corp, The Medicines Co., [8] Kite Pharmaceuticals, ZS Pharma, Esperion, Allakos Chemgenx, DeCode Calistoga, Aerie, Cymabay, Tyra Biosciences, [13] DIspatchHealth and VIR Biotechnology. [4]