First Aid Shot Therapy® (F.A.S.T) Completes $24 million Series C Financing
BURLINGAME, Calif., Nov. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- First Aid Shot Therapy® (F.A.S.T.), a consumer healthcare company focused on over-the-counter (OTC) medicine in liquid shot form (40ml / 1.35oz.), announced today that it has completed a Series C financing round. Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) led the round with additional support from new investors Lumira Capital and existing investors Sofinnova Ventures, Redmile Group and HealthQuest Capital, among others.
F.A.S.T. is building the "New Way to Manage Your Health" by offering consumers a portfolio of single dose liquid medicines that address day to day healthcare needs. The Series C funding will be used to expand the company's product portfolio that already includes: F.A.S.T. Pain, Hangover Relief, Heartburn and Cold Relief and to provide the company with the depth of working capital to support rapid customer expansion. Since its launch, F.A.S.T. has already achieved listing with many of the leading grocery and convenience distributors including: McLane's, AMI (Core-Mark) and United Grocers, and placement at retailers such as HEB, Kum & Go, Circle K Southwest, United Pacific, EZ Mart, Holiday, Tedeschi's Food Stores, Schnucks and Safeway. In addition, retailers such as CVS, Rite Aid, and 7-Eleven have recently been added as retail partners, demonstrating broad success of the company's products in the market.
"We are pleased to welcome two major new investor groups to the F.A.S.T. family. JJDC and Lumira Capital bring a wealth of experience in the pharmaceutical and consumer industries," said Mary Page Platerink, founder and CEO of F.A.S.T. "Their collective knowledge of consumer healthcare will give our company important access to research, consumer behavior trends and shopper insights to help us empower consumers to manage their own health."
Platerink continued: "Innovation in the OTC market has been focused on functional benefits, but we know consumers are looking not only for effective products, but also for products that fit into their busy lifestyles. We have seen that the on-the-go occasion is growing in many consumer categories. For example, On-the-go meal replacement and snacks growth is outpacing conventional grocery snacks growth 2:1. Consumers are embracing F.A.S.T. as it offers them an easy convenient new way to effectively manage their health on the go."
"After looking at several opportunities, we believe that F.A.S.T.'s liquid shots are the right format for consumers looking for relief on-the-go," said Peter van der Velden from Lumira Capital, who joined the board of F.A.S.T. after the investment round. "And the F.A.S.T. team has a unique go-to-market strategy that we believe will make a success of this exciting new portfolio of medicines."
About First Aid Shot Therapy®
Headquartered in Burlingame, California, privately held First Aid Beverages, Inc. (dba "First Aid Shot Therapy®") is focused on the development and commercialization of a comprehensive portfolio of OTC pharmaceutical products in liquid 'shot' (40ml / 1.35oz.) format. The F.A.S.T. team is comprised of consumer product executives that have been responsible for the launch and commercial success of products such as vitaminwater, Pretzel Crisps, Krave Jerky and FlatOut. F.A.S.T.'s products are formulated by the Company's proprietary research and development organization, F.A.S.T. Labs. F.A.S.T. was co-founded by Professor Jay Pasricha, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In addition, F.A.S.T. has assembled an Advisory Board comprising some of the leading regulatory advisors and consumer marketing executives in the world including Mary Minnick, Partner at Lion Capital and former Chief Marketing, Strategy and Innovation Officer at The Coca-Cola Company and Peter Barton Hutt, former General Counsel of the Food and Drug Administration. For more information, please visit: www.firstaidshottherapy.com
About Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC is the venture capital subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that has been investing since 1973 in the medical device, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and consumer health areas. JJDC's goal is to create opportunities that meet the strategic needs of its operating affiliates while providing visibility to innovative emerging technology, businesses and business models. JJDC invests in companies across the continuum from early stage seed investments to advanced stages of series venture management. For more information, please visit: www.JJDC.com.
About Lumira Capital
Lumira is built on a foundation that leverages 25+ years of experience as one of North America's leading healthcare and life science venture capital investors. Currently investing out of two funds, Lumira Capital invests primarily in North American, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical, medical device, IT health and consumer health companies.
Lumira's investment team is deeply domain specific and our partners have all been engaged in the industry as entrepreneurs, researchers, clinicians, academics, business development professional and investors for many years. Lumira is proud to have partnered with exceptional management teams and entrepreneurs to build world class companies like: Kai Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen), Ception Therapeutics (acquired by Cephalon), Morphotek, Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead following IPO) and MAKO Surgical (acquired by Stryker).
Lumira Capital's portfolio companies and partners are located throughout North American and the firm has offices in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Boston and San Diego. For more information, please visit www.lumiracapital.com.
About Sofinnova Ventures
Sofinnova has over 40 years of experience in building healthcare companies. With $1.8 billion in committed capital, the firm invests solely in the life sciences sector. The investment team of MDs, PhDs and seasoned executives has deep scientific, operational and strategic experience. Sofinnova partners with entrepreneurs to build successful companies, advance medicine and address patients' unmet medical needs, with demonstrated success in both private and public investments. For more information, please visit www.sofinnova.com.
About Redmile Group
Redmile Group is a healthcare investment organization based in San Francisco, California and New York, New York. For more information, please visit www.redmilegrp.com.
About HealthQuest Capital
HealthQuest Capital makes go-to-market and early growth investments in innovative healthcare companies that are improving healthcare and the way it's delivered. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics, patient care products, consumer health and healthcare IT fields. The HealthQuest investing team includes deep operational, clinical and scientific expertise and worldwide relationships throughout the healthcare industry that can be leveraged to add value to its portfolio companies. For more information, visit healthquestcapital.com.
Media Contact:
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SOURCE First Aid Shot Therapy
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