On August 10, 2020, Keystone Capital Partners announced the establishment of its investment platform led by hedge fund expert Fred Zaino. Throughout his fifteen-year career with Millenium, a global investment management company, Mr. Zaino made a grand series of thriving investments. The key to his approach was meticulous fundamental analysis with the primary focus on the biotechnology and medical technology sectors.
According to Zaino, Keystone’s objective is to identify and assist overlooked underfunded companies with reaching their goals through unique investment structures.
“I’ve learned throughout my career that the best returns are often generated from the strongest partnerships and Keystone will invest in building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with strong management teams to help them meet and exceed their business objectives.”
— Fred Zaino, Chief Investment Officer at Keystone.
Keystone is structured as a family office, which gives it the advantage of deploying capital to the companies within the portfolio in the most flexible and prompt manner. This is largely due to the lack of restrictions typically associated with third-party investors.
The company will focus on building lasting partnerships with public and private companies with micro, small and mid-capitalization. Keystone’s industries of choice are expected to be real estate, biotechnology, and consumer products.
On top of that Keystone is guaranteeing to develop creative financial solutions through an individualized approach to every company. The tailored approach will include close communication with the management teams, and the ultimate goal will always be achieving full value for every stakeholder.
The companies that have already made it onto Keystone’s portfolio are:
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a company that focuses on developing precision immunodiagnostic agents and immunotherapeutics. Starting from December 2019 onwards, Navidea received a total of $6.4 million from Keystone.
Polarity TE, Inc. is a biotech firm that develops regenerative tissue products and biomaterials. Keystone made an up to $25 million commitment to purchase Polarity’s common stock.
Varian Biopharma, Inc. is a privately held corporation that develops a first-in-class
atypical Protein Kinase C Iota (aPKCi) inhibitor, an oncogene that is necessary for the growth of several forms of human cancers including basal cell carcinoma and pancreatic cancer, and others.
Vaccinex, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotech firm that trailblazes original investigational antibody therapies in Huntington’s disease (HD) and cancer. Keystone made an up to $5 million commitment to purchase Vaccinex’s common stock.
Stella Diagnostics, LLC, is a privately held molecular diagnostics organization that focuses on improving patient management strategies for over 67 million people living with severe esophageal disease. Stella Diagnostics’s innovative technology offers physicians insight into the molecular properties of their patients’ tissue to help them determine if the disease is stable, progressing, or turning cancerous.
