hen evaluating companies, we look extensively at the science, clinical data, management team and market for the company's proposed products. Our areas of expertise include small molecule and protein therapeutics; medical devices; diagnostics; and technologies that facilitate drug discovery and life science research. For Skyline V, our latest fund, with $350 million in committed capital, we are targeting 15-18 portfolio companies. We anticipate investing $15-25 million per company over a number investment rounds per company. Most often, our first investment in a company will be in the range of $10-15 million, depending on how many follow-on rounds we forecast for that company before an IPO or sale. Historically, a majority of our portfolio companies have been in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, we have also made investments throughout the United States, including the traditional investment centers of Boston and San Diego, as well as Denver, the Midwest, and Florida. Generally, we think of companies as being in one of three categories:
Many of our investments have been to finance companies developing breakthrough medicines that were in or nearing clinical trials when we first invested. The rounds we invest in are usually structured so that the company can achieve an important value creating and financeable milestone, such as a Phase 2 efficacy study, before it has to raise its next investment round. We work hard to understand the molecular mechanism of the drug candidate, the ratio between toxicity and therapeutic effect in animal pharmacology, and to evaluate the medical condition at which the drug is aimed. We seek to anticipate what the FDA's attitude toward the drug candidate will be, whether doctors are likely to prescribe it, and to assess its commercial potential. Finding drugs that can make it all the way through clinical trials and FDA approval is a difficult, long and risky proposition. At Skyline, we generally seek drug candidates which we believe have a higher chance than normal of having the human clinical data duplicate the pre-clinical animal data. Only if the drug is successful in clinical trials will it eventually make it onto the market. And, only if the drug eventually makes it to market will the investment become the type of important, "signature" company we are most interested in backing.
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