Venrock

Beginning in 1934, Laurance S. Rockefeller (1910–2004) the fourth of the six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. began investing in early-stage businesses. The first was a store that sold Finnish furniture. The second, borne of his friendship with the pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, led to the creation of Eastern Airlines. and some of the institutions the family supported including the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. ==Investments==

Venrock invested more than $2.5 billion in more than 440 companies, resulting in 125 initial public offerings. Venrock focuses its investments on early-stage and start-up companies in information technology, healthcare and emerging technologies. These include: Intel, Apple, Shape Security, Phoenix, Second Rotation (gazelle), RedSeal, CTERA Networks, and Juno Therapeutics. It also has a significant venture in the nascent nanotechnology field, with early funding of Nanosys and the nanotech division of Du Pont. Others include BioTime. In the healthcare sector with partners such as Bryan Roberts, Venrock has invested in athenahealth, Grand Rounds, HealthSouth Corporation, MedPartners, Inc., Castlight Health, Caliper Technologies Corporation, Centocor, Geron, senolytic startup UNITY Biotechnology, Genetics Institute, Idec Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Illumina, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Sirna Therapeutics, and Sugen. ==See also==