InterWest Partners

InterWest Partners is a venture capital firm founded in 1979. Over more than four decades it has invested as an early-stage partner to entrepreneurs building companies in information technology and healthcare, with a technical remit spanning software, communications technology, medical technology, biotechnology and healthcare technology. The firm describes its approach as working alongside founders to help build companies across multiple stages, with a concentration on early-stage investment.

Notable portfolio companies associated with InterWest include Xilinx, CIENA, Doximity, Canva, Braze and Glaukos - a list that spans semiconductors and networking infrastructure on the technology side and digital health, ophthalmic medical devices and enterprise software more broadly. The firm states it is not currently seeking new investments and now oversees its legacy portfolio.

For prospective hires, the practical implication is that InterWest operates as a steward of an existing portfolio rather than as an active deployment vehicle, with work concentrated on supporting and monitoring companies already held. The firm's stated premise - that promising entrepreneurs can build transformative companies given the right early-stage investment partner - remains the organising idea behind that legacy.