Ebb & Flow

With the capital markets closed for IPOs for the foreseeable future, its no secret VCs are starting to plan early for potential trade sale exits. One way to do it was illustrated by MPM Capital, which came in as a new investor to lead last week's $38 million series B round for renal company Proteon Therapeutics.

As part of the process of getting to know Proteon, MPM realized that it would be a good match for investment partner Novartis (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN)...