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MoFo Advises Proximal Ventures on $27.5 Million Debut Fund

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Morrison Foerster advised Proximal Ventures on the close of its $27.5 million debut Fund I to invest in AI-native companies reshaping life sciences. Fund I invests in pre-seed and seed companies building AI-native infrastructure across the life sciences value chain, from discovery to market access. The fund is backed by strategic partners including Domino Lane, SignalFire, Kleiner Perkins, Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, and PagsGroup.Proximal invests in AI-native companies across the pharmaceutical value chain, from computational drug discovery to clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Founded by Sahir Raoof, Proximal takes a hands-on approach from inception, helping founders validate ideas, refine go-to-market strategy, and connect with pharma executives, design partners, and customers, often before the company is incorporated.The MoFo team was led by private funds partner Stephanie Thomas and corporate associate John Shawel.Read <a href="https://www.financialcontent.com/article/bizwire-2026-11-10-proximal-ventures-announces-275-million-debut-fund-to-invest-in-ai-native-companies-reshaping-life-sciences" target="_blank">Proximal’s press release</a>.

MoFo Advises Proximal Ventures on $27.5 Million Debut Fund

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Stephanie, Chair of the firm’s global Private Funds Group, has over 20 years of experience advising on private fund formation and operations, as well as on regulatory compliance matters. She represents U.S. domestic and global fund sponsors and institutional investors in connection with the formation of, and investments in, buyout funds, venture capital funds, secondary funds, debt funds, infrastructure funds, fund–of–funds, social impact funds and other private funds with a broad range of investment strategies. She has been described by a client as “extremely knowledgeable in the fund formation space, very good to work with and thoughtful about the needs of her clients.”Private Fund Sponsors. Stephanie represents fund sponsors and the management teams of private funds in the formation of their private funds, as well as in ongoing fund operations, including upper–tier planning, parallel and feeder fund structures, alternative and offshore vehicles, securities law matters, ERISA compliance, transfers or sales of partnership interests, including secondary transactions, and other tax and regulatory matters.She has considerable experience negotiating anchor investor arrangements, navigating cross–border fund matters, structuring co–investment and overage programs, representing firms and individual partners at the time of hire or departure (including involuntary removal), and the formation of feeder vehicles, parallel funds and special purpose vehicles. She also advises U.S. and international companies in the structuring of their corporate venture capital programs.Institutional Investors. Stephanie has advised institutional investors in hundreds of private fund formations, involving foreign and domestic funds ranging in size from $40 million to $21 billion. These investors, including state and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, universities, fund-of-funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors, have commitments ranging from $5 million - $1 billion on a per-deal basis. Her experience includes representing significant limited partner investors in some of the largest private market funds ever raised.Investment Advisers. Stephanie advises fund sponsors and other investment advisers on the principal aspects of the Investment Advisers Act and the Dodd–Frank Act. She assists her clients in navigating the regulatory landscape, including new state and federal registration requirements, exemption eligibility, compliance programs and ongoing compliance matters.Stephanie works in the firm’s Palo Alto office and is active in the business community. Prior to joining the firm in 2005, she was a member of the fund formation group in the Palo Alto office of Cooley LLP.

Stephanie Thomas

Chair of Global Private Funds Group

John Shawel is a corporate associate in Morrison Foerster’s Palo Alto office.John’s practice focuses on general corporate transactional matters, including venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and private funds.John earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a national champion and four-time All-American in track and field.Previously, John worked in various corporate finance roles, most recently as a finance manager at eBay.He is a licensed CPA in the State of California.

John Shawel

Associate

Private Funds