MTI Partners has signalled a strategic shift into the early stage biotechnology sector with the appointment of David Holbrook as its first dedicated life sciences hire.

The veteran UK venture capital house, which raised its first fund in 1983, is best known as an early-stage technology investor in IT and materials sciences. However Paul Castle, the founder and chief executive of MTI Partners, said that Holbrook will spearhead the firm's expansion into the life sciences sector, which has emerged from the technology downturn in comparatively rude health.