Allan Johnston

Allan Johnston, Ph.D., is a co-founder and managing director of the Synergy Ventures funds and of the affiliated Synergy Partners International, which he helped establish in 1996. The firm is a small, highly specialized medical-technology investor based in Menlo Park, California, focused exclusively on U.S. medical device and diagnostics startups. Under Johnston, Synergy has raised multiple funds (Synergy Ventures II and III appear in institutional databases such as PitchBook) and has been an active early-stage backer in the medtech ecosystem for nearly three decades.

Before founding Synergy, Johnston built a career at the intersection of medical technology, research, and finance. From 1992 to 1996 he was responsible for late-stage private equity investments in medical technology companies at Berkeley International Capital Corporation in San Francisco. From 1987 to 1992 he served as Program Manager at the Center for Medical Technology at SRI International in Menlo Park, where he directed research projects, product development, and technical and business consulting for medical technology companies worldwide — experience that underpins Synergy's hands-on, clinically grounded investing style.

Johnston's training is in the physical sciences: he holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Beyond investing, he has served on the boards of several private companies in Synergy's portfolio and has acted as an outside director for companies commercializing university-developed technology.

• Stage & size: Seed and early-stage medical device deals, writing initial checks of $250K to $1M.
• Sector: Devices and diagnostics for major age-related diseases — cardiovascular, neurovascular/stroke, oncology, orthopedics, respiratory, and GI.
• What makes them say yes: Companies developing "novel, single-use medical devices that can provide clinically efficacious therapy, at lower cost." They prioritize ventures that can demonstrate clinical efficacy early with minimal infrastructure and head-count.
• Exit orientation: Explicitly targets companies with "strong potential for partnership and acquisition" — the thesis is oriented toward strategic M&A (and occasionally IPO) rather than building standalone companies.
• Differentiated value-add: Helps portfolio companies form corporate partnerships in Japan, drawing on Japan-based medical-device corporations among its limited partners.