What is the life Sciences industry?
The life sciences industry includes a whole range of areas including, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, biomedical technologies, nutrition and most recently digital health. The industry is one of the biggest in the world, and has increasingly become the focus of investors in recent years.
What is the market potential of life science?
How we Rank these Life Science Investment Firms
- Assets Under Management: The most prominent and active investors in the Life Sciences space.
- Units Under Management: How large are the investments, although this may vary by stage of investment.
- ROI/Success: How successful have these firms been when investing in Life Sciences?
- Peer ranking:How well do the peers of these companies recognize their impact on the Life Sciences Industry?
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Life Sciences Investors
What is the life Sciences industry?
What is the market potential of life science?
What should you consider before you reach out to venture investors?
What is trending in life sciences?
Who are the top life science investors?
List of Top Life Sciences Investors
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois
- AUM: $5 billion+
Arch Ventures is an early-stage venture capital group that has a focus on physical sciences, life sciences and information technology. They have been one of the most prominent investors in the life sciences space for the past few years. They have been quite active in the last few years and were involved with most of the biggest deals in 2021 including, EQrx, Neumora , Insitro and Altos Labs. Other prominent investments include Illumina. They normally invest from Series-A through D, and are usually investing anywhere from $10-50 million per deal.
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $5 billion+
RA Capital Management is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies that are developing drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. Their focus on investing across the various stages of investment, which they believe, gives them the flexibility to invest in quality AI-healthcare startups, such as Freenome, and Element Biosciences, which received some of the biggest life science capital raises in 2021. They have recently started focusing on Meta-health startups that they believe will drive the next round of healthcare innovation.
- Founded: 1999
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- AUM: $2 billion+
Versant Ventures is a healthcare focused venture capital fund that is based out of New York City. It has been an active investor in healthcare focused early-stage venture capital in recent years and actively invests in Series-A Round. Versant has been making investments in numerous healthcare focused startups including Bright Peak Therapeutics , Crinetics, Stabilix, Moneteris Medical, and CODA biotherapeutics. They typically invest $10-50 million during investment rounds and target both early and growth stage of the investment process.
- Founded: 2009
- Headquarters: Mountain View, California
- AUM: $8 billion+
GV, formerly known as Google Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage startups. They invest across industries including life sciences, and have been quite active in the space over the last few years. Since 2000, they have invested in over 25 deals at a total invest of $1.6 billion, making them one of the most well-known names in the space. GV invests across the entire healthcare spectrum, including care delivery, health IT, devices, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: London, Paris, Munich
- AUM: $3 billion+
Soffinova is a Europe-based venture capital fund that is actively involved in the life sciences and looks to provide capital to early-stage companies. They typically invest $10-50 million at any given time and have invested in numerous prominent healthcare startups. They tend to focus on clinical stage drug discovery companies mostly in the European continent.
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $2 billion+
Orbimed is a medical and healthcare focused investment fund. Their venture arm has been active in providing Series-A rounds to healthcare for the past few years. In 2021 they were part of Adagio and Insilco Medicine, both of which were Orbimed invests right from seed stages to pre-ipo stages of the investment process. Their deep expertise and healthcare focus have been key to their success. Typical investment rounds range from $10-50 million dollars and over the past few years the company has made some prominent investments including SAGE therapeutics and Seragon Pharmaceuticals.
Life Sciences Investors
What should you consider before you reach out to venture investors?
- Does your company have large market potential
- Is the product viable and have commercial value
- Is the product competitive and cutting edge?
- Has the product witnessed any success?
- Is the management reliable?
Are you looking for Life Sciences Investors for your startup?
- Founded: 2002
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- AUM: $1 billion+
5AM ventures is a venture capital fund, that invests in seed and early-stage startups. It pursues early stage investments in the life science and has been a well-known investor in the space. They invested in a number of prominent names in 2021 including, Wildcat Discovery and GlycoEra. 5Am ventures usually invests in Series-A rounds but also sometimes invests across other stages of the investment process. Prominent companies that eventually went public were Entrada, Flexion, Crinetics etc.
- Founded: 1977
- Headquarters: Chevy Chase, MD
- AUM: $90 billion+
NEA has been very active in recent past in life science investing. They have invested in a number of prominent companies including Bright Health, Vori Health. Based out of Chevy Chase, the fund has a dedicated healthcare venture arm with over $5 billion in assets and invests across the various stages of the investment process. NEA has invested in prominent names such as Willow and Tesaro, and has no specific level of funding. Their healthcare arm has no typical deal size and they invest in both early, growth and later stage investments.
- Founded: 1999
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $2 billion+
Apple Tree Partners, is a pioneer in life science investing. They are based out of New York, and they invest in early-stage startups. They are looking to invest in the next generation of transformation life science companies. They have been quite active over the past few years and have invested in names such as Adendra, Aileron, Heartware, and Galaxy Medical. The average deal size is around $10-50 million dollars and they usually invest in Series A and B rounds.
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: San Francisco, California
- AUM: $5 billion+
Canaan Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests across industries. Based out of San Francisco, the firm has been quite active in the life sciences spaces in recent times. The fund usually invests in Series-A through D and has no typical investment size. The fund has invested in a number of key life science companies in recent times, companies such as, NextCure, Antiva Biosciences, Arrakis, Hyalex Orthopedics.
- Founded: 1997
- Headquarters: Boston, MA
- AUM: $2 billion+
MPM capital is a prominent and well-known venture capital firm, that invests in the life sciences space. They tend to invest in early-stage startups and usually prefer investing in the Series A and B rounds but also invest at the seed stage. It recently raises $850 million to find drug cancer research drugs. The fund continues to make important investments in the life sciences space, with key investments in 2021, in companies such as Protega pharmaceuticals and Frontier Medicine. Famous investments include Oncurus, Trixnet.
- Founded: 2008
- Headquarters: Palo Alto, Shanghai
- AUM: $3 billion+
Lilly Asia ventures is a life sciences focused, and Asia focused venture capital firm. Based out of offices in Palo Alto and Shanghai. They have been the most active investing in the Asian life sciences backdrop, and made investments in prominent names such as Cullinan, Airdoc, Innovent, NextCure, and CanSinotech which produces vaccines including a COVID vaccines. The fund typically invests anywhere from $5-25 million per round.
What is the future of the Canadian VC industry?
According to CVCA (Canadian Venture Capital Association:
1. Canadian venture capital will continue to focus on ICT going into the future. Along with TMT. These are the biggest areas of focus.
2. The second most prominent area of investment will continue to be life sciences
3. U.S. venture capital is increasingly looking to collaborate with the Canadian industry in order to get a better hold and understanding of the market.
4. The market is significantly smaller compared to the U.S. but a lot of opportunity is available as the startup scene in Canada continues to develop.
- Founded: 2007
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $2 billion+
Third Rock Ventures is a top healthcare focused venture capital firm that is located in Boston. The fund invests in early-stage startups. They look for companies that are positioned for high levels of growth and invest in Series-A through D. They have invested in top startup names such as, Celsius Therapeutics, Foundation medicine, Insitro. They usually invest anywhere from $10-$20 billion per round.
- Founded: 1996
- Headquarters: San Francisco
- AUM: $1 billion+
Based in San Francisco, Alexandria Venture Investments is a prominent life sciences investor that focuses on both the real estate and healthcare industry. They usually invest anywhere from Series-A and through D and typically invest $5-50 million round. Prominent investments include Celsius Therapeutics, Skyhawk, Silverback and TCR2.
- Founded: 2010
- Headquarters: San Francisco
- AUM: $1 billion+
Rock Health is a famous accelerator, and a seed fund that invests primarily in life science companies. Based out of San Fransico the fund has been famous for making seed stage investments in numerous healthcare companies. They have partnered with famous medical establishments such as Kaiser Permanente and Harvard Medical school. And typically invest anywhere from $250k to $1 million per round. Prominent invesments include Omada, Collective, Virta, Sensetia, and Lumity
- Founded: 1969
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $3 billion+
F-Prime partners, which is based out of New York City, is a technology and healthcare focused fund. One of the oldest healthcare investment firms, the fund invests in seed and early-stage startups. They have no typical deal size. F-Prime is not the most active investors but continues to make prominent investments everywhere. Multiple companies under their portfolio are now public including Xilio, Ultragenyx, Beam, and Cogent Biosciences.
- Founded: 1999
- Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark
- AUM: $1 billion+
NOVO ventures is a well-known European venture health investors, that is based out of Copenhagen, Denmark. They typically invest through Series-A and D rounds, and have made investments in names such as Haladoc, Freeline, LanzaTech. They are one of the most active European based life science investors.
- Founded: 2017
- Headquarters: San Francisco
- AUM: $1 billion+
Pivotal Bioventures is a fund that looks to invest in innovative therapeutic companies. They are based out of San Francisco, and are life sciences focused venture capital firm. They partner with early-stage life science companies. The fund is relatively new to the life sciences scene but has made numerous investments including companies such as Excentia and Obsetian.
- Founded: 1972
- Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
- AUM: $10 billion+
Kleiner Perkins is a famous venture capital fund that is based out of Menlo Park. It is known to make investments across industries, but has made some prominent investments in healthcare companies as well. Although they are not focused on the healthcare sector, they occasionally dabble in key investments. They have an $87 milion early stage venture fund and have invested in companies such as Viz.Ai. Teladoc, and Mango Health.
- Founded: 2001
- Headquarters: New York City, New York
- AUM: $1 billion+
Indie Bio is another famous healthcare accelerator. They invest in seed stage and pre-seed stage life science companies. Indie Bio has been a very prominent accelerator and they have invested in a number of key life science startups including Prothegen and Prellis. They typically invest anywhere from $250k to $1 million.