LOS ANGELES & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vida Ventures (“Vida”), a next-generation life sciences venture firm, announced today the closing of Vida Ventures III, L.P. (“Vida III”) on $825 million in an oversubscribed fund. Vida, founded in 2017, now has over $1.7 billion of assets under management.
Vida III will build upon the success of Vida’s first two funds and continue its investment approach of identifying and investing in transformative biomedical innovations with the potential to meaningfully impact patients. The capital was raised globally from existing and new blue-chip institutional investors, including top-tier endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, pensions, financial institutions, family offices, fund-of-funds and notable individuals.
Vida has assembled an industry-leading team, including world-class scientific and strategic advisors, who have developed over 25 separate, novel drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Vida represents depth and breadth of experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, academia, entrepreneurship and investing. Vida’s leadership includes:
- Arie Belldegrun, MD, FACS – Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director
- Helen S. Kim, MBA – Senior Managing Director
- Arjun Goyal, MD, MPhil, MBA – Co-Founder and Managing Director
- Stefan Vitorovic, MS, MBA – Co-Founder and Managing Director
- Rajul Jain, MD – Managing Director
- Jean-Philippe Kouakou-Zebouah, MBA – Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
The team is focused on identifying groundbreaking science and innovative company building that lead to new areas of drug discovery and development. Since inception, Vida has made 30 investments in companies developing transformative therapies for difficult-to-treat indications across oncology, neurology, autoimmunity, rare genetic diseases and beyond. With experience building and scaling companies from concept to commercialization, Vida takes a hands-on approach and is deeply involved with its portfolio companies across the full life cycle of value creation.
“As investors, company builders and life science supporters, each one of us at Vida is driven by the opportunity to unlock the power of science. From our formation to today with the close of Vida III, the goal is to do our part in converting dreams into groundbreaking therapies for patients. We are grateful to our existing investors who have continued to support us and to those new investors who are partnering with us on the next phase of our journey,” said Dr. Belldegrun. “Over the last three years, our proven approach to life sciences investing brings together a network of industry experts alongside a powerful investor base undaunted by inherent challenges in drug development, to fundamentally change the course of human disease.”
The success of Vida’s portfolio approach is evidenced by its standout investments that exemplify Vida’s key pillars of strength: connection and access on the ground floor, flexibility to quickly capitalize on opportunistic investments based on broad in-house expertise, and the ability to create the cutting edge by providing hands-on support for young companies on the verge of great breakthroughs.
“We embrace a flexible mandate that allows us to dynamically source the most promising opportunities regardless of geography, stage of development or financing,” said Ms. Kim. “Vida III will allow us to continue our bold investment strategy and provide first-hand operational and strategic expertise that helps innovators change the treatment landscape for patients.”
The Private Funds Group of Jefferies LLC served as exclusive global placement agent for this fundraise. Gunderson Dettmer served as legal advisor.
About Vida Ventures
Vida Ventures is a next-generation life sciences investment firm founded by scientists, physicians, entrepreneurs and investors who are passionate about building and funding breakthroughs in biomedicine. Together they have created a bold investment group bound together by a simple word – life. Its mission is to bring science to life and advance transformative biomedical innovations that have the potential to make a meaningful difference for patients. Vida has a bicoastal presence and currently has approximately $1.7 billion under management. For more information on Vida Ventures, please visit www.vidaventures.com, on LinkedIn or follow on Twitter @Vida_Ventures.
