CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mission BioCapital, a venture capital firm focused on making investments in early-stage life sciences companies that it uniquely supports as they grow, announced it has raised $275 million for its next round of investments. Mission BioCapital V LP is more than double the size of the firm’s prior fund.
Mission BioCapital will continue funding transformative startups in life sciences with an emphasis on therapeutics, as well as investments in diagnostics, medical devices, laboratory tools and drug delivery. In addition, the firm has begun to emphasize company creation with academic researchers and entrepreneurs to launch startups based on novel technology.
“Our team empowers exceptional biotech entrepreneurs from all walks of life,” said Peter D. Parker, co-founder and managing general partner of Mission BioCapital. “We created unique partnerships with life sciences incubators MBC BioLabs, Lab Central and BioLabs to provide crucial support and community for these founders when they need it most. With our new company creation effort in this fund, we’ll be able to go a step further in helping founders build new enterprises based on compelling new science. In addition, we’ll be able to unite scientific teams working across multiple geographies.”
Mission BioCapital has already funded seven companies from the new fund, including four where it has played a co-founder role – ARase Therapeutics, Arclight Therapeutics LLC, Jupiter Bioventures, and Telo Therapeutics.
Mission BioCapital is led by a 10-person investment team which includes Robert Blazej, Ph.D., Cassidy Blundell, Ph.D., Zach Collins Ph.D., Doug Crawford, Ph.D., Johannes Fruehauf, M.D., Ph.D., Jennifer Griffin, Ph.D., Eric Linsley, and Peter D. Parker, and recent hires Operating Partner Michael D. Taylor, Ph.D., and Co-Managing Partner Steve Tregay, Ph.D.
Dr. Taylor had a nearly quarter-century career at Pfizer, where he led drug development teams that generated numerous important medicines. Earlier, he had led drug development at Warner-Lambert and its Parke-Davis research division, where he played key roles in the development of drugs including the blockbusters Lipitor® and Neurontin®. More recently, he served as president and chief executive officer of two groundbreaking startups, Ensemble Therapeutics and Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: DCPH). At Deciphera, he led the team developing the FDA-approved cancer drug ripretinib, marketed as Qinlock, and took the company public.
Prior to joining Mission BioCapital, Dr. Tregay served as founder, president and chief executive officer of FORMA Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FMTX), raising $875 million in non-dilutive funding alongside venture investments of $44 million and advancing seven clinical drug candidates. Earlier, Dr. Tregay was a managing director at the Novartis Venture Fund, and served as executive director and head of strategic alliances at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
Mission BioCapital’s previous investments include Tidal Therapeutics, Caribou Biosciences, Pionyr Immunotherapeutics, Vedere Bio, and Totent.
About Mission BioCapital
Mission BioCapital is a venture capital firm focused on making pivotal early-stage investments in life sciences companies. We support our portfolio companies through a unique combination of shared lab space, capital investment, and access to strategic partners. With offices in the nation’s leading life science clusters in Cambridge and San Francisco, Mission BioCapital is dedicated to helping entrepreneurial scientists build successful companies, from idea to exit. Learn more at missionbiocapital.com.
