The new year has ushered in a flow of biotech-specific funds, including $700 million from Andreessen Horowitz (A16z).
The Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist announced $15 billion raised across its separate venture strategy areas, with $700 million of that proportioned off to “Bio and Health,” according to a Jan. 9 post.
The VC is aiming to do its part in fostering and supporting U.S. innovation in efforts to keep the country ahead of other nations, A16z co-founder and general partner Ben Horowitz wrote.
“As the American leader in venture capital, the fate of new technology in the United States rests partly on our shoulders,” Horowitz said. “Our mission is ensuring that America wins the next 100 years of technology.”
For A16z, that means investing in AI and crypto and applying those technologies to other areas, such as biology and health.
“If America fails to win technologically, it will lose economically, militarily, geopolitically and culturally,” Horowitz wrote. “And the entire world will lose as well.”
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Meanwhile, German biopharma BioNTech has teamed up with the University of Pennsylvania and VC firm Osage University Partners to create a $50 million fund for Pennsylvania companies, dubbed the Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund (PxB Fund).
The new VC money will go toward early-stage life sciences companies working to develop new therapeutics, diagnostics and research tools.
“Penn has a remarkable track record of creating cutting-edge startups, with recent success stories including Capstan Therapeutics, which has been acquired by AbbVie, and Interius BioTherapeutics, acquired by Kite,” OUP managing partner Marc Singer said in a Jan. 9 release.
“Through the PxB Fund, and with access to BioNTech’s insights, we intend to invest in the next generation of Penn innovations to translate breakthrough science into medicines that can improve patients’ lives,” Singer added.
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While the A16z and PxB fund are focused specifically on bolstering U.S.-based advancements, privately held French pharma Servier has formed a new venture fund primarily serving European biotechs.
Called Servier Ventures, the fund has put down an initial €200 million euros (about $232 million) for oncology and neurology companies, which are two areas Servier has largely based its pipeline around.
Investments will be made via minority stakes in companies, with the initial investments going toward European startups, though Servier said it may expand to other regions in the future.
