The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund will combine the sourcing capabilities of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with Eli Lilly’s expertise in R&D—plus half a billion in capital from the Big Pharma.
Eli Lilly is teaming up with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) to form a new $500 million biotech fund aimed at fueling potentially disruptive science and ambitious leaders in the industry. Lilly and a16z did not specifically say what disease areas the fund will focus on beyond saying it will look for “therapeutic platforms and cutting-edge technology companies.”
The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund will combine the sourcing capabilities of a16z with Lilly’s expertise in R&D—and its money, according to a Friday release. Lilly is providing all the capital for the new fund, plus access to its Catalyze360 program that offers early-stage biotechs support via Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs and Lilly ExplorR&D.
“Catalyze360 was created to accelerate the success of emerging biotech startups by providing access to people, tools, capabilities, and expertise that is traditionally hard for early-stage companies to reach,” Nisha Nanda, group vice president of Catalyze360, said in the statement. “With the Biotech Ecosystem Fund, we can further scale our work to empower entrepreneurs as they work to bring transformative therapies to patients faster.”
Catalyze360 was revealed by Lilly CEO David Ricks a year ago. The program is being used in a partnership with Shanghai-based Laekna to develop a next-generation obesity treatment. Lilly Ventures, meanwhile, started off the year participating in Orbis Medicines’ $93 million series A.
Meanwhile, a16z has been around since 2009 and has $44 billion in committed capital across multiple funds. Notable investments include Big Hat Biosciences, Cartography Biosciences and CAMP4 Therapeutics.
“Combining our strengths as organizations will empower founders with not only the venture backing needed to advance groundbreaking technologies, but also the resources needed to strategically select the most promising application areas for these platforms,” Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at the life sciences–focused branch of a16z, a16z Bio + Health, said in the announcement.
