Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health  announced a newly formed, first-of-its-kind venture capital fund to fuel broader innovation in human health, in partnership with Eli Lilly and Company (“Lilly”). The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund (“Fund”) seeks to drive transformative progress in healthcare by investing in therapeutic platforms and cutting-edge technology companies that can bring new medicines and disease treatments to improve patients’ lives. Managed by a16z Bio + Health, the Fund will deploy up to $500 million to invest in companies at all stages - from company creation to growth. The Fund will focus on advancing the development of new medicines, enabling novel modality platforms, and scaling emerging health technologies. As a complementary source of capital to traditional venture funding, the Fund will take a long-term view to enable disruptive companies to realize the full potential of new biological science, engineering technologies, and AI capabilities. The Fund aims to foster a technology ecosystem of ambitious bio + health entrepreneurs and innovators.

Vineeta Agarwala, M.D., Ph.D, general partner at a16z Bio + Health, stated, “The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund seeks to enable visionary founders to create enduring solutions in biotech and healthcare. 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. The creation of this new fund signifies a shared passion and commitment with Lilly to deliver truly meaningful change in our ability to treat and care for people living with disease."

The Fund leverages the strengths of a16z in sourcing, building, and scaling bio + health companies, and combines it with Lilly’s deep expertise in life science R&D. Beyond contributing all the capital, Lilly will have the ability to provide additional resources to the companies, including Catalyze360^™ which is a specialized support structure for biotech startups that includes Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs^Ⓡ, and Lilly ExplorR&D^™– all of which provide biotech startups with access to world-class pre-clinical and clinical drug development talent and resources. Together, a16z’s distinct experience at the intersection of life sciences and technology, and Lilly’s scientific, clinical, and commercial expertise create an alliance powered to overcome complex challenges within the healthcare ecosystem.

"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,” said Nisha Nanda, Ph.D., group vice president, Catalyze360. “With the Biotech Ecosystem Fund, we can further scale our work to empower entrepreneurs as they work to bring transformative therapies to patients faster."