One of the most successful new age venture capital firms, Andreessen Horowitz has announced a mammoth new, $750 million fund to invest in life sciences company. The fund is an aggressive new close, considering the company closed its first $450 million bio fund less than three years back.
Life sciences is a big play among investors right now. Right from the beginning of the previous decade, VC and PE firms have become increasingly excited about the future prospects of investing in companies which combine tech with life sciences. And even though these companies are yet to provide any significant early returns to their investors, it has been long considered that computational biology, genetics and related stuff will reap massive dividends in the coming years.
Talking about the fund launch via a blog post, Andreessen Horowitz partners mention, “Tech, biotech, and our healthcare system are merging—into what we call simply “bio”. And whether for pharma, hospitals, or investors, bio is now officially the hot new thing.”, clearly highlighting the firm’s intent to launch its third bio fund in less than three years.
“That’s where they’ve got it wrong. Bio is not the “next new thing”—it’s becoming everything. Software is now affecting not just how we do not just one thing—cloning DNA, or engineering genes—but how we do it all across the board, blurring lines, breaking down traditional silos, changing our processes and business models. In other words, technology today is enhancing all our existing tools and data, affecting every decision we make, from research to development to deployment—and how we access, pay for, and experience healthcare.”, the blog post adds.
In terms of exits from its first two bio funds, Andreessen Horowitz has had limited success. The only exit that the firm got was acquisition of Jungla, by genetics testing firm, Invitae in 2019.
