Flagship Pioneering Raises $824 Million Fund, Backer of Moderna’s Record-Breaking IPO

VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on March 20, U.S. local time, Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in Massachusetts, announced the raising of an $824 million new fund—Special Opportunities Fund II. The proceeds will be used to support the operations of biotechnology and healthcare projects created by Flagship Pioneering.

Flagship Pioneering is a venture capital firm that invests in premier life sciences projects, focusing primarily on early-stage venture capital, late-stage venture capital, and private equity investments, with the aim of contributing to human health and sustainable development. Since its establishment in 2000, the company has adopted a unique, hypothesis-driven approach to innovation, initiating and nurturing more than 100 scientific ventures with a total value exceeding $30 billion. To date, Flagship Pioneering has secured over $3 billion in funding, $1.4 billion of which has been deployed to invest in and develop additional companies. Current portfolio companies include Denali Therapeutics, Evelo Biosciences, Moderna Therapeutics, Rubius Therapeutics, Seres Therapeutics, and Syros Pharmaceuticals.

Among them, Moderna Therapeutics is a company established with the assistance of Flagship Pioneering. Last December, Moderna Therapeutics conducted the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the history of biotechnology, raising over $600 million. The company currently has a market capitalization of $6.6 billion.

Flagship Pioneering stated that the funds raised in this round will be primarily used to create more novel bioscience projects. Flagship Pioneering employs four distinct models in its project creation and investment process: creating new projects through hypothesis-driven innovation (Exploration), redesigning existing project prototypes (ProtoCos), transforming projects that have succeeded in Flagship Labs into new companies (NewCos), and spinning out experimental platforms from Flagship Labs into multiple subsidiary projects (GrowthCos). These funds were sourced from long-time limited partners, new institutional investors, and family offices.

Flagship Pioneering invested in and founded Foghorn Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology. Foghorn Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to researching the human chromatin regulatory system, with the aim of developing drugs for cancer and other diseases. Leveraging its proprietary Gene Traffic Control™ platform, Foghorn Therapeutics develops therapeutics based on novel insights into chromatin regulation. Sana Biotechnology focuses on research in cell therapy, gene therapy, and gene editing. Its latest research has yielded a new drug that enables cell regeneration and the replacement of damaged cells.

Dr. Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, stated, “As we continue to launch new ventures, we have refined a pioneering approach and enhanced our ability to create transformative projects. The capital raised in this round will be used to expand our venture creation capabilities, enabling us to build multiple ventures more rapidly. Leveraging an experienced executive team with extensive expertise in conceiving, creating, and establishing new ventures, Flagship Pioneering has developed a unique model that combines scientific creativity with technological innovation, integrating systematic entrepreneurship and professional capital management within a comprehensive institution.”

(Compiled by Liu Yujing)