venBio Partners Research
Investment Thesis
venBio Partners is a life sciences venture capital firm founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco, with a second office in Seattle. The firm invests exclusively in novel therapeutics addressing unmet medical needs, organizing its evaluation around what it calls the "Four D's": real drugs, with real differentiation, backed by real data, for real diseases. venBio's stated approach is to help portfolio companies position for a successful outcome from the outset of the investment, weighing intellectual property strength, chemistry/manufacturing considerations, and clinical trial design as early inputs rather than late-stage concerns. The firm is ranked #73 on the Strebulaev-Jackson 2026 Top 100 VC ranking and #6 among biotech-focused investors.
Stage Focus
ventBio invests across a broad range of the life sciences company lifecycle, from early-stage academic spinouts and founder-formed startups through late-stage, pre-commercial biotechs. Third-party deal trackers describe the firm's center of gravity as Series A and Series B rounds, though its portfolio includes seed-stage academic translations as well as companies that were already public at the time of investment.
Check Size
Specific check-size ranges are not disclosed publicly. Given fund sizes in the hundreds of millions and a portfolio of 50+ companies per fund family, individual initial checks in institutional life-sciences rounds (typically $10M-$40M+ Series A/B) are the likely range, with meaningful reserves for follow-on participation.
Lead Tendency
ventBio states directly that it "tends to lead most of our investments" and is active in building investment syndicates. Recent deals show the firm co-leading alongside other specialist life-sciences investors (e.g., co-leading Axonis Therapeutics' Series A with Cormorant Asset Management).
Recent Activity
ventBio closed its fifth fund at approximately $528 million in committed capital in August 2024, following $550 million (2021) and $394 million (2020) predecessor funds, bringing total committed capital across its fund family to nearly $2 billion. The firm co-led Axonis Therapeutics' oversubscribed $115 million Series A financing (October 2024) to advance a first-in-class oral KCC2 potentiator for epilepsy and pain. Through 2025, portfolio companies delivered multiple high-value outcomes: Vicebio was acquired by Sanofi for $1.6 billion (July 2025), Verona Pharma was acquired by Merck for approximately $10 billion (announced July 2025), and Akero Therapeutics' acquisition by Novo Nordisk closed in December 2025. Other 2025 portfolio milestones include Pharvaris advancing its RAPIDe-3 pivotal Phase 3 study, Candid Therapeutics expanding its T-cell engager pipeline into five autoimmune indications, Harmony Biosciences winning a favorable ANDA patent settlement, and Marea Therapeutics publishing positive Phase 2a cardiovascular data in The Lancet.
Portfolio Highlights
ventBio's portfolio spans over 50 companies since inception, with a track record of roughly 20 IPOs and more than a dozen M&A exits, plus at least one FDA-approved drug originating from a portfolio company. Notable exits include Turning Point Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), RayzeBio (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Ventyx Bio (acquired by Eli Lilly), Verona Pharma (acquired by Merck), Akero Therapeutics (acquired by Novo Nordisk), and Vicebio (acquired by Sanofi). Actively held companies include Axonis Therapeutics, Arrakis Therapeutics, Artiva Biotherapeutics, Candid Therapeutics, Pharvaris, Marea Therapeutics, Oak Hill Bio, Tallac Therapeutics, and Neurogastrx, among many others.
Team
- Corey Goodman, PhD - Co-founder and Managing Partner
- Aaron Royston, MD, MBA - Managing Partner
- Richard Gaster, MD, PhD - Managing Partner
- Yvonne Yamanaka, PhD - Partner
- Parthiv Patel - Analyst
- Robert Adelman, MD - Co-founder and Emeritus Managing Partner
- David Pezeshki, CFA, CPA - Chief Financial Officer
- Daniel Teichmann - Controller
Decision Process
ventBio describes a collaborative, partnership-style process in which "every member of our firm is involved in every investment," supplemented by input from a network of expert scientific/clinical advisors and from the firm's limited partners, many of which are strategic biotech and pharma companies with domain expertise relevant to diligence.
Founder Preferences
The firm's emphasis on helping companies position for acquisition "from the outset" and its heavy weighting toward academic-origin science suggests a preference for founding teams that pair strong scientific/clinical credentials (often academic PIs or experienced biotech executives) with a clear-eyed view of the regulatory and commercial path required to reach an FDA approval or strategic acquisition.
Geographic Focus
ventBio is US-focused, with offices in San Francisco and Seattle, and a limited partner base that includes strategic pharma/biotech investors alongside qualified financial investors.