Vida Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Vida Ventures is a Los Angeles-based, next-generation life sciences investment firm founded in 2017 by scientists, physicians, entrepreneurs, and investors who came out of the Kite Pharma / TPG Biotechnology orbit. The firm's stated mission is "advancing transformative biomedical innovations that have the potential to make a meaningful impact on the lives of patients," and it describes its approach as "driven by science, informed by experience, and unconstrained by tradition." Rather than following a standardized playbook, Vida tailors its involvement to each opportunity — ranging from passive syndicate participation to full company creation, where the firm identifies breakthrough academic science, recruits management, and builds the company from the ground up (the model used at Kite Pharma, Allogene, and several current portfolio companies).
Sector Focus
Vida invests almost exclusively in biomedicine, with concentration in three areas: oncology (targeted protein degradation, RIPTAC platforms, cell therapy), immunology (in vivo CAR-T, autoimmune disease), and genetic medicines (gene therapy, RNA, ultrasound-mediated nonviral delivery). It does not invest outside life sciences/biotech.
Stage Focus
Vida spans the full biotech company lifecycle — from company creation and Series A through late-stage private rounds and public-market crossover investing (a new capability added in 2025 with the hire of a former J.P. Morgan portfolio manager to lead public investing). Portfolio evidence shows Series A leads (Poplar Therapeutics), Series B leads (SonoThera), and continued support through IPO (Allogene, Centessa, Dyne, Kronos Bio, Kyverna, Vigil Neuroscience all went public with Vida as an early backer).
Check Size
Not disclosed publicly with confidence. Round sizes Vida has led or co-led range from $50M (Poplar Therapeutics Series A) to $125M (SonoThera Series B), suggesting meaningful lead checks into the tens of millions for later-stage rounds; company-creation checks at inception are likely smaller. Specific check-size figures should be treated as unconfirmed.
Lead Tendency
Vida frequently leads. It led SonoThera's $125M Series B (June 2026) and was a lead investor (alongside SR One and Platanus) in Poplar Therapeutics' $50M Series A (January 2026).
Recent Activity
2025 was described by Vida itself as a "record-setting year": four portfolio companies were acquired by major pharma — Capstan Therapeutics by AbbVie (up to $2.1B, June 2025, a record for a company with only healthy-volunteer data), Scorpion Therapeutics by Eli Lilly (up to $2.5B, 2025), Vigil Neuroscience by Sanofi ($470M upfront plus CVRs, 2025), and Halda Therapeutics by Johnson & Johnson ($3.05B, announced November 2025, the largest-ever acquisition of a Phase 1 company). In 2026, Candid Therapeutics was acquired by UCB, and Vida continued deploying capital: leading Poplar Therapeutics' $50M Series A (January 2026) and its $45M Series A extension (March 2026), and leading SonoThera's oversubscribed $125M Series B (June 2026) alongside ARK Invest, CureDuchenne Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, Otsuka, SymBiosis, UCB Ventures, and Vivo Capital. The firm is actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable exits: Halda Therapeutics (J&J, $3.05B), Capstan Therapeutics (AbbVie, up to $2.1B), Scorpion Therapeutics (Lilly, up to $2.5B), Vigil Neuroscience (Sanofi, $470M+), Candid Therapeutics (UCB), Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (Bayer, 2020), Neogene Therapeutics (AstraZeneca, 2023), Peloton Therapeutics (Merck, 2019). Public portfolio companies include Allogene Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALLO), Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNTA), Dyne Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DYN), Kronos Bio (NASDAQ: KRON), and Kyverna Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KYTX). The firm manages roughly $1.8B in AUM (Vida III closed at $825M in 2021) across ~45 portfolio companies.
Team
- Arie Belldegrun, M.D. — Founder & Senior Managing Director; founded Kite Pharma (acquired by Gilead), Cougar Biotechnology, Agensys; Executive Chairman of Allogene
- Fred Cohen, M.D., D.Phil — Co-Founder & Senior Advisor; former Founding Partner, TPG Biotechnology; Professor at UCSF
- Len Potter — Co-Founder & Senior Advisor; President & CIO of Wildcat Capital Management
- Helen S. Kim, M.B.A. — Senior Managing Director; former EVP at Kite Pharma; boards of Alterome, Poplar, ReCode, Soufflé
- Matt Cohen, M.D., M.B.A. — Managing Director (joined April 2025); formerly led the J.P. Morgan Global Healthcare Fund; heads Vida's new public-markets investing
- Brian Goodman, Ph.D. — Managing Director (joined April 2025); former Partner at MPM BioImpact; co-founded Evelo Biosciences, Aktis Oncology, ReNAgade Therapeutics
- Rajul Jain, M.D. — Managing Director; former CMO at Kite Pharma; boards of A2 Bio, Quanta, Third Arc Bio, Adcendo, and newly SonoThera
- Jean-Philippe Kouakou-Zebouah, M.B.A. — CFO & COO; former SVP Finance at Versant Ventures
- Chris Weyrer, M.D., Ph.D., Jill Goldstein, Ph.D., Mark Springel, Ph.D., Alex Loftis, Ph.D. — Principals covering science diligence and board-observer roles across the portfolio
Two co-founders departed in late 2024; Belldegrun brought in Matt Cohen and Brian Goodman as Managing Directors in April 2025 to expand into public-market investing and continue private company creation, while Kite Pharma alumni Helen Kim and Rajul Jain (both with the firm since 2019) remained.
Decision Process
Partnership model across a team of Managing Directors and Principals, many with M.D./Ph.D. backgrounds and prior operating experience at Kite Pharma, TPG Biotechnology, and MPM BioImpact; deep in-house scientific diligence supported by a Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Owen Witte (UCLA).
Founder Preferences
Vida backs founders and management teams building on differentiated, platform-level biology (RIPTAC-style targeted protein degradation, in vivo cell engineering, ultrasound-mediated nonviral delivery) rather than incremental me-too assets — consistent with its "science-led, discipline-driven" self-description and its comfort co-founding companies from academic IP.
Geographic Focus
Bicoastal U.S. presence with offices across Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and Fort Worth; portfolio companies are concentrated in U.S. biotech hubs (Boston/Cambridge, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles).