BOSTON, Oct. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RA Capital Management, LP has held a first and final closing of its second venture fund, RA Capital Nexus Fund II, L.P., raising $461 million.
“We deeply appreciate the continued support of our existing limited partners and new institutions in this endeavor. Together, we share in the optimism that there is so much more good that biotechnology can do for humanity,” said RA Capital co-founder and Portfolio Manager Rajeev Shah.
The additional capital increases RA Capital’s private deal capacity to over $1.3 billion and total assets under management to approximately $6.8 billion. RA Capital’s inaugural venture fund, RA Capital Nexus Fund, L.P. (“Nexus I”) closed in July 2019 with approximately $300 million of capital. In its first 15 months, Nexus I has called 80% of its capital, invested across 18 distinct therapeutic areas, and funded 59 companies, 15 of which have IPO’d or have been acquired.
Similar to Nexus I, Nexus II is expected to participate in substantially all investments in private companies made by RA Capital from its evergreen fund, which invests per the firm’s primary investment strategy in both public and private biotech companies.
The Nexus strategy is a natural extension of RA Capital’s platform, expanding the private capital pool to enable RA Capital to take larger positions in high-conviction investments, providing private companies with a reliable source of capital, particularly during volatile periods in the public markets.
In addition to providing capital, RA Capital assembles the people, tools, and resources to work closely with biotech leaders and help them to build companies that have the potential to turn their scientific insights into transformational medicine, devices, or diagnostics.
“We continue to see this as an incredibly fruitful time for biomedical innovation and we aim to be useful to all the brilliant people in our industry who are working to solve diseases. Our goal is to be the most responsive, helpful partner for creative entrepreneurs, providing them not just with funding from seed through IPO and beyond but also in-house discovery and development resources through our RAVentures incubator,” said Managing Director Josh Resnick.
Since 2012, venture investing has become an integral part of RA Capital’s overall strategy, with 149 private company investments made from 2012 through the end of September 2020, 72 of which have IPO’d or have been acquired. RA Capital pursues a multi-stage approach, which spans new company formation, including companies built from scratch through RAVentures, venture financing, and public equity.
“One of our primary goals is to help sick patients get better. We take a flexible approach to company building, matching unmet medical needs with the right technology. Every day we look forward to contributing to the biotech ecosystem of innovation and serving those in need,” said Managing Director Andrew Levin.
RAVentures, RA Capital’s internal incubator, and a dedicated venture partner/executive-in-residence program are designed to support company creation and early-stage efforts across a diverse set of therapeutic modalities, bringing in experienced executives and entrepreneurs to help build and lead new companies.
“The true heroes of this industry are the entrepreneurs who figure out new ways to tackle unsolved problems, and we want to help them as best we can. We’ve built out operational support for management teams, including recruiting and HR, finance, strategy and BD, and legal and administrative support. And we’re always cooking up some new tool or support function to try to make company-building, financing, and product development more efficient,” said RA Capital co-founder and Portfolio Manager Peter Kolchinsky.
About RA Capital Management
RA Capital is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies that are developing drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. The flexibility of its strategy allows RA Capital to provide seed funding to startups and to lead private, IPO, and follow-on financings for its portfolio companies, allowing management teams to drive value creation from inception through commercialization.
At RA Capital’s core is its TechAtlas research division, a scientifically trained team that maps out competitive landscapes to put data into context, identify breakthroughs, and originate conviction in new ideas. TechAtlas provides market intelligence, technical diligence, and other resources to both our internal Investment Team and our portfolio companies. The team’s understanding of industry best practices is derived from an extensive collection of case studies documenting the impact of clinical trial design, partnership structures, and public market dynamics.
