Shots:  

• New Year, New Us! Our hand-curated “Know Your Investor” reports will now be exploring leading investors of 2023  

• Founded in 2002, RA Capital forged ahead to become a key investor in life science and healthcare companies. In 2023, RA Capital closed 40 major investments in biopharma companies, devices, manufacturing, service offering firms, and diagnostics  

• An illustrative table concludes the report, listing five major investments out of 40. For a complete report reach out to us at connect@pharmashots.com with the subject line “RA Capital Management Data”  

RA Capital Management LLC   

It was in 2002 when Richard Aldrich and Peter Kolchinsky paved the foundation of RA Capital Management. Little did they know that the company they started would become a global multi-stage investment firm in the future. RA Capital makes public and private investments primarily in Healthcare and Life Science companies. Headquartered in Massachusetts, United States, the company started investing in public companies and later began investing in private companies. In 2010, RA Capital made its first private investment in T2 Biosystems worth $15M as a part of Series C funding. Today RA Capital’s business spans around the globe through funding made to companies focusing on therapy areas across all stages from discovery through commercialization.     

RA Capital's in-house research group, TechAtlas, is a scientifically trained team that maps competitive landscapes to curate the data into context, identify breakthroughs, and originate conviction in new ideas. TechAtlas acts as a resource provider of market intelligence and technical diligence to the company’s internal investment team and portfolio companies. The company leverages data collected from case studies, the impact of clinical trial designs, partnership structures, and public market dynamics. RA Capital offers Executive-In-Residence (EIR) and venture partner programs to drug hunters and company builders through its in-house incubator, RAVen.  

A total of 40 investment rounds were closed by RA Capital Management in 2023. The company majorly invested in Biopharma, Devices, Diagnostics Companies, and Manufacturing or Service Providers.  

• The company made the highest funding rounds in Biopharma companies, including Harpoon Therapeutics, Nimbus Therapeutics, Gracell Biotechnologies, SpyGlass Pharma, Orchard Therapeutics Ltd., Aiolos Bio Inc., etc.  

• Arvinas received the highest funding worth $350M from RA Capital Management within the Biopharma Companies.  

• Under the Diagnostics Domain, Adela remained the only company that received funding (worth $48M) and  

• Within Devices, Vaxess Technologies received an aggregate of $19M in separate investment rounds. 

In targeted therapy, RA Capital invested heavily in companies focusing on Oncology and Neurology across indications. Other than the two major therapy areas, the company also participated in investment rounds, made to companies focusing on therapy areas, including Autoimmune, Cardiovascular Inflammation, Ophthalmic, Pulmonary, etc.   

Moreover, RA Capital made sweeping investments in companies focusing on technology-based treatments like Antibodies, Cell Therapies, Devices, Digital Therapies, gene Therapies, Immunotherapies, Radiation Therapies, Small Molecules, etc.  

• RA extensively invested in companies focusing on developing Small Molecules. Among these investments, the highest amount was allocated to Arvinas worth $350M followed by $210M to Nimbus Therapeutics and $165M to Enliven Therapeutics. 

Of the total investments made by RA Capital in 2023, 27.5% were under PIPE Financing, 17.5% under Series B, and 15% under Series A. The top 3 investments made by RA Capital were:    

1. PIPE financing worth $350M to Arvinas   

2. Series A funding worth $245M to Aiolos Bio   

3. Unspecified Series/Private funding worth $210M to Nimbus Therapeutics   

In 2023, RA Capital participated in around 6 funding rounds in the 1st Quarter, 6 during the 2nd Quarter, 18 in the 3rd Quarter, and 10 rounds during the 4th Quarter.   

The table below represents the top 5 funding rounds out of the 40 investments made by RA Capital Management in 2023:

The acquisition of Aiolos Bio in Jan 2024 by GSK for 1B, right after the company completes the series A funding with RA in late Oct 2023, speaks for its sweeping vision and proactive actions of its research team

Note: For a complete report, reach out to us at connect@pharmashots.com with the subject line "RA Capital Management Data"

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