Flagship Pioneering closed out a monster pool of funds to support a number of pioneering life science companies. Cambridge, Mass.-based Flagship secured $824 million in a new capital pool to boost companies that launch from its Flagship Labs incubator unit.
Flagship Pioneering closed out a monster pool of funds to support a number of pioneering life science companies. Cambridge, Mass.-based Flagship secured $824 million in a new capital pool to boost companies that launch from its Flagship Labs incubator unit.
The new capital pool will operate alongside more than $700 million in capital raised in late 2017 and 2018 that currently finances Flagship’s in-house innovation and company origination activities, the company said. The new fund is called the Special Opportunities Fund II. Flagship said the fund will provide further funding to support the growth of companies that originated in its incubator. The Special Opportunities Fund II follows a $285 million Special Opportunities Fund I, which closed in 2016.
Flagship founder and chief executive officer Noubar Afeyan said the fund will complement Flagship’s “origination capabilities” with new capital to grow platform companies more rapidly.
“With each year of company origination, as we have honed our pioneering approach, we have steadily increased our capacity to launch transformative ventures,” Afeyan said. “With a team of executives deeply experienced in conceiving, creating, building and resourcing new ventures, Flagship Pioneering possesses a unique model that combines scientific creativity, technological ingenuity, systematic entrepreneurship, and professional capital management in a single, integrated institution.”
Closing on the new Special Opportunities Fund signals some growth for Flagship in the coming year. Afeyan said Flagship will “significantly expand” its team of executive partners. In the announcement, he did not provide details for that expansion.
Flagship said the closing of the Special Opportunities II fund comes on the heels of a successful 2018. Last year, Flagship deployed $294 million in capital to its companies, including commitments by the first Special Opportunities fund. Combined with an additional $2.2 billion from other equity capital providers, a total of $2.5 billion in new capital was provided to Flagship companies during 2018.
In 2018, Flagship launched five new companies: Invaio Sciences, Inzen Therapeutics, Ring Therapeutics, Cellarity and Integral. Three other Flagship Pioneering companies emerged from stealth: Foghorn Therapeutics, Inari Agriculture and Cobalt Biosciences, which is now part of Sana Biotechnology. Other highlights of 2018 include the filing of 167 patents from its Flagship Labs partners and the start of 33 clinical trials, as well as more than 50 therapeutics in pre-clinical and discovery programs.
Other successes for Flagship over the past year include four successful initial public offerings from companies that originated in Flagship Labs. Those companies include Evelo Biosciences in May; Rubius Therapeutics in July 2018; Moderna Therapeutics in December; and Kaleido Biosciences in February of this year.
