Atlas Venture

Company Overview

Atlas Venture is a Cambridge, Massachusetts based early-stage, biotech-focused venture firm. Atlas seeks to invest in the technology and life sciences sectors with a focus on personalized medicine, medical technologies, therapeutics, biotechnology, biology, drug discovery technologies, therapeutic platforms, novel biopharmaceutical products, novel therapeutics, novel drug discovery platforms, therapeutic products, innovative biomedical technologies, diagnostics, and medical devices.

History

Atlas Venture is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in life sciences startup companies in the U.S. Atlas is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts where the majority of its investments are located. Atlas rolled out its eleventh biotech fund totaling $350 million in June 2017, after closing its tenth fund in April 2015 with $280 million in commitments. The team is led by five investment partners: Kevin Bitterman, Bruce Booth, Jean-Francois Formela, David Grayzel, and Jason Rhodes.

Atlas has been investing in biotech since 1993, but the firm invested in both life sciences and IT until 2014, when it separated those businesses, with the Atlas Venture brand remaining associated with its biotech bets. The IT side became the seed-stage firm Accomplice.

Originally formed in 1980, Atlas historically invested in both life sciences and information technology startup companies. In October 2014, Atlas announced its shift to a biotech-only venture capital firm, with the technology-focused investment team forming a new firm, Accomplice, to continue investing in information technology startups.

Previously as a diversified firm, Atlas had raised over $3.0 billion of investor commitments across nine venture capital funds. The firm raised $705 million for its 2000-vintage fifth fund, $600 million for its 2001-vintage sixth fund, $385 million for its 2006-vintage seventh fund, $283 million for its 2009-vintage eighth fund, and $265 million for its 2013-vintage ninth fund.

At its largest, the firm held European offices in London, Paris, and Munich, and a West Coast office based in Seattle, Washington, in addition to the Boston-area headquarters. Today, the firm operates from a single office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Investments

Atlas Venture has made 492 investments. The firm has had 127 exits, including PillPack, Integral Ad Science, and Carbon Black. Atlas Venture has raised a total of $2.4B across 7 funds, one of them being Atlas Venture Opportunity Fund I. This fund was announced on Jan 2, 2019, and raised a total of $250M.

Investment approach

Atlas has invested in over 150 life sciences startups since it began investing in the sector in 1990. Atlas invests in a range of therapeutic areas, including immuno-oncology, autoimmunity/inflammation, neuroscience, gene/cell therapy and editing, and anti-infectives. The current portfolio includes gene/cell editing/therapy companies AVROBIO, Generation Bio, Intellia Therapeutics, Obsidian Therapeutics, and Unum Therapeutics; oncology companies Bicycle Therapeutics, Kyn Therapeutics, Replimune, Surface Oncology, and Unum Therapeutics; autoimmunity companies Nimbus Therapeutics and Padlock Therapeutics; anti-infectives company Spero Therapeutics; synthetic biology company Synlogic; RNA companies miRagen Therapeutics and Translate Bio; and CNS companies Cadent Therapeutics, Disarm Therapeutics, Navitor, and Rodin Therapeutics; and novel platform companies Accent Therapeutics, Kymera Therapeutics, Gemini Therapeutics, HotSpot Therapeutics, and Akero. Notable prior exits from Atlas’ life sciences portfolio include Actelion, Adnexus Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Annovation Biopharma, Annovation Biopharma, ArQule, Arrow Therapeutics, Arteaus Therapeutics, Avila Therapeutics, CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Crucell, deCODE genetics, Delinia, Exelixis, IFM Therapeutics Inc., Micromet, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, MorphoSys, Nimbus Apollo, Novexel, Padlock Therapeutics, Stromedix, and U3 Pharma.

• Within technology, the firm focuses on payments, SMB, consumer-facing innovation, advances in biology, next-generation infrastructure, security, consumer services, small business infrastructure, fintech, emerging web service companies, next-generation media, gaming, and social technologies, enterprise and internet infrastructure, big data and mobile infrastructure, internet-related businesses and communications.
• Within life sciences, it focuses on biopharmaceuticals.

• It also invests in silicones, consumer discretionary, and internet and direct marketing retail, internet software and services, IT services, security software, memory chips, and broadband telecommunication services.

The firm prefers to invest in companies based in the Europe and United States with a focus on New England, Boston, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, and San Francisco Bay Area. Its initial investment ranges from $0.25 million to $15 million per transaction. The firm prefers to be a lead investor and seeks board representation in its portfolio companies. Massachusetts.