Nine months after closing a $450 million fundraise, Atlas Venture is back with another biotech financing vehicle, raising $400 million this time.
The money, which Atlas has dubbed its Opportunity Fund III, is designed to help the VC’s portfolio companies progress their investigational candidates.
The VC operates a two-fund model, using one tranche of funds to create new biotechs and support seed and early-stage rounds, while the "opportunity" funds are slated for continued investments in later-stage private and public financings for portfolio companies. Just last December, Atlas closed its fourteenth iteration of the early-stage fund, reeling in $450 million.
Now, the VC will use its new oversubscribed financing to keep fueling those biotechs it has previously backed. This year alone, Atlas has put down money for B-cell-medicines-focused Be Bio, kidney-centered Renasant Bio, Scorpion spinout Antares Therapeutics and movement-disorder-focused Vima Therapeutics.
"We’ve been encouraged by the incredible progress made across our portfolio, despite the array of challenges faced by biotechs in the current environment,” Atlas said in a Sept. 4 release. "Opportunity Fund III reinforces our commitment to raising funds tailored in size and strategy to our bespoke investment approach.”
The general partners for the third opportunity fund are Kevin Bitterman, Ph.D.; Bruce Booth; Michael Gladstone and Jason Rhodes.
The last time Atlas raised an opportunity fund was in 2021, when the VC circled up $300 million for its biotech portfolio.