Flagship Pioneering, the sprawling life sciences investor and startup incubator, appears to be seeking more capital than originally planned for its eighth fund.
The Boston-area firm is raising up to $3.5 billion, versus a $3 billion target outlined last November, according to documents from a pension fund that has invested in Flagship’s funds. The pension fund, Pension Reserves Investment Management, or Massachusetts’ PRIM, is committing up to $60 million to the fund, and other repeat investors have also ponied up: The Texas Municipal Retirement System committed $75 million and the State of Michigan Retirement System committed $200 million.
Flagship declined to comment on the expanded fund size.
Flagship is still known mostly for its work creating and financing the early days of Moderna. During discussions earlier this year, PRIM’s board treasurer asked: “Flagship was the one with — that did Moderna; am I correct?” according to the documents. (It was.)
Flagship has built more than 100 companies across biotech, agricultural technology and other areas of health, and is expanding into the UK and Asia. Each year, it creates eight to 10 prototype companies within Flagship Labs and will convert about six to eight into more established, well-funded startups if they pass certain internal metrics. Some of its companies have attracted large partnerships in recent months, including obesity tie-ups with Pfizer and Novo Nordisk, and an autoimmune pact with Bristol Myers Squibb. Others, like Axcella, have shuttered in recent years.
The firm last disclosed a $3.37 billion seventh fund in June 2021. It’s one of multiple life sciences investors hauling in large pools of capital this year as startups in the industry seek money to come out of a yearslong financing squeeze. Veteran firm ARCH Venture Partners is eyeing $3 billion for its 13th fund. Meanwhile, Foresite Capital recently disclosed a $900 million fund and TCGX came out with a $1 billion haul.
