
Peter Kolchinsky and Raj Shah raise a $300M fund devoted to biotech startups

Peter Kolchinsky and Raj Shah have another $300 million-plus to play with on the biotech venture side of their investment business.
The two announced Monday morning that they’ve put together their first pure-play venture fund at RA Capital Management, which has been known to bet on just about every angle in healthcare investing — from rounds to follow-on investments at public companies. This new fund of theirs arrives well into a go-go era of new startup financing, with a particular focus on building new biotechs.
The RA Capital Nexus Fund closed at “just over” $300 million, they said in a statement. Add it to the rest of the money and their private deal capacity jumps to $1 billion, with $2.5 billion under management.
Nexus is expected to participate in substantially all investments in private companies made by RA Capital alongside its main, longstanding fund, RA Capital Healthcare Fund L.P.
The outspoken and occasionally caustic Kolchinsky is partnered with an urbane and widely-liked Shah. The co-heads of the venture at RA are Josh Resnick and Andrew Levin, working with 9 other professionals.

“The companies RA Capital expects to build will range from single-assets to broad platforms, spanning early discovery through late clinical stage, across all therapeutic areas, such as neurology, rare disorders, oncology, and cardiovascular disease,” said Levin in a prepared statement.
The group has been building an incubator with 19 projects and two startups to their credit. There are also venture partner and executive-in-residence programs to build up the bench.
Social image: Peter Kolchinsky and Raj Shah, RA Capital Management