OnCo
Institutions & people

Investors backing oncology

Startups →In the companies table

Who finances the companies attacking cancer: venture funds that lead oncology rounds, the venture arms of large pharma, Y Combinator, and the disease foundations that invest rather than grant. Each record has a plain-English summary and a portfolio derived from the startups that name it, so the list grows as startup records do.

69 investors54 with at least one portfolio company in OnCoPortfolio links are declared on the startup record and derived here.
69 investors
Y Combinator
San Francisco, CA, US
Y Combinator is the start-up accelerator that funds hundreds of new companies a year in return for a small stake. Since 2014 it has backed a steady stream of companies going after cancer, from blood tests to engineered viruses.
62
RA Capital Management
Boston, MA, US
A Boston investment firm that funds biotech companies both privately and on the stock market, and incubates its own. Its cancer bets include Aktis Oncology, CG Oncology and Bicara Therapeutics.
10
Atlas Venture
Cambridge, MA, US
A Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech-only venture firm that seeds and incubates new drug companies. Cancer companies it has built include Bicycle Therapeutics, Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Antares Therapeutics.
6
Frazier Life Sciences
Seattle, WA, US
A life sciences venture firm that grew out of Frazier Healthcare Partners in Seattle and now operates independently, backing private and public biotech companies.
6
Alexandria Venture Investments
Pasadena, CA, US
The strategic venture arm of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the life science property company. It takes small stakes in many biotech start-ups, often its own tenants. Its web pages blocked automated access.
5
Foresite Capital
San Francisco, CA, US
A San Francisco investment firm that funds healthcare companies at every stage with a data-science approach. Its cancer investments include CG Oncology, ALX Oncology, Kura Oncology and the blood-test company Delfi Diagnostics.
5
Jeito Capital
Paris, FR
Jeito Capital is a Paris fund that writes large cheques for European biotech companies so they can take drugs through late-stage trials without selling early. Cancer medicines are a recurring theme.
4
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA, US
Lightspeed is a large Silicon Valley venture firm best known for software, whose health practice backs cancer diagnostics, AI drug discovery and digital oncology companies.
4
Logos Capital
San Francisco, CA, US
Logos Capital is a San Francisco healthcare investment firm that backs biotech companies from private rounds through their public life, and turns up repeatedly in cancer drug financings.
4
Novo Holdings
Hellerup, DK
The investment company of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, based near Copenhagen. It is one of the largest life science investors in the world and its venture portfolio includes cancer companies such as Myricx Bio, which Novartis agreed to buy.
4
OrbiMed
New York, NY, US
A large New York healthcare investment firm that backs companies from start-up to public markets across the world. Its portfolio includes many cancer drug and diagnostics companies such as Adcendo, Adicet Bio and Alterome.
4
Versant Ventures
San Francisco, CA, US
A San Francisco life sciences venture firm that builds biotech companies in its own laboratories in North America and Europe. It created the radiopharmaceutical company RayzeBio and backed Gritstone, Repare and Abdera.
4
Andreessen Horowitz Bio + Health
Menlo Park, CA, US
The life sciences and healthcare arm of the Silicon Valley venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). It backs founders who mix biology, software and care delivery, including a small number of cancer drug and diagnostics start-ups.
3
Bpifrance
Paris, FR
Bpifrance is the French state investment bank. Its innovation funds and grants co-finance many French biotech, medtech and radiotherapy companies, so it appears in a lot of French oncology rounds.
3
Cormorant Asset Management
Boston, MA, US
A Boston biotech investment firm led by Bihua Chen that invests in private and public life sciences companies and is a frequent name in crossover rounds. Its website could not be reached at the time of research.
3
DCVC
Palo Alto, CA, US
DCVC, once Data Collective, is a deep-tech venture firm whose DCVC Bio arm backs computational biology and cancer diagnostics companies.
3
Samsara BioCapital
Palo Alto, CA, US
A Palo Alto life sciences investment firm founded by Srinivas Akkaraju that invests in private and public biotech companies. Its website could not be read at the time of research.
3
Section 32 (S32)
San Diego, CA, US
Section 32 is a venture firm founded by the former head of Google Ventures that invests across biology, healthcare and computing, including AI-native cancer diagnostics and therapeutics companies.
3
TCGX (TCG Crossover)
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, US
TCGX is a crossover fund: it invests in private biotech companies in the round or two before they list, then keeps holding the shares as public investors. Several cancer drug developers in OnCo raised from it.
3
Venrock
Palo Alto, CA, US
The Rockefeller family's venture firm, formed in 1969, which invests in technology and healthcare companies from its Palo Alto and New York offices. Its website could not be read without JavaScript.
3
ACS BrightEdge (American Cancer Society)
Atlanta, GA, US
BrightEdge is the American Cancer Society's own venture fund. It invests donated money in start-ups working on cancer and returns any gains to the charity's mission.
2
Amgen Ventures
Thousand Oaks, CA, US
Amgen Ventures is the venture arm of the biotech company Amgen. It takes minority stakes in early companies whose science could matter to Amgen, including cancer drug and platform start-ups.
2
Casdin Capital
New York, NY, US
A New York investment firm founded by Eli Casdin that invests in life sciences companies on both public and private markets. Its venture list includes cancer companies such as Black Diamond Therapeutics and Function Oncology.
2
Deerfield Management
New York, NY, US
A New York healthcare investment firm that funds companies, runs its own drug discovery labs and a philanthropy arm. It founded and seeded Nuvalent, a lung cancer drug company that GSK agreed to buy for $10.6 billion.
2
EcoR1 Capital
San Francisco, CA, US
EcoR1 Capital is a San Francisco investment fund that only invests in biotech, from private rounds to listed companies, and often leads the crossover financings of cancer drug developers.
2
F-Prime Capital
Cambridge, MA, US
F-Prime Capital is the venture firm that grew out of Fidelity's own money. It invests in healthcare and technology companies, including cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, from seed to growth.
2
Forbion
Naarden, NL
A Dutch venture firm that funds European and North American biotech companies from formation to late-stage growth. Its homepage says it manages around EUR 5 billion across 11 funds.
2
Gilde Healthcare
Utrecht, NL
Gilde Healthcare is a Dutch investor with separate funds for venture-stage health companies and for established healthcare businesses, backing diagnostics, medical technology and therapeutics across Europe and the United States.
2
Longwood Fund
Boston, MA, US
Longwood Fund is a Boston venture firm that founds and funds early biotech companies, several of them in cancer.
2
McKesson Ventures
San Francisco, CA, US
McKesson Ventures is the venture arm of the drug distributor McKesson, which also owns the largest US community oncology network, so it backs companies that change how cancer care is delivered and paid for.
2
MPM BioImpact
Boston, MA, US
A Boston biotech investor, formerly MPM Capital, that builds and funds companies and runs an Oncology Impact Fund that donates part of its profits to cancer research. It built Aktis Oncology and backs Cullinan Oncology and Tizona.
2
Omega Funds
Boston, MA, US
A Boston and Geneva venture firm that invests in medicines across oncology, immunology and rare disease. Its impact page lists cancer products it helped bring to patients, including the lung cancer drug Ibtrozi and the colorectal screening test Epi proColon.
2
Perceptive Advisors
New York, NY, US
A New York healthcare investment firm founded by Joseph Edelman that runs a large public-market fund, a credit fund and, through Xontogeny, a venture fund for very early biotech companies.
2
Pfizer Ventures
New York, NY, US
Pfizer's corporate venture arm, which invests in early biotech companies in the areas Pfizer cares about, including cancer. Its oncology portfolio includes Artios Pharma, Crossbow Therapeutics and Strata Oncology.
2
Polaris Partners
Boston, MA, US
A Boston venture firm with a long record of co-founding biotech companies with academic scientists such as Bob Langer. Its cancer companies include Syros Pharmaceuticals, Kronos Bio and the blood-test company Freenome.
2
Sanofi Ventures
Cambridge, MA, US
Sanofi's strategic venture fund, which invests in early biotech and digital health companies before they are ready to partner with or be bought by Sanofi. Cancer-related holdings include the radiopharmaceutical company AdvanCell and the immune checkpoint company Abcuro.
2
Sante Ventures
Austin, TX, US
Sante Ventures is an Austin, Texas healthcare venture firm that invests early in medical devices, diagnostics, biotech and health technology, including cancer companies.
2
Vida Ventures
Boston, MA, US
A life sciences venture firm founded by scientists, doctors and investors that creates and funds biotech companies. Many of its companies treat cancer, including Aktis Oncology, Adcendo, Allogene and Halda Therapeutics.
2
5AM Ventures
San Francisco, CA, US
A venture firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston that funds early-stage drug companies and also runs a public-market fund. Its cancer investments include the cell therapy company Artiva, the protein degrader pioneer Arvinas and Enliven Therapeutics.
1
Bain Capital Life Sciences
Boston, MA, US
The life sciences investing arm of Bain Capital in Boston. It funds later-stage private and public biotech companies, including cancer drug developers such as Olema Oncology, Nuvalent, Revolution Medicines and Mersana.
1
Boxer Capital
San Diego, CA, US
A San Diego biotech investment firm that backs precision medicine companies from private rounds through public listing. Its venture highlights include cancer drug developers Mirati, G1 Therapeutics, Tango and Elevation Oncology.
1
EQT Life Sciences
Amsterdam, NL
The life sciences venture arm of the Swedish investment group EQT, formerly the Amsterdam firm LSP (Life Sciences Partners). It funds European and US biotech and medtech companies, including in cancer.
1
Founders Fund
San Francisco, CA, US
Peter Thiel's San Francisco venture firm, best known for SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril. Its public portfolio page does not name any cancer companies, so its relevance to oncology is limited.
1
General Catalyst
Cambridge, MA, US
A large venture firm founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that now spans seed to growth and even owns a hospital system. Its health portfolio includes the radiopharmaceutical company Alpha-9 Oncology and the radiology AI firm Aidoc.
1
GV (Google Ventures)
Mountain View, CA, US
Alphabet's venture arm, established in 2009. It has backed some of the best-known cancer diagnostics companies, including Foundation Medicine, Grail, Freenome and Flatiron Health, as well as cancer drug developers such as Forty Seven and Gritstone.
1
Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC
New Brunswick, NJ, US
Johnson & Johnson's venture capital arm, one of the oldest corporate venture groups in healthcare. It invests alongside J&J's innovation centres and JLABS incubators, including in cancer companies.
1
Khosla Ventures
Menlo Park, CA, US
Vinod Khosla's Menlo Park venture firm, which backs bold early-stage technology companies including health and biology start-ups. Cancer-related bets include the blood-test company Guardant Health and the AI oncology start-up Radical Health.
1
Lilly Ventures
Indianapolis, IN, US
Eli Lilly's investment arm, part of its Lilly Catalyze360 programme for early biotech companies. It co-invests with venture syndicates across all disease areas, including cancer.
1
Lux Capital
New York, NY, US
A New York venture firm that backs deep technology companies, from defence and AI to biology. Its biotech holdings include the AI drug discovery company Recursion and the imaging-based drug hunter Eikon Therapeutics.
1
MSD Global Health Innovation Fund (Merck GHI)
Rahway, NJ, US
Merck & Co's corporate venture fund for digital health and healthcare services companies, known as MSD GHI outside North America. Its website is a JavaScript application whose content could not be read.
1
Sofinnova Partners
Paris, FR
One of Europe's oldest life sciences venture firms, based in Paris. It has backed cancer companies such as Innate Pharma, Crescendo Biologics and Hookipa, and its portfolio company Myricx was bought by Novartis.
1
SR One
London, GB
A transatlantic biotech venture firm that began as GSK's corporate venture arm and now invests independently from London and the US West Coast. Many of its companies work on cancer, including Akamis Bio, Avenzo Therapeutics and Charm Therapeutics.
1
Syncona
London, GB
A London-listed investment company that founds and funds UK life science companies and holds them for the long term. Its cancer companies include the CAR-T company Autolus and the precision oncology firms iOnctura and Mosaic Therapeutics.
1
Third Rock Ventures
Boston, MA, US
Third Rock Ventures builds biotech companies from scratch around a scientific idea, then funds and staffs them. Several of the best-known precision oncology companies of the last fifteen years started in its offices.
1
AbbVie Ventures
North Chicago, IL, US
AbbVie's corporate venture arm, which invests in early-stage biotech companies in AbbVie's therapeutic areas including cancer. Its web pages blocked automated access at the time of research.
0
Andera Partners
Paris, FR
A Paris private equity firm whose life sciences team, through its BioDiscovery funds, invests in European and US drug and medtech companies. Its life sciences portfolio includes the cancer T-cell therapy company T-Knife.
0
ARCH Venture Partners
Chicago, IL, US
A Chicago venture firm that starts and funds science-heavy biotech companies. Several of its companies work on cancer drugs, cancer cell therapies and cancer diagnostics.
0
Break Through Cancer
Cambridge, MA, US
A Cambridge, Massachusetts foundation, founded in 2021 and led by Tyler Jacks, that funds teams across several cancer centres to work together on the deadliest cancers. It funds research projects rather than companies.
0
Cancer Research Horizons
London, GB
The innovation and commercial arm of the charity Cancer Research UK. It turns charity-funded discoveries into start-ups and licences, and runs a seed fund; its alumni include Autolus, KuDOS and Myricx Bio.
0
Flagship Pioneering
Cambridge, MA, US
A Cambridge, Massachusetts firm that invents and builds its own biotech companies rather than backing outside founders. Its cancer-focused companies include Foghorn Therapeutics and Repertoire Immune Medicines.
0
Illumina Ventures
Foster City, CA, US
An independently managed venture firm with a strategic tie to the sequencing company Illumina. It backs genomics and precision health start-ups, including cancer companies such as Delfi Diagnostics, Actym Therapeutics and Oncko.
0
Leaps by Bayer
Berlin, DE
Bayer's impact investing unit, which funds companies tackling ten 'leaps' in health and agriculture, including curing cancer. Its website blocked automated access at the time of research.
0
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Therapy Acceleration Program
Rye Brook, NY, US
The venture philanthropy arm of the blood cancer charity now called Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). It invests charity money directly in companies developing blood cancer treatments.
0
Medicxi
London, GB
A London and Geneva venture firm that funds single-asset drug companies run by experienced drug hunters. Its cancer companies have included ProfoundBio (bought by Genmab), Kurome Therapeutics and Gadeta.
0
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and Myeloma Investment Fund
Norwalk, CT, US
A patient-founded charity for the blood cancer multiple myeloma that also runs a venture philanthropy fund investing in companies developing myeloma treatments. Fund investments include Reverb Therapeutics, Abcuro, Coding Bio and CytoImmune.
0
Novartis Venture Fund
Basel, CH
Novartis's corporate venture fund, run from Basel and Cambridge, Massachusetts. It makes seed and Series A investments in biotech companies, including cancer drug developers such as Artios Pharma, CatalYm and Epsilogen.
0
Roche Venture Fund
Basel, CH
Roche's corporate venture fund, based in Basel, which takes minority stakes in early biotech and diagnostics companies. Its web pages could not be located at the time of research.
0
SV Health Investors
London, GB
A London and Boston healthcare investor with 30 years of history that runs biotech, medtech and growth funds, including a dementia fund. Its biotech portfolio includes cancer companies such as Bicycle Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics.
0
Takeda Ventures
Cambridge, MA, US
Takeda's corporate venture group, founded in 2001, which invests in very early drug companies in Takeda's areas, including cancer.
0

Method. An investor is listed when it has led or joined a disclosed oncology round, runs a dedicated oncology programme, or is a disease foundation with a venture arm. The portfolio count is the number of OnCo company records that name the investor in their `investors` field; it undercounts every fund and says nothing about cheque size or ownership. Corrections through the edit link on any record.