Westlake today announced the appointment of Peter Calveley to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Calveley will be responsible for managing the operational side of the firm, as well as enhancing strategic decision-making for Westlake’s portfolio of life sciences companies.
Podcast: Harper on Westlake’s New Funds, Investment Strategy and the LA Biotech Hub
Westlake co-founding managing director, Sean Harper, recently spoke to Minnie Ingersoll, host of TenOneTen’s “LA Venture” podcast, about Westlake’s recently launched $500 million funds, the firm’s investment focus and the growth of the Los Angeles area biotech hub.
Westlake-Backed Tmunity Appoints Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D. as Board Chairman
We are pleased to welcome Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., as non-executive chairman of Tmunity’s Board of Directors. As a physician and scientist, Dr. Leiden has dedicated his career to improving the lives of people with serious diseases. We look forward to working with him as Tmunity advances its programs targeting solid tumors.
Westlake-Backed Arsenal Biosciences Announces $70 Million Discovery Collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to Advance Next-Generation T Cell Therapies for Solid Tumors
Programmable cell therapy company Arsenal Biosciences, which Westlake Village BioPartners seeded and significantly contributed to its Series A financing, today announced a $70 million multi-program discovery collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to advance next-generation T cell therapies for solid tumors.
Neuron23™ Closes $113.5 Million Series A and B Financing led by Westlake Village BioPartners, Kleiner Perkins, and Redmile Group
Neuron23™ Inc., an early stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for genetically defined neurological and immunological diseases, today announced its launch backed by a combined $113.5 million Series A and B financing. The funding was comprised of $33.5 million Series A financing from Westlake Village BioPartners and Kleiner Perkins, and $80 million Series … Read More
Westlake Village BioPartners Launches Two New Funds Totaling $500 Million to Advance Transformative Treatments
Today we announced the launch of two new funds totaling $500 million to build and invest in promising life sciences companies with transformative human therapeutic technologies.
ACELYRIN Launches with Funding from Westlake Village BioPartners
ACELYRIN, INC., a biopharma company focused on providing patients life-changing new treatment options by identifying, acquiring, and accelerating development and commercialization of promising drug candidates, today announced its launch backed by Series A financing from Westlake Village BioPartners.
Westlake-Founded Kyverna Therapeutics Launches With $25 Million Series A
Westlake Village BioPartners is pleased to have founded and participated in the Series A financing of Kyverna Therapeutics, a cell therapy company engineering a new class of therapies for serious autoimmune diseases. Kyverna has raised $25 million in a Series A investment from Vida Ventures, Westlake Village BioPartners, and Gilead Sciences
Westlake Weighs in on Top Tech Trends for 2020
Fast Company recently published an article entitled, “The top tech trends of 2020, from AI to 5G.” Westlake Village BioPartners’ Sean Harper and Beth Seidenberg provided their perspective on the promising role gene therapy could play in the treatment of solid tumors. You can read more about what they and other industry leaders had to … Read More
Westlake-Funded Tmunity Therapeutics Raises $75 Million Series B to Advance Next-Generation T Cell Therapies
Westlake Village BioPartners today announced it participated in the $75 million Series B financing of Tmunity Therapeutics, a company focused on delivering the full potential of next-generation T cell immunotherapy.
Westlake-Funded Arsenal Biosciences Launches With $85 Million Series A
Westlake Village BioPartners is pleased to have seeded and been a major contributor to the Series A funding round for programmable cell therapy company Arsenal Biosciences. The company will integrate technologies such as CRISPR-based genome engineering, scaled and high throughput target identification, synthetic biology, and machine learning to advance a new paradigm to discover and develop immune cell therapies, initially for cancer.
Four Ingredients Needed to Build a Biotech Hub in LA
At the recent Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association meeting, several themes emerged as essential ingredients in building the Los Angeles biotech hub. Westlake Village BioPartners’ managing director Sean Harper participated in a panel discussion that examined the issues facing Los Angeles as it grows its life sciences industry. The event, titled “Los Angeles: The Next Major Biotechnology … Read More
Building the Biotech City
Los Angeles has a long history of reinventing itself. From a village of 5,000 people in the 1870s, focused on cattle farming and agriculture; to establishing ports, railways, banks and factories designed to challenge San Francisco; to producing one-quarter of the world’s total oil supply by 1923; to the boomtown days of Hollywood from 1913-1941; … Read More
Harper Provides Perspective on Life Sciences Investing Through Fresh Eyes
At the recent Yale University Innovation Summit, Westlake Village BioPartners managing director Sean Harper presented an overview of the current advances in life sciences, his views on what is happening in the biotech venture capital world right now, and also provided some advice to entrepreneurs on how to build a successful business. As part of … Read More
Seidenberg Talks Gene Editing
Recently, Beth Seidenberg made news at the Fortune Brainstorm Health conference, revealing that cell therapy startup Tmunity has brought a product into human clinical trials that has knocked out multiple cancer genes.
Westlake Village BioPartners’ Beth Seidenberg Named One of World’s Top Venture Capitalists
Today Forbes announced that Westlake Village BioPartners founding managing director Beth Seidenberg, MD, has been ranked 59 on the annual Midas List of the world’s top 100 technology venture capitalists.
A Different Approach to Building a Successful Startup
Building a company from scratch can be exciting and rewarding and if you do it right you can change the world. However, it can also be challenging and is fraught with risk. While some venture capital firms are primarily focused on financials, at Westlake Village BioPartners our philosophy is to build world-class companies by taking a different approach.
San Fernando Valley Business Journal Profiles Westlake Village BioPartners
Recently, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reported on what Westlake Village BioPartners is doing in the greater Los Angeles area to establish a life sciences hub. It is exciting to know we are playing our part catalyzing the industry in this region!
Why Now is the Golden Age of Biotechnology
We are sprinting into what we believe is the Golden Age of Biotechnology—and the implications for humanity are profound. Just like in other industries in the past, such as aerospace and computing, we are now at an inflection point in biotechnology where we can address the most fundamental of human concerns: how to live longer, healthier lives, free of disease.
Westlake Village BioPartners Unveils $320 Million Inaugural Fund Focused on Life Science Investing
Westlake Village BioPartners, a new venture firm exclusively focused on investing in life sciences, announced the launch of the firm’s first fund with $320 million of committed capital.