Westlake Village BioPartners collects $450m for third fund

Westlake Village BioPartners has raised $450 million for its third fund to incubate and build-early-stage, next-generation biotechnology companies in the Los Angeles region and beyond.

The firm has now raised a total of $1.3 billion since its founding about five years ago. It raised raised $320 million for its debut fund in September 2018, $450 million for Westlake BioPartners Fund II in July 2020 and $100 milion for Westlake BioPartners Opportunity Fund I in June 2021, according to Venture Capital Journal research.

Westlake, based in Los Angeles, did not disclose the names of investors in the new fund. Its previous fund has 49 beneficial owners, with 28 percent of the total coming from funds of funds and 5 percent from non US persons, according to a Form ADV filed by Westlake in March.

“This new fund will enable us to continue to do what we do best­ – build great companies from the ground up that make a difference for patients and generate outsized returns for investors regardless of market conditions,” founding managing director Dr. Beth Seidenberg said in a statement. “Our investors recognize our strategy is working and have demonstrated their commitment through this new investment.”

Before co-founding Westlake in 2018, Seidenberg was a longtime general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Prior to that, she was an executive with Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Amgen, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Since 2005, Seidenberg has incubated and invested in more than 40 biotech ventures, including ARMO Biosciences, Arresto Biosciences, Arsenal Biosciences, Atara Biotherapeutics, Cell Design Labs, Epizyme, Flexus Biosciences, iPierian, Kyverna Therapeutics, Livongo Health, Neuron23, Progyny, RAPT Therapeutics, Tesaro, Tmunity Therapeutics and True North Therapeutics, according to her bio on Westlake’s website.

In addition to Seidenberg, the new fund will be led by managing directors Dr. Mira Chaurushiya and Dr. David Allison. Both were previously partners at 5AM Ventures.

“Adding Mira and David to our leadership team allows us to leverage their deep scientific, business, and investing expertise across our entire portfolio, while also building Westlake’s next generation of leaders,” Seidenberg said.

Allison’s previous investments include CinCor Pharma (acquired by AstraZeneca), while Chaurushiya’s prior investments include Precision Nanosystems (acquired by Danaher) and Purigen Biosystems (acquired by BioNano).

Allison, Chaurushiya and Seidenberg are the managing directors of the general partnership for Westlake BioPartners Fund III, according to a regulatory filing.