Sands Capital said Tuesday it closed a $555 million life sciences fund, marking its third fund in the industry.
The Arlington, VA-based long-term investor will devote the Pulse III fund to drug developers, diagnostics companies, medical device makers and the makers of life sciences tools, Sands Capital said in a statement. Its investments are in the range of $25 million to $40 million, according to the company’s life sciences website, and it managed more than $5 billion in life sciences and healthcare companies globally as of March 31.
Stephen Zachary“We really like investing at the intersection of these spaces,” managing partner Stephen Zachary said in an interview, “when a diagnostics company has a proprietary life sciences tool that is a driver of their differentiation, or when a biotech has developed a companion diagnostic to enrich a population for their drug.”
The third fund arrives nearly three years after Sands revealed the $560 million Pulse II. The focus is on private companies that are in the clinic or can reach data milestones with the financing, Zachary said.
The new heap of capital adds to the pool of money available to the life sciences industry, which has been through a start-stop recovery in recent quarters after weathering the financing doldrums of 2022 and 2023. Firms like Canaan, Ori Capital, Cormorant Asset Management and Earlybird Health, among others, have recently raised fresh capital to invest in the industry.
Sands recently participated in a $170 million Series D for anti-aging and obesity drug developer BioAge Labs, a $150 million round for Avenzo Therapeutics and a $100 million Series D for diabetes management solutions company Beta Bionics.
“Pulse III hasn’t been activated yet,” Zachary said.
The fund’s portfolio also includes 10x Genomics, medical device company Ancora Heart, and human and canine biotech startup Ankyra Therapeutics, among others. Multiple portfolio companies have been acquired, including CinCor Pharma, DICE, Karuna and RayzeBio.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include an interview with Sands managing partner Stephen Zachary.