ARCH Venture Partners

Quick read

ARCH Venture Partners is an early-stage biotech and deep-science VC founded in 1986, headquartered in Chicago with a secondary office in Seattle. The firm manages approximately $12 billion in AUM across 17 funds, most recently closing Fund XIII at $3 billion in September 2024. ARCH co-founds companies directly with university researchers and national lab scientists, placing concentrated bets on breakthrough life sciences platforms before most investors show up.

Key facts

Founded

1986

Founders

Steven Lazarus

Employees

93

Sectors

biotech, healthcare, ai, hardware

Website

www.archventure.com

Investment thesis

ARCH co-founds companies at the concept stage directly with university researchers and national laboratory scientists, taking contrarian positions in early-stage life sciences, deep science, and physical sciences where the potential for disease prevention, detection, and cure is largest. The firm writes large checks and builds concentrated portfolios, repeatedly leading $100M+ formation rounds.

Recent activity

• Feb 2026investment
  ARCH backed Salma Health's Series A, their latest recorded investment per CB Insights. cbinsights.com
• Feb 2026product
  Generate Biomedicines, an ARCH portfolio company, exited on February 27, 2026. cbinsights.com
• Jan 2026press
  Robert Nelsen appeared on Stat News podcast 'The Readout Loud' discussing the obesity market, Novo Nordisk, and the JP Morgan healthcare conference. zoominfo.com
• Jan 2026investment
  ARCH co-led Kardigan's $300M Series A alongside Perceptive Advisors and Sequoia Heritage. Kardigan is a San Francisco-based cardiovascular drug development company. zoominfo.com
• Jan 2026press
  Carol Suh of ARCH Venture Partners featured in NYSE video on the future of healthcare, covering GLP-1s, de novo proteins, and healthcare economics. linkedin.com
• Sep 2024fundraise
  Closed Fund XIII at $3 billion, bringing total AUM to approximately $12 billion. The fund focuses on co-founding life sciences and deep-science platforms with university and national lab researchers. f4.fund
• 2024investment
  ARCH backed RhyGaze's $86M Series A alongside GV, F-Prime Capital, BioGeneration Ventures, and Novartis Venture Fund. RhyGaze develops gene therapies for retinal diseases. zoominfo.com
• 2024investment
  AIRNA raised $155M in Series B funding for RNA editing therapeutics, with ARCH participating. zoominfo.com

Notable investments

• Salma HealthSeries AFeb 2026cbinsights.com
• KardiganSeries AJan 2026zoominfo.com
• RhyGazeSeries A2024zoominfo.com
• AIRNASeries B2024zoominfo.com
• Elephas BiosciencesSeries B-22024archventure.com
• Paradigm HealthSeries B2024archventure.com
• SciNeuro PharmaceuticalsSeries A2023archventure.com
• Pheast TherapeuticsSeed2023archventure.com

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

• Robert Taylor Nelsen · Managing Director
• Paul Berns · Partner
• Robert Nelsen · Co-founder & Managing Director
• Steven Lazarus · Co-founder
• Keith Crandell · Managing Director
• Kristina Burow · Managing Director

Sources

• ARCH Venture Partners — Investment Thesis & Preferences
• ARCH Venture Partners Portfolio Investments, Funds & Exits — CB Insights
• ARCH Venture Partners — Overview, News & Similar Companies
• Arch Venture Partners — Wikipedia
• Home — ARCH Venture Partners

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Frequently asked