The fund will be managed by the US venture capital firm's healthcare team.
US pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly has contributed $500m to a new health tech fund to be run in partnership with the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.
The Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund will invest in companies across all stages, targeting startups working on new drug development and scalable health technology, including those using AI and novel methods of bioengineering.
Lilly will provide portfolio companies with access to a support structure called Catalyze360, which draws on the expertise of its CVC arm Lilly Ventures and its innovation hub Lilly Gateway Labs.
The fund will be managed by a16z Bio + Health, an Andreessen Horowitz division that specialises in biotech investments.
Eli Lilly is already a prolific corporate venturer. According to GCV data, it has taken part in three deals this month. It participated in the $93.5m series A funding round for the Danish startup Orbis Medicines, which develops oral macrocycle drugs, a class of medicine that might help treat diseases smaller molecules can’t.
Last week, it took part in the $410m round for Verdiva Bio and the $180m round for Timberlyne through one of its CVC arms, Lilly Asia Ventures. Both were series A rounds. Verdiva Bio is a UK startup that makes orally-administered GLP-1 drugs, which treat metabolic diseases help patients lose weight.
Lilly is the market leader in GLP-1 drugs, but there is intense competition among large pharmaceutical companies to innovate the technology, either by making them easier to administer or by mitigating the side effects.
