Brad Robling, vice-president and global head at Lilly New Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2026 Powerlist.
Brad Robling has headed Lilly Ventures, the corporate VC unit of Indiana-based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company, since 2020.
He previously served in the company’s corporate business development and investor relations units and now plays a key leadership role in Lilly Catalyze360, the company’s external innovation platform, with gives biotech companies access to strategic capital (though Lilly Ventures), lab space, R&D capabilities and strategic counsel and scientific engagement.
Over the past two decades, Lilly Ventures has been responsible for committing more than $2bn to early-stage biotech businesses directly via its therapeutics portfolio and indirectly as limited partner in spin-off funds and other independent general partners, including Social Impact Venture Capital Portfolio, a dedicated fund poised to grow to $300m, focused on increasing healthcare accessibility and diversity in clinical trials, and Biotech Ecosystem Venture Fund, a $500m healthcare technology fund managed by Lilly in partnership with Andreessen Horowitz. Lilly Ventures also runs a tech-focused fund started in 2023.
Lilly’s investment philosophy is to take “smart risks on bold science”, with a remit that covers life science investments all over the world. The company has a proven legacy of successfully funding, developing and accelerating innovation to serve patients, such as weight-loss treatments Zepbound (tirzepatide) and the newly launched, once-daily oral pill Foundayo (orforglipron), that have helped its market capitalisation reach $1 trillion, the first pharmaceutical company to reach this milestone.
Robling sits on the boards of cancer drug developers, Therini Bio, Auron Therapeutics and Sitryx Therapeutics. He recently joined the board of AMR Action Fund, focusing on antimicrobial resistance.
Before joining Lilly in 2012, Robling was director of corporate development at Applied Materials in Santa Clara, California. Prior to that role, he spent the first 10 years of his career at professional services firms Ernst and Young and Deloitte Consulting, as well as in leadership positions at two Silicon Valley startups.
The GCV Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
Here’s a snapshot of their recent deals:
