Samsara BioCapital
Venture capitalPalo Alto · Seed–Late Stage · 5 people tracked
Also known as SAMSARA BIOCAPITAL, LLC
Investment thesis
Samsara BioCapital invests in the creation of transformative therapeutics for patients. The firm assembles a team of scientists, physicians, drug developers, and business leaders with hundreds of years of combined experience to back the next generation of therapeutic breakthroughs. Its ethos draws inspiration from Darwin's ideas on evolution and the branching Tree of Life, emphasizing scientific rigor and the potential for new therapeutic ideas to grow and diverge over time.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 11, 2026.
Team · 5 people
from public directories
What they invest in
from 42 of 81 portfolio companiesBiotech ×41Medical Devices ×15Healthtech ×14Deep Tech ×9Digital Health ×6AI & Machine Learning ×4Developer Tools ×1Fintech ×1
HQs:United States×35Canada×1China×1
Investments · 81 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 12025 · 42024 · 42023 · 12022 · 12020 · 22019 · 22018 · 22017 · 32015 · 121 dated
aTyr is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies derived from tRNA synthetase biology to treat fibrosis and inflammation, with its lead candidate efzofitimod in clinical trials for interstitial lung disease.
BiotechHealthtechMedical DevicesSan Diego, US
Amir Nashat(Non-Management Director)Paul Schimmel(Non-Management Director)Akkaraju Srinivas(Non-Management Director)John D. Mendlein(Executive Officer, Director)David Weiner(Executive Officer)Ed Penhoet(Non-Management Director)
Board seatSrini Akkaraju· per SEC Form D · $45.8M raise · filed Sep 2017
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing best-in-class novel therapy for hypertension treatment.
BiotechRadnor, US
Adam Levy(Executive Officer)Srinivas Akkaraju(Director)Alexander Asam(Director)
BoardBrian Taylor Slingsby(Director)Olivier Litzka(Director)Derek DiRocco(Director)
Board seatSrinivas Akkaraju· per SEC Form D
Accelerating development of new genetic medicines for people with devastating neurological diseases.
New York, US
Cory Freedland(Director)Rachel McMinn(Executive Officer, Director)Stephen Biggar(Director)
Board seatRobert Baffi· per SEC Form D
Developing allogeneic or off-the-shelf cell therapies for cancer and auto-immune disease based on Natural Killer cells.
South San Francisco, US
Board seatMichael Dybbs· per SEC Form D
Clinical-stage company developing next generation antibody drug conjugates for cancer treatment using proprietary cell-free protein manufacturing technology.
BiotechSouth San Francisco, US
Joseph Lobacki(Director)Daniel Janney(Director)Armen Shanafelt(Director)Virgil Bryan Lawlis(Director)John G. Freund(Director)William J. Newell(Executive Officer, Director)
Board seatMichael Bryan Dybbs· per SEC Form D
vTv Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing oral, small molecule drugs for diabetes and other chronic diseases.
BiotechDigital HealthMedical DevicesHigh Point, US
Rudy Howard(Executive Officer)Paul Meister(Director)Stephen Holcombe(Executive Officer)Paul Savas(Director)Noel Spiegel(Director)Howard Weiner(Director)
Board seatSrinivas Akkaraju· per SEC Form D
Clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new class of immuno-oncology agents combining antibody targeting precision with innate and adaptive immune system power.
Biopharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization of first-in-class small molecules for neuroregeneration.
Gossamer Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing seralutinib, an investigational drug candidate for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease.
BiotechDigital HealthMedical DevicesSan Diego, US
Bryan Giraudo(Executive Officer)Faheem Hasnain(Executive Officer, Director)Russell Cox(Director)Renee Gala(Director)Laura Carter, Ph.D.(Executive Officer)Christian Waage(Executive Officer)
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics.
BiotechLa Jolla, US
Jay Lichter, Ph.D.(Director)Jake Simson, Ph.D.(Director)Stefan Heller(Director)Peter Thompson, M.D.(Director)Vickie L. Capps(Director)David Campbell, Ph.D.(Executive Officer, Director)
Developing a best-in-class approach for neovascular retinal diseases.
Late-stage clinical company developing innovative ophthalmic pharmaceutical products that improve vision.
Rare disease biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing pathogenetically targeted therapies for serious genetic diseases with no approved treatments.
Prime Medicine develops one-time genetic therapies using Prime Editing, a gene editing technology developed in David R.
BiotechDeep TechHealthtechMedical Devices
Andrew Anzalone(Co-founder and Head of Platform)David Liu(Co-founder)Allan Reine(Chief Executive Officer)Mohammed Asmal(Chief Medical Officer)Ann Lee(Chief Technical Officer)Svetlana Makhni(Chief Financial Officer)
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovery and development of innovative medicines for serious diseases by targeting the Transforming Growth Factor Beta pathway.
BiotechCambridge, US
Alan Buckler(Executive Officer)Nagesh Mahanthappa(Executive Officer, Director)Timothy Springer(Director)David Hallal(Director)Michael Gilman(Director)Jeffrey Flier(Director)
SpyGlass Pharma develops a sustained drug delivery system, the BIM-IOL System, that integrates long-acting glaucoma therapy into cataract surgery.
BiotechHealthtechMedical DevicesAliso Viejo, US
Malik Kahook(Executive Officer, Director)Patrick Mooney(Executive Officer, Director)Glenn Sussman(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardJake Merrill(Director)Geoff Pardo(Director)Bilal Khan(Director)
Develops therapies to treat inflammatory and allergic diseases with lead asset being an anti-TSLPR monoclonal antibody in phase II study.
Abcuro is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing ulviprubart, a monoclonal antibody that selectively depletes highly cytotoxic T cells by targeting the KLRG1 receptor.
BiotechHealthtechNewton, US
John Alexander Martin(Executive Officer, Director)Stefano Gulla(Executive Officer)Ryan Berry(Director)Donald McCarthy(Director)John Edwards(Director)Yajun Xu(Director)
Board seatMichael Dybbs· per SEC Form D
Enlaza Therapeutics develops covalent protein therapeutics using its War-Lock technology, which incorporates proprietary unnatural amino acids into protein drugs so they form irreversible covalent bonds with disease-related targets.
BiotechDeep TechSan Diego, US
Sergio Duron(Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer)Sanford Madigan(Co-Founder, President & Chief Business Officer)Analeah Heidt(Chief Scientific Officer)
Board seatMarcos Milla· per SEC Form D
Dewpoint Therapeutics develops condensate-modulating drugs by using an integrated platform that maps, measures, and modulates biomolecular condensates to identify druggable targets and disease mechanisms.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechDeep TechBoston, US
Mark Murcko, Ph.D.(Director)Richard Young, Ph.D.(Director)Elisabeth Leiderman(Executive Officer)Ameet Nathwani, M.D.(Executive Officer, Director)Isaac Klein, M.D., Ph.D.(Executive Officer)Lori Escobedo(Executive Officer)
A2 Bio develops precision CAR T-cell therapies using its Tmod cell engineering platform, supporting both autologous and allogeneic applications.
BiotechHealthtechAgoura Hills, US
Scott Foraker(Executive Officer, Director)Madhavan Balachandran(Director)Michael Gallo(Director)C. Alexander Kamb(Director)
BoardDavid Goeddel(Director)
Board seatSrini Akkaraju· per SEC Form D · $71.5M raise · filed Oct 2020
Seattle, US
Sam Hall(Director)Eric Dobmeier(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardJeremy Caldwell(Director)Jerel Davis(Director)
Board seatSrinivas AkkarajuSrini Akkaraju· per SEC Form D · $115M raise · filed Oct 2020
DELFI Diagnostics develops FirstLook Lung, a blood-based laboratory test for lung cancer screening that identifies genome-wide alterations in individuals eligible for screening.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesBaltimore, US
Peter Bach(Executive Officer)Elizabeth Homans(Director)Justin Kao(Director)Jennifer Buechel(Executive Officer)Victor Velculescu(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Douglas Schenkel(Executive Officer)
Board seatMichael Dybbs· per SEC Form D
HealthtechSan Francisco, US
James Tananbaum(Director)June Lee(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardVikram Bajaj(Director)
Board seatSrinivas Akkaraju· per SEC Form D · $40M raise · filed Jul 2024
BiotechSeattle, US
Erik Anderson(Director)Mark Litton(Director)Robert Carlson(Director)Craig Behnke(Executive Officer)Ed Schlect(Director)John Morrow(Executive Officer)
Board seatMarcos Milla· per SEC Form D · $23M raise · filed Apr 2025
BiotechMenlo Park, US
Mani Subramanian(Executive Officer, Director)Gangadhara Ganapati(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardMatthew Young(Director)Cory Freedland(Director)Edward Fleming(Director)
Board seatSrinivas Akkaraju· per SEC Form D
BiotechSouth San Francisco, US
MARTIN BABLER(Executive Officer, Director)PETER THOMPSON(Director)SRINIVAS AKKARAJU(Director)LEWIS J. SHUSTER(Director)MICHAEL DYBBS(Director)SIMEON GEORGE(Director)
Board seatSrinivas AkkarajuMichael Dybbs· per SEC Form D · $50M raise · filed Sep 2018
Cambridge, US
Board seatSrinivas Akkaraju· per SEC Form D · $11.4M raise · filed Feb 2018
Developing therapies to reverse goblet cell hyperplasia for cystic fibrosis and other pulmonary conditions.
Portfolio company that completed a successful 2018 biotech IPO, resulting in a 9x return for RiverVest.
BiotechSan Carlos, US
Nenad Tomasevic(Executive Officer)Alejandro Dorenbaum(Executive Officer)Peter Moldt(Director)Christopher Bebbington(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardFarah Champsi(Director)John McKearn(Director)
Alpha-9 Oncology develops radiopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment, with a portfolio of molecules in clinical and preclinical development.
BiotechDigital HealthMedical DevicesVancouver, CA
François Bénard(MD)Kuo-Shyan Lin(PhD)David Perrin(PhD)
Developing sonodynamic therapy for brain cancer.
Arcellx develops CAR T-cell therapies that are individually designed for each patient, using the immune system to target and attack cancer.
BiotechHealthtechGaithersburg, US
Han Lee(Executive Officer)Lewis T. Rusty Williams(Director)David Lubner(Director)Rami Elghandour(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardJill Carroll(Director)Ali Behbahani(Director)
Accelerates the translation of novel science to realize the potential of academic research.
Autobahn develops medicines for central nervous system (CNS) disorders by leveraging regenerative mechanisms of the human body.
BiotechDeep TechMedical DevicesSan Diego, US
Kevin Finney(Chairman, President and CEO)John Borkholder(Executive Officer)
BoardKristina Burow(Director)Thomas Cahill(Director)Timothy Anderson(Director)Philip J DeSouza(Director)
Developing technology focused on restoring sight to patients with advanced-stage blindness due to retinal degenerative diseases.
CandidRx develops T-cell engager antibodies to treat autoimmune diseases by redirecting T-cells to eliminate autoreactive B-cells.
BiotechHealthtechSan Diego, US
Ken Song(Chairman, President and CEO)Kenneth Song, M.D.(Executive Officer, Director)Arvind Kush(Executive Officer)Timothy Lu, M.D.(Executive Officer)Bernie Huyghe, Ph.D.(Executive Officer)
BoardJeffrey Tong, Ph.D.(Director)
Launched by Samsara in partnership with CAR T pioneers, advancing a clinically validated CD22 CAR T for lymphoma.
BiotechSan Mateo, US
Gina Chapman(Executive Officer, Director)Abraham Bassan(Director)Cassandra Gianna Luca(Director)Jeffrey Walsh(Director)Krishnan Viswanadhan(Director)Crystal Mackall(Director)
Develops clinical intelligence solutions for healthcare providers to enable data-driven decision making in healthcare workflows.
Originator of Otarmeni (lunsotogene parvec-cwha), an FDA-approved gene therapy for genetic hearing loss; acquired by Regeneron in 2023.
Cambridge, US
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company combining innovative chemistry with validated biology to make medicines more accessible for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
ElevateBio is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that provides end-to-end services for cell and gene therapies, from discovery and process development through clinical and commercial-scale manufacturing.
BiotechDeep TechMedical Devices
Mike Paglia(Chief Technology Officer)
Developing therapies targeting Dark Antigens, a novel class of cancer-specific targets from genomic dark matter.
Epibiologics develops protein degradation medicines using protein sciences and antibody engineering capabilities.
BiotechMedical DevicesSan Mateo, US
Jason Coloma(Director)Ann Lee-Karlon(Executive Officer, Director)Samuel Bjork(Director)Alexandra Cantley(Director)Mitchell Mutz(Executive Officer, Director)Seiji Miyahara(Director)
Developing best-in-class protein therapeutics for rapidly relieving or preventing allergic-mediated diseases.
Exo Therapeutics is a small molecule drug discovery company developing therapeutics through its ExoSight platform, which targets exosites—unique binding pockets on enzymes—to address previously undruggable diseases in oncology, inflammation, and other therapeutic areas.
BiotechDeep TechMedical Devices
David Liu, PhD(Founder)Alan Saghatelian, PhD(Co-Founder)David LiuAlan Saghetelian
Clinical-stage ophthalmology biotech company delivering a next-generation pipeline for back-of-the-eye diseases, acquired by Merck in 2024.
Fluent Bio develops software for analyzing single-cell RNA sequencing data, producing count matrices and diagnostic outputs for researchers using Illumina sequencing libraries.
BiotechDeveloper Tools
Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics for rare hematologic diseases and cancers, acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2022.
Delivers rapid, actionable results to physicians through decentralized laboratory testing backed by remote telehealth oversight and monitoring.
Immunovirology company harnessing science at the intersection of immunology and virology to design broad therapeutics with durable response across multiple viruses.
Focuses on development and commercialization of therapeutics to treat chronic liver diseases utilizing proprietary bile acid chemistry, acquired by Alfasigma in 2023.
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Exits · 22
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioaTYR PHARMANASDAQ: ATYRMineralys TherapeuticsNASDAQ: MLYSNeurogene IncNASDAQ: NGNENkarta, Inc.NASDAQ: NKTXSutro BioPharma, Inc.NASDAQ: STROVtvtherapeuticsNASDAQ: VTVTAlumisNASDAQ: ALMSBolt Biotherapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ: BOLTContineum TherapeuticsNASDAQ: CTNMGossamer BioNASDAQ: GOSSJanux Therapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ: JANXKalaris Therapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ: KLRSLENZ Therapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ: LENZPalvella Therapeutics, Inc.NASDAQ: PVLAPrime MedicineNASDAQ: PRMEScholar Rock Holding Corp, Inc.NASDAQ: SRRKSpyglass PharmaNASDAQ: SGPUpstream Bio, Inc.NASDAQ: UPBDecibel Therapeuticsacq. by RegeneronEyebiotech Limitedacq. by MerckForma Therapeuticsacq. by Novo NordiskIntercept Pharmaceuticalsacq. by Alfasigma
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesDelfi Diagnostics · geekwire.com · Jul 13, 2026
Candid Therapeutics · biopharmadive.com · Jul 6, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Samsara BioCapital invest at?
- Samsara BioCapital invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.
- What sectors does Samsara BioCapital focus on?
- Samsara BioCapital focuses on Biotech, Healthtech, Medical Devices.
- Where is Samsara BioCapital located?
- Samsara BioCapital is headquartered in Palo Alto, US.
Co-investors · 18
RA Capital invests in public and private healthcare and life science companies developing pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostic tools. The firm operates as a crossover fund across multiple investment stages.
ARCH Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that backs and helps build transformational companies, with a strong focus on the life sciences and biotech sector.
Nextech Invest is a Zurich-based investment firm focused on emerging biotechnology companies, backing transformative cancer medicines and precision medicine advances worldwide.
OrbiMed is a global healthcare-focused investment firm providing financing and operational support to companies across biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health, diagnostics, and healthcare services.
SR One is a biotechnology-focused venture capital firm that partners with founders to develop innovative science into new medicines.
venBio is a life sciences venture capital firm that partners with industry leaders to develop novel therapeutics and technologies addressing unmet medical needs.
Versant Ventures operates in-house Discovery Engines staffed by multidisciplinary scientists in dedicated laboratory facilities to help launch new biotechnology companies alongside academic founders.
Third Rock Ventures is a venture capital firm that discovers, launches, and builds life sciences and biotechnology companies developing novel medicines and therapies.
General Catalyst is a venture capital and investment firm that backs founders across industries, with a strong focus on AI-driven transformation, fintech, healthcare, and other sectors.
Pfizer Ventures is the corporate venture arm of Pfizer that invests in life science innovation across oncology, inflammation & immunology, cardiovascular, metabolic/obesity, and vaccines, as well as platform technology companies aligned with Pfizer's strategic focus areas.
The Column Group (TCG) is a venture capital firm focused on building and backing biotechnology companies, applying an edge-to-edge investment model centered on company formation with capacity for long-term private and public capital support.
Advent Life Sciences is a trans-Atlantic venture capital firm investing in early and mid-stage life sciences companies across the UK, Europe and the USA.
▶6 more co-investors
Lightstone VenturesEQT Life SciencesFlagship PioneeringFrazier Healthcare PartnersGenoa VenturesAmplitude Venture Capital
Firms observed investing alongside Samsara BioCapital, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Samsara BioCapital's recorded portfolio.
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