Westlake Village BioPartners Launches Third Fund at $450M for Biotechs

Westlake Village BioPartners, a Los Angeles area-based venture capital firm focused on incubating and building life sciences companies, closed its third fund at $450 million.

Westlake was launched in 2018 by former Kleiner Perkins general partner Beth Siedenberg and ex-Amgen R&D executive vice president Sean Harper.

The fund will be managed by Seidenberg, Mira Chaurushiya and David Allison, who were both recently appointed managing directors.

The oversubscribed fund brings the firm’s total raised to $1.3 billion. Since then, Westlake has created more than 20 companies and supporting companies such as 3T Biosciences, Capsida Biotherapeutics and biopharma Acelyrin, among others.

“This new fund will enable us to continue to do what we do best – build great companies from the ground up that make a difference for patients and generate outsized returns for investors regardless of market conditions,” said Seidenberg.

The firm raised $320 million for its Series A debut fund in 2018 and followed that with a $430 million sophomore fund at the end of 2020. It also raised $70 million that year for its Opportunity 1 fund, which invests Series B or later-round capital in existing portfolio businesses.

The firm bills itself as the founder of the Los Angeles biotech industry, having launched eight firms in the region and managing more early-stage venture money from the region than any other firm.