“We’re not doing 30 bets a year”: Vijay Pande on betting small after running $4 billion at a16z
$4B to boutique: Vijay Pande's bet-small thesis after leaving a16z biotech.
Why it matters
A major biotech VC is reshaping the funding game around AI-native biology startups, signaling a shift from the mega-fund model to focused, smaller bets — and revealing where capital thinks the leverage actually is in AI-driven drug discovery.
The key facts
12 to knowVijay Pande left a16z biotech practice (~$4B AUM)
Founded VZVC, positioned as AI-native and significantly smaller
Moving from ~30 bets/year model to smaller number of concentrated bets
Focus: open, shared datasets vs. proprietary/walled data for AI in medicine
Biology framed as shifting from discovery science to engineering discipline
Clinical trials remain cost barrier to AI drug development transformation
Vijay Pande left a16z's ~$4B biotech practice
Started VZVC as smaller, AI-native fund
Shift from 30 bets/year model to smaller portfolio
Thesis: biology moving from discovery to engineering via AI
Open, shared datasets emphasized over proprietary approaches
Clinical trial costs remain major constraint
Go to the source
TechCrunch AItechcrunch.com
Publisher excerpt: Vijay Pande — who left a16z's roughly $4 billion biotech practice last year to start the much smaller, AI-native VZVC — talks about why biology is finally shifting from a "discovery" science to an "engineering" one, why clinical trials are still brutally expensive, and why he thinks open, shared…