Investing in Lupus
Lupus Ventures aims to accelerate the development of new treatments and diagnostics that can improve the standard of care and deliver meaningful value to the millions of people living with lupus worldwide.
Our Story
Lupus Ventures (dba “The Lupus Venture Fund”) is the world’s only venture capital fund dedicated to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), its manifestations, and related autoimmune conditions.
About Lupus
Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. In lupus, the immune system, meant to defend against infections, produces autoantibodies that mistake the body’s own cells as foreign, causing other immune cells to attack organs such as the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, and skin, as well as blood and joints. Ninety percent of people with lupus are women, most often diagnosed between the ages of 15-45. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian and Pacific Islander people are disproportionately affected.
A Changing Landscape
Lupus is an incredibly heterogeneous disease — symptoms can vary and change over time. The need for new personalized treatments is urgent. However, the tide is turning:
- Cell therapies show great promise [1]
- Recent product approvals are sparking renewed Pharma interest [2]
- M&A activity and VC financings in Inflammation and Immunology are at all-time highs [3,4,5,6,7]
- 140+ lupus therapies are in clinical trials from 120+ companies [8]
Our Connection to the Lupus Research Alliance
- As the venture investment fund of the Lupus Research Alliance, we are a unique investor that can support companies from bench to bedside
- To date, the Lupus Research Alliance has invested over $284 million in lupus research across 650+ research grants
- The clinical affiliate, Lupus Therapeutics, is involved in 25–30% of active lupus trials
“Philanthropic capital has the unique power to turn bold ideas into reality – specifically high-risk ideas that can be transformative for patients, but traditional funding might overlook.” Nishant Rastogi, Managing Director
What We Fund
The Fund has a broad mandate to invest in any technology that has the potential to improve the standard of care for patients living with lupus, across all stages of development (preclinical, Ph1/2/3, and commercial), and private financing rounds (NewCo, Seed, Series A, B, C, etc.).
Company Type
- Biotech
- Pharma
- Diagnostics
- MedTech
- Digital Health
- Others
“Lupus Ventures allows us to strategically deploy resources and accelerate solutions for people living with lupus, ensuring promising ideas don’t sit on a shelf simply for lack of funding.” Albert T. Roy, President & CEO of the Lupus Research Alliance
Contact Us
Fill out the form below or contact NRastogi@lupusventures.org to learn more.