Robert Nelsen is a co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the creation, early sourcing, financing and development of more than 150 companies, including over 50 early stage investments that have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion.
Mr. Nelsen is focused on disruptive technologies or business models and partnering with founding management teams and entrepreneurs to execute on these visions by advancing novel platform technologies.
Some of his notable early-stage investments include “Project Prometheus,” Illumina (ILMN), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Juno Therapeutics (JUNO-acquired by Celgene), Impinj (PI), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX-acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), Altos Labs, National Resilience, Xaira Therapeutics, Insitro, Colossal Biosciences, Prime Medicine (PRME), Lyell Immunopharma (LYEL), Array BioPharma (ARRY-acquired by Pfizer), Hua Medicine (2552:HK), Vir Biotechnology (VIR), Seaport Therapeutics, Maze Therapeutics (MAZE), Rapport Therapeutics (RAPP), EQRx (EQRX – acquired by Revolution Medicines), Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), GRAIL (acquired by Illumina-GRAL), Ikaria (acquired by Mallinckrodt), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH-acquired by Allergan, Receptos (RCPT-acquired by Celgene), Aviron (AVIR-acquired by MedImmune), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), Sana Biotechnology (SANA), Verve Therapeutics (acquired by Eli Lilly), Brii Biosciences (2137:HK), Bluebird Bio (BLUE), R2 Technology (acquired by Hologic), Caliper Life Sciences (CALP-acquired by PerkinElmer), Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN-acquired by Emergent Biosolutions), Gossamer Bio (GOSS), Adolor (ADLR-acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals), deCODE Genetics (DCGN-acquired by Amgen), Editas (EDIT), 10x Genomics, Semma Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals), Element Genomics, IDUN Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Quantum Circuits, Everyday Learning (acquired by the Tribune Company), NetBot (acquired by Excite), Aledade, and Stability AI.
In AI, Mr. Nelsen is co-founder of “Project Prometheus”, and initiated the re-boot of Stability AI. He seeded R2 Technology, which delivered the first large scale use of AI in medical imaging, He was Chairman and co-founder of NetBot developed the first commercial use of intelligent agents in shopping, and seeded Impinj, one of the leading RFID manufacturers worldwide and a pioneer in self-adaptive silicon. He also seeded Illumina, world leader in genomic sequencing and pioneered optical sequencing.
Mr. Nelsen is a director of “Project Prometheus”, SANA, PRME, National Resilience, Seaport Therapeutics, Insitro, Xaira Therapeutics, and Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute of Systems Biology, and was a director of the National Venture Capital Association.
Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.