New Enterprise Associates announced Thursday that it has opened a Cambridge office in Kendall Square to be closer to its portfolio companies and deal-sourcing work within the Boston area. The city's newest area venture firm has secured the third floor at 700 Tech Square, which will serve as a home base, primarily for its healthcare partners.
Over the years, NEA has invested in nearly two dozen Boston biotech and technology startups, including now-public life sciences companies Tesaro and Epizyme, and younger local biotech startups Edimer Pharmaceuticals, Mersana Therapeutics and Ra Pharmaceuticals. Six of the firm's portfolio companies are, in fact, housed in Kendall. Additionally, two of the VC firm's partners helped found The Experiment Fund, a seed-stage fund operating on Harvard’s campus.
“From startup to big pharma, the environment for company building, innovation and entrepreneurship has never been better, and Boston’s concentration of talent and capabilities is unrivaled," said David Mott, NEA General Partner and head of the firm’s healthcare investing practice, in the release. "Anchoring the firm’s presence in Kendall Square will enable us to work more closely with our entrepreneurs and partners, and to aggressively seek new investment opportunities.”
The firm's newly established office will bring its partners closer to the Broad Institute, MIT, Harvard and other Boston universities' innovation-centric campuses, as well as local venture firms.
NEA raised a $2.6 billion for its fourteenth fund last year. The firm currently holds offices in New York, California, Washington, D.C., Chicago, China and India.
