Biotech Associate
Who We Are
Pillar VC is a venture capital firm based in Boston investing in companies at formation and seed stage with $350 million under management. We believe VC doesn’t have to be the darkside — we’re happy to own common stock, the same security as the founders we back, and we’re committed to helping founders develop as leaders.
Pillar VC is currently investing out of a $192 million Fund 3, of which approximately $60M is dedicated to investments in biotech companies. Our biotech investments include companies across therapeutics, analytics, data, and synthetic biology like Asimov, PathAI, Kula Bio, GRO Biosciences, Matterworks, GALY, New Equilibrium, Modern Synthesis and Compound Foods.
Many of the most important problems in the next 20 years are biological problems. Today we are at an inflection point: we are rapidly gaining the ability to read and write biology at every level. Yet, while we have seen large capital inflows to biotech, company formation has not kept pace with VC dollars available to invest. Instead, more and more capital aggregates in a small number of companies. We believe we can change this — by investing in founder-led biotech companies.
In addition to biotech, we back unstoppable founders across crypto, deep enterprise SaaS and university spinouts. We’re proud investors in companies including PillPack, Desktop Metal, Hometap, Jellyfish, Zapata, Higharc, Sofar Sounds, Asimov, and PathAI.
Beyond capital, our team brings deep operating experience to each investment we make. We provide guidance from over 40 CEOs who are the co-founders of our firm and have built unicorn companies including Wayfair, DraftKings, Ginkgo Bioworks, PillPack and Demandware. We’re often the first-capital-in, surrounding founders with support in the form of talent recruitment, CEO coaching, customer introductions, PR, peer communities and more.
To learn more about Pillar and how we support our companies, please click here.
Who You Are
A qualified candidate may exude all or some of these qualities:
- You thrive on building new relationships, and are a constant presence at events and in online forums. You enjoy connecting with people and hearing their stories.
- You have a voracious appetite for researching and learning new things; your curiosity constantly leads you to new ideas and new people.
- You’re able to work independently developing new ideas, conducting research, and sharing what you learn with others.
- You are extremely well organized, seamlessly keeping track of deadlines and projects.
- You thrive in a fast-paced environment, and are always ready for the next challenge.
Your role
as a Pillar Vc Biotech associate
- Identify key biotech advances by reading scientific publications, reaching out to academic scientists, building networks and leveraging automation tools.
- Meet with scientists and founders, helping our investing team cultivate and evaluate new investment opportunities.
- Work closely with the Principal and General Partner on making key investment decisions.
- Support portfolio companies by building relationships with a global network of founders, senior leaders, and experts who can help accelerate new company development.
- Research emerging trends in biotech, informing our team about new ideas and opportunities you discover.
- Write about what you’re seeing and learning for our newsletter and blog, sharing your perspective with our community.
Our Biotech Portfolio
-
AI-powered Pathology Research
Led by Andy Beck and Aditya Khosla, PathAI creates AI-powered technology for pathology research in laboratories and biopharmaceutical companies.
Read More
-
Mammalian synthetic biology platform
Asimov is developing a mammalian synthetic biology platform — from cells to software — to enable biotechnologies with outsized impact, with an initial focus on gene therapies, cell therapies, and protein therapeutics.
Read More
-
Sustainable nitrogen biofertilizer
Kula Bio creates sustainable nitrogen biofertilizers that reduce nitrogen runoff, improves crop yields and reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.
Read More
-
New class of amino acids for protein therapeutics
Co-founded by Dan Mandell, Christopher Gregg and George Church, GRO Bio is working on turning lab-invented amino acids into a new class of protein therapeutics.
Read More
-
Lab-grown cotton using synthetic biology
Galy uses synthetic biology to create lab-grown cotton at 10x the rate of normal production while using 20% of the resources.
Read More
-
Machine learning for IDP drug discovery
New Equilibrium Biosciences leverages machine learning to discover drugs that regulate intrinsically disordered proteins (IDP) in cancers and neurodegenerative disorders.
Read More
-
Beanless coffee made from microbes
Compound Foods creates beanless coffee with microbes in the lab, mimicking the flavor and taste of coffee beans to tackle the impact climate change is having on the coffee industry.
Read More
Our Values
Win
together
We’re driven to make bold bets and accomplish ambitious goals as a team, while maintaining a playful approach to our work.
Operate
with heart
We bring integrity and authenticity to our relationships with each other and our community, believing trust is the foundation for happy relationships.
Evolve
continually
We embrace a growth mindset, adapting as we learn to ensure that we remain at the frontier of new opportunities.
Benefits
- Highly competitive salary
- Flexible WFH policy
- We cover 100% of health and dental insurance (plus some of your deductible)
- Unlimited vacation policy
- Free snacks, coffee, and espresso when you’re in the office
- You get to come to The Exchange
apply
We encourage underrepresented candidates to apply.
This is a full-time position based in Boston, MA.