Every investor in long-duration, capital-intensive sectors eventually faces the same question: what do you do when the exit markets close and your companies still need years of funding? Keith Crandell answered it the hard way. His firm, ARCH Venture Partners, started as a University of Chicago experiment with a $9 million fund that took 15 months to raise, then hit biotech's "nuclear winter," leading to six years in the 1990s with just a single portfolio IPO.
In this conversation with S2G's Aaron Rudberg from this year’s Summit, Keith walks through the strategies he has honed over the last three decades: licensing narrow "slices of salami" to strategic partners without giving away the core company, treating government grants like a syndicate member, viewing the IPO as a funding event rather than an exit, and scouring the globe to consolidate the IP and talent of the dozen teams working on the same breakthrough. Decades later, that playbook produced the Metsera sale to Pfizer. Keith closes with where he thinks GLP-1s and longevity science go from here.
Read the full Financing Reality Report.
Chapters:
02:20 — How ARCH Got Its Start
07:20 — Raising a $9 Million Fund the Hard Way
09:10 — When an IPO Isn’t Really an Exit
10:40 — Surviving Biotech’s “Nuclear Winter”
14:30 — The Ladder of Capital
17:20 — Why Your First Investors Matter
21:00 — Learning to Fund the Long Haul
27:40 — What Comes After GLP-1s?
Keith Crandell was not compensated for participating in this podcast or for speaking at the S2G Summit. S2G reimbursed Keith's reasonable travel and lodging expenses to attend the Summit, where this presentation was originally delivered.
This content is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal, business, tax or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any investment or security, and is not directed at any investor or potential investor in any investment vehicle sponsored by S2G. Investing involves risk, including the risk of loss. Specific companies mentioned in this podcast are for educational purposes and should not be construed as an endorsement of any kind. S2G holds positions in the companies referenced, but this podcast is for information purposes only and is not intended to promote any such company. All views of the guests on this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of S2G. Any past performance discussed is not indicative of future results. The views expressed herein are opinions based on certain assumptions and subject to change.
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