Amgen Ventures

Amgen Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Amgen, the Thousand Oaks, California biotechnology company. Amgen announced the fund on November 11, 2004 with an initial $100 million commitment to early-stage biotechnology companies developing human therapeutics, and in its fourth-quarter 2017 results said it was increasing the fund to provide up to $300 million of growth capital for early-stage companies in the U.S. The unit sits within Amgen Business Development and invests through Amgen Ventures LLC, which uses Amgen's One Amgen Center Drive address in investor agreements.

A current Amgen job posting describes Amgen Ventures as the strategic venture capital arm of Amgen, investing in biotechnology companies and venture funds aligned with Amgen's long-term research and business development priorities. The team sources private biotech companies, healthcare technology firms and venture funds across Amgen's therapeutic areas of oncology, inflammation, general medicine and rare disease, and the role is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with hubs in South San Francisco and Thousand Oaks. SEC filings show Amgen Ventures LLC as an investor in companies including Alector, Kymera Therapeutics, Nkarta, Ra Pharmaceuticals, Precision BioSciences and Ardelyx, and as a PIPE investor in Senti Bio's 2021 SPAC merger.

The unit's distinctive value is scientific access. Amgen's 2004 release said companies would benefit from Amgen's experience, people and resources. One notable outcome is Imago BioSciences, whose chief executive named Amgen Ventures among early investors from 2014 when Merck agreed to acquire the company in November 2022 for about $1.35 billion in equity value. Amgen Ventures also works alongside Amgen's Start-Up Network Program, which has supported more than 20 life sciences start-ups through incubators since 2015.