Alexis Borisy

Background

Alexis Borisy is a biotechnology entrepreneur and investor with approximately 30 years of experience founding, operating, and investing in science-based companies ¹. He is based in Boston, Massachusetts ².

Borisy grew up as the son of a professor at the University of Wisconsin ³. He earned an A.B. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and an A.M. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University, where he was a Howard Hughes predoctoral fellow ^{4 5}.

In 2000, while in his late twenties, Borisy founded CombinatoRx, a company focused on discovering synergistic drug combinations, and served as CEO, taking the company public on the NASDAQ ⁶. In 2003, MIT Technology Review named him Innovator of the Year as part of its TR100 list of innovators under 35 ⁷.

Borisy joined life sciences venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures in 2009 as a partner, where he spent a decade focused on the formation, development, and strategy of new biotech companies ^{4 8}. During his tenure at Third Rock (2010–June 2019), he was a founding investor and/or co-founder of multiple biotech companies including Foundation Medicine, Blueprint Medicines, Relay Therapeutics, Editas Medicine, REVOLUTION Medicines, Magenta Therapeutics, Celsius Therapeutics, and Warp Drive Bio ^{4 1}.

After leaving Third Rock in 2019, Borisy co-founded EQRx with a mission to create innovative medicines at dramatically lower prices ⁹. He served as CEO of EQRx from August 2019 to August 2021, then as Executive Chairman from September 2021 until the company was acquired by Revolution Medicines in November 2023 ⁸. EQRx raised over $500 million but ultimately abandoned its low-price drug model and underwent significant layoffs before the acquisition ¹⁰.

In 2022, Borisy created Borisy Labs as an incubator for new biotech ventures, launching IDRx as its first company ¹¹. IDRx, focused on precision combination cancer therapies, raised $122 million in Series A financing from Andreessen Horowitz and Casdin Capital, and was acquired by GSK in January 2025 for $1 billion upfront with an additional $150 million in milestones ^{11 12}.

In February 2023, Borisy co-founded Curie.Bio alongside Zach Weinberg (founder of Flatiron Health, acquired by Roche in 2018) and Christoph Lengauer, formerly of Third Rock Ventures ¹³. Curie.Bio launched with $520 million and has since raised additional funds of $380 million and $340 million, bringing total capital raised to over $1.2 billion ^{13 14 15}.

Beyond his investment activities, Borisy serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Museum of Science, is past Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association (2018–2019), and was a former BIO board member ^{1 2}.

Stated Thesis

Borisy and Curie.Bio publicly describe their mission as “freeing the founders” — offering biotech entrepreneurs a founder-friendly alternative to traditional venture capital ¹⁴. The firm positions itself as “both your drug discovery copilot and seed investor,” providing integrated scientific support alongside capital ¹³.

Borisy has stated that Curie.Bio was built to address what he sees as a broken model in biotech venture: founders losing too much equity and control early on. He has said: “We built what we would want to have if we were starting and building a new biotech company” ¹⁶.

Curie.Bio targets companies with lead programs capable of achieving $5–7 million in meaningful value within 12–18 months, providing hands-on support in target selection, budgeting, scientific planning, and vendor connections ¹³. The firm typically provides $5–10 million in seed-stage capital ¹⁴.

Borisy’s personal investing philosophy centers on company creation from inception. He has said: “My hobby is creating companies. That’s what I love to do. It soothes me” ¹¹. He has emphasized that early-stage and company-creation investing is fundamentally different from late-stage investing, requiring proactive strategy-building rather than reacting to deal flow ¹¹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on the verified portfolio of companies Borisy has founded, co-founded, or made founding investments in, the following patterns emerge. This analysis is based on 20 verified company involvements spanning his career at Third Rock Ventures, Borisy Labs, and Curie.Bio.

Sector focus: The portfolio is overwhelmingly concentrated in therapeutics and drug development. Of 20 verified companies: 10 are focused on oncology/cancer therapies (50%), 4 on immunology/inflammatory diseases (20%), 3 on precision medicine/diagnostics (15%), and 3 on other therapeutic areas (15%). This near-exclusive focus on therapeutics and drug development distinguishes Borisy from generalist biotech investors.

Stage focus: Borisy operates almost exclusively at the company-creation and seed stage. He is characteristically a founding investor or co-founder rather than a later-stage participant. At Curie.Bio, the model is specifically seed-to-Series A, with initial checks of $5–10 million. The $380 million follow-on fund was created specifically to participate in Series A rounds of Curie.Bio graduates ¹⁴.

Founder profile patterns: Borisy’s companies are typically built around breakthrough academic science from institutions like Harvard, MIT, and the Broad Institute. Foundation Medicine’s co-founders included Eric Lander, Matthew Meyerson, Todd Golub, and Levi Garraway ¹⁷. This pattern of translating cutting-edge academic research into companies is consistent across his career.

Operating involvement: Unlike many venture investors, Borisy frequently takes operating roles — serving as founding CEO (CombinatoRx, Warp Drive Bio, EQRx, Relay Therapeutics) or interim CEO/chairman (Blueprint Medicines, Tango Therapeutics, Relay Therapeutics). He currently holds board seats at four public companies: Blueprint Medicines (since 2011), Relay Therapeutics (since 2015), Tango Therapeutics (since 2017), and Revolution Medicines (since 2014) ⁸.

Geographic concentration: Based on available data, the vast majority of companies in the portfolio are based in the Cambridge/Boston, Massachusetts biotech cluster.

Co-investor patterns: Through Curie.Bio, frequent co-investors and Series A leads for portfolio companies include BVF Partners, RA Capital Management, and OrbiMed ¹⁸. During his Third Rock years, co-investors included the firm’s own fund. Through Nextech Invest (where he serves as chairman), he has co-invested with ARCH Venture Partners ^{1 19}.

Notable gap: Despite claiming a focus on founder-friendly terms and equity, the actual fund structure at Curie.Bio — which provides both capital and hands-on operational support — is still a venture model that takes meaningful ownership stakes. The “free the founders” messaging is marketing for a specific but still institutional approach to early-stage biotech.

Portfolio

Companies Borisy has founded, co-founded, or made founding investments in:

This table represents a partial list. Curie.Bio reports investing in 26 startups as of January 2025, with a less than 1% acceptance rate from approximately 4,000 applications ¹⁵. Many Curie.Bio portfolio companies remain in stealth.

In Their Own Words

“My hobby is creating companies. That’s what I love to do. It soothes me.” — Alexis Borisy, STAT News, August 2022 ¹¹

“I’ve spent the last 25 years creating breakthrough new medicines. We’ve ratcheted up the prices on them ever higher, frankly, because we can. And the reality is we can create a lot of these great new medicines, and turn that into a viable business charging a lot less for them. This is not fantasy world. This is something that can be done.” — Alexis Borisy, STAT News, January 2020 ⁹

“We built what we would want to have if we were starting and building a new biotech company.” — Alexis Borisy, in a Curie.Bio company video, as reported by Fierce Biotech, February 2023 ¹⁶

What Founders Say

Blueprint Medicines leadership described Borisy’s value as a board member: “As a co-founder of Blueprint Medicines and a serial entrepreneur, Alexis is a highly valued board member who brings significant strategic leadership and operational expertise, and he has consistently dedicated time and effort as an active board member and advisor to our executive team” ²¹.

Forward Therapeutics CEO Toufike Kanouni described how the Curie.Bio model accelerated his company’s development: “Usually, with Series A money, you get a development candidate, and use Series B to take molecules to the clinic.” With Curie.Bio’s support, Forward compressed this timeline significantly, reaching clinical trial readiness with $50 million in Series A funding alone ¹⁸.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the above statements.

Connections

• Board member, Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) — co-founder, board member since 2011 ⁸
• Board member & Chairman, Relay Therapeutics (RLAY) — co-founder, board member since April 2015 ⁸
• Board member & Chairman, Tango Therapeutics (TNGX) — founding investor, board member since March 2017 ⁸
• Lead Independent Director, Revolution Medicines (RVMD) — founding investor, board member since November 2014 ⁸
• Board member, FogPharma/Parabilis Medicines — joined board in 2024 on behalf of Nextech Invest ¹⁹
• Chairman, Nextech Invest — Swiss-American venture firm ¹
• Partner, Third Rock Ventures (2010–2019) — decade-long partnership ^{4 8}
• Past Chairman, National Venture Capital Association (2018–2019) ²
• Chairman, Board of Trustees, Boston Museum of Science ²
• Former BIO Board member ²
• Co-founder, Curie.Bio — alongside Zach Weinberg (founder of Flatiron Health) and Christoph Lengauer ¹³

Sources