Jorge Conde

Background

Jorge Conde is a General Partner on the Bio + Health team at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on life sciences and healthcare investments spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, tools, and software ¹. He joined a16z as a general partner in June 2017 ². Conde has more than 20 years of experience in leading, building, operating, and investing in life sciences and healthcare ¹.

Prior to joining a16z, Conde served as Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Product Officer at Syros Pharmaceuticals, a company advancing small molecules to control the expression of genes ¹³. Before Syros, he co-founded Knome, a human genome interpretation company, alongside renowned Harvard and MIT genetics professor George Church; Knome was acquired by Tute Genomics in 2015 ¹². Earlier in his career, Conde worked in marketing and operations at MedImmune (the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca), served as a life sciences summer associate at Flagship Ventures, managed business development at Helicos Biosciences (a next-generation DNA sequencing company), and worked as a biotechnology investment banker at Morgan Stanley ¹³.

Conde holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and a BA in Biology from Johns Hopkins University ¹. He was named to the “TR35,” one of the top 35 young innovators in the world, by the MIT Technology Review ¹. He was also named a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute in 2015 ¹. He was born in Miami to Cuban and Peruvian parents ¹.

Stated Thesis

Conde and the a16z Bio + Health team publicly describe their investment focus as the intersection of biology, computer science, and engineering ⁴. Conde has stated that the team looks for three things: technical founders who are domain experts, ideas that can scale the way technology traditionally scales, and the potential to build very large businesses with outsized impact ⁵.

Conde has articulated a view he calls “the Century of Biology,” arguing that biology is transitioning from an empirical science to an engineering discipline ⁴. He has described this shift as moving from merely reading the code of biology to being able to write and design with it ⁴. As he put it on the a16z website: “I believe this will be the Century of Biology. Just as the Information/Computer Age yielded technology that allows us to assemble and move data around in amazing ways, there is no known force in this universe that’s more effective at moving around and assembling matter than biology” ⁴.

The a16z Bio + Health team has raised multiple dedicated funds: Bio Fund I ($200M, 2015), Bio Fund II ($450M, 2017), Bio Fund III ($750M, 2020), Bio Fund 4 ($1.5B, 2022), and a $700M bio + health fund announced in January 2026 ⁶⁷⁸.

Conde has also emphasized the importance of go-to-market strategy in bio startups, stating: “It’s the killer go to market that always wins” ⁴. He has warned that healthcare startups face three critical barriers: misalignment between beneficiaries and buyers, the need for complete rather than point solutions, and workflow disruption concerns ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 19 verified investments where Conde served as lead or board member, his actual investment behavior shows the following patterns:

Sector breakdown (19 verified investments): - Therapeutics (drug discovery, gene therapy, oncology): 12 of 19 (63%) — CAMP4, Dyno, EQRx, Earli, IDRx, Tmunity, Vicinitas, Tome Biosciences, Third Arc Bio, Octant, Cartography, Deciduous - Synthetic biology / biotech tools: 4 of 19 (21%) — Asimov, Octant (also counted in therapeutics for drug discovery application), Phylo, 3T Biosciences - Health data / healthcare IT: 2 of 19 (11%) — Komodo Health, The One Health Company - AI for drug discovery: 1 of 19 (5%) — Inductive Bio

Note: Some companies span multiple categories. The dominant pattern is therapeutics-focused companies using engineering or computational approaches to drug discovery and development.

Stage distribution (19 verified investments): - Seed: 6 of 19 (32%) — CAMP4, Earli, Asimov, Cartography, One Health Company, Phylo - Series A: 8 of 19 (42%) — Dyno, EQRx, Octant, IDRx, Vicinitas, Third Arc Bio, Inductive Bio, Deciduous - Series B: 2 of 19 (11%) — Tmunity, Tome Biosciences (launch round) - Series C: 1 of 19 (5%) — Komodo Health - Unknown stage: 2 of 19 — Doppler Bio, System1 Biosciences

Conde invests primarily at seed and Series A (74% combined), consistent with a16z Bio’s stated early-stage focus, though he will participate in larger rounds.

Check size: Ranges from $5M seed investments (One Health Company, $5M round) to $100M+ Series A rounds (Dyno, $100M), reflecting a16z’s platform-scale capital. Typical initial investment appears to be $10M-$50M at Series A.

Founder profile patterns: Strong preference for founders with deep scientific credentials — multiple portfolio companies were co-founded by academics from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and similar research institutions (Knome with George Church, Dyno from George Church’s lab, CAMP4 from Rick Young/MIT and Len Zon/Harvard, Tome Biosciences from academic labs). Conde’s own background as a scientific entrepreneur likely drives this preference.

Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Casdin Capital (EQRx, IDRx, Asimov), GV/Google Ventures (EQRx, Tome Biosciences), ARCH Venture Partners (Tome Biosciences), and Khosla Ventures (Earli Series A). Deerfield appears as a co-lead in therapeutics deals (Vicinitas).

Notable gap: Despite a16z’s broader platform covering crypto, fintech, and enterprise software, Conde’s personal portfolio is entirely bio/health focused with no crossover into other a16z verticals. His stated thesis about biology “eating the world” and becoming everything is narrower in practice — almost entirely therapeutics and drug discovery tools, with limited healthcare delivery or digital health investments.

Portfolio

This table represents approximately 21 investments where Conde is confirmed as lead or board member. Additional a16z Bio + Health portfolio companies (Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Insitro, Maze Therapeutics, Erasca, BigHat Biosciences, Benchling, etc.) are part of the broader team portfolio but Conde’s specific involvement as lead is not independently confirmed for each ²⁷.

Portfolio exits: EQRx (acquired by Revolution Medicines), IDRx (acquired by GSK), and Tmunity (acquired by Gilead/Kite) ¹.

In Their Own Words

“I believe this will be the Century of Biology. Just as the Information/Computer Age yielded technology that allows us to assemble and move data around in amazing ways, there is no known force in this universe that’s more effective at moving around and assembling matter than biology.” — Jorge Conde, a16z website, “The Century of Biology” ⁴

“You don’t just read the code of biology but you can also write, or design, with it.” — Jorge Conde, a16z website, “The Century of Biology” ⁴

“Engineering a better product is good, but engineering a better process is best.” — Jorge Conde, a16z announcement on EQRx investment, January 2020 ¹⁴

“What if we could engineer biology to create tools that guide us to the safest and most successful routes?” — Jorge Conde, a16z announcement on Octant investment, May 2020 ¹⁶

“Using AI to design a fleet of AAV delivery vehicles to create the FedEx for gene therapy.” — Jorge Conde, a16z announcement on Dyno Therapeutics investment, May 2021 ¹⁷

“Business model failures are often a lack of recognition that the person who will benefit from your solution is often not the buyer.” — Jorge Conde, a16z discussion, “Why Marc Went From ‘We’ll Never Do Bio’ to Betting on Bio Founders” ⁹

“Third Arc represents a shift toward more precise immune modulation—moving beyond systemic exposure to therapies designed to deliver highly controlled biological effects at sites of disease.” — Jorge Conde, Third Arc Bio press release, February 2026 ²⁶

“We’re honored to support Komodo’s amazing team as they take our collective healthcare journeys and transform them into a true understanding of our healthcare system.” — Jorge Conde, a16z announcement on Komodo Health investment, January 2020 ¹⁵

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Jorge Conde is referenced on multiple portfolio company websites and press releases in his capacity as board member, but no independent founder quotes about working with him were located through dedicated search.

Connections

• Board member, Asimov ²¹
• Board member, CAMP4 Therapeutics ¹⁰
• Board member, Cartography Biosciences ²⁰
• Board member, Doppler Bio ¹
• Board member, Dyno Therapeutics — alongside CEO Eric Kelsic ¹⁷
• Board member, Earli — alongside Marc Andreessen (board observer) ¹¹
• Board member, Komodo Health — alongside CEO Arif Nathoo ¹⁵
• Board member, Octant Bio — alongside CEO Sri Kosuri ¹⁶
• Board member, Tome Biosciences ²²
• Board member, Vicinitas Therapeutics ¹⁸
• Board member, Third Arc Bio (joined February 2026) ²⁶
• Former board member, EQRx — through acquisition by Revolution Medicines ¹
• Former board member, IDRx — through acquisition by GSK ¹
• Former board member, Tmunity — through acquisition by Gilead/Kite ¹
• Co-founded Knome with George Church (Harvard/MIT genetics professor) ¹
• Former CSO/CFO/CPO, Syros Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SYRS) ¹³
• Former Museum of Science, Boston board member ¹
• a16z Bio + Health team — works alongside Vineeta Agarwala, Julie Yoo, and formerly Vijay Pande (founding partner, stepped down 2025) ⁶²⁸

Sources