About Acks
Acks is a venture capital firm As of Oct 2019, Acks has invested in 38 companies. It primarily invests in Series B round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Life Sciences to High Tech and Food and Agriculture Tech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Celsius Therapeutics Overall, Acks portfolio has seen 1 unicorn, 15 IPOs and 6 acquisitions including key companies like Moderna, Ideaya Biosciences and Relay Therapeutics. A lot of funds co-invest with Acks, with names like Google Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio.Key Metrics
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series B, Series A & 5 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Acks' List of Top Investments
Acks has a portfolio of 38 companies, one of which is a Unicorn. Their most notable investments are in QurAlis and Evelo Biosciences.Their portfolio spans across and United States. They have invested in Life Sciences, High Tech, Food and Agriculture Tech and 6 other sectors, across stages such as Series B, Series A and 5 more. Here is the list of top investments by Acks:
1. Moderna
Developer of mRNA-based therapeutics for a wide range of diseases. The company produces human proteins, antibodies, or vaccines inside patient cells, which are in turn active intracellularly or secreted. The company is also developing vaccines in different disease areas such as infectious diseases, cancer, rare diseases, and COVID-19.
Key facts about Moderna
- Founded Year: 2010
- Location: Cambridge (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $1B+ as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $2.78B
- Employee Count: 6,187 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: ADS Ventures, Alcor Fund and 32 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jan 17, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Developer of oncology-focused precision medicine using molecular diagnostics. The lead candidate IDE196 is a protein kinase C an inhibitor for genetically defined cancers having GNAQ or GNA11 gene mutations. Others include PARG, WRN, poltheta, Darovasertib, and others.
Key facts about Ideaya Biosciences
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $157M
- Employee Count: 283 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: BVF Partners, Boxer Capital and 15 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Aug 04, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Relay Therapeutics is a developer of a drug discovery platform and study protein motion. The company’s drug discovery engine provides 3D visuals on the mobility of a protein to study or analyze the function of protein-based on its motion. It also enables the researchers to study the ligand-binding pockets present in the protein and detect ligand-protein binding interactions. The company’s initial program focuses on developing therapeutics in oncology.
Key facts about Relay Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Cambridge (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $520M
- Employee Count: 223 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: HTIF, Colt Ventures and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Jan 10, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Developer of antisense oligonucleotide drugs for treating inherited diseases by targeting RNA splicing. It is developing RNA splicing to increase gene expression and consequently treat severe genetic diseases. Their proprietary technology Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output helps in gene expression in a targeted fashion. The company is initially developing a pipeline with candidates targeting CNS, eye, liver and blood-related diseases.
Key facts about Stoke Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Bedford (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $100M - $500M as on Dec 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $131M
- Employee Count: 242 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: RTW Investments, Perceptive Advisors and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Oct 23, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Compass Therapeutics develops and discovers therapeutic antibodies for cancer treatment. The company focused on comprehensively drugging the tumor-immune synapse with combinations of human monoclonal antibodies, multiclonal, and engineered protein constructs.
Key facts about Compass Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Cambridge (United States)
- Annual Revenue: $0 - $1M as on Dec 31, 2024
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $239M
- Employee Count: 62 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Foresite Capital, Acks and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jun 23, 2020, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Acks' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Acks has invested in 38 companies over the last 12 years, with an average of 4 new investments annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Celsius Therapeutics and most recent follow-on round was in Syros Pharmaceuticals.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2018 | 18 | 0 | 18 |
2017 | 15 | 0 | 15 |
Acks' Investments by Stage
Acks has made 13 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $66.7M, 12 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $44.6M and 6 investments in Series C stage with an average round size of $52M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series B | 13 |
Series A | 12 |
Series C | 6 |
Seed | 4 |
Post IPO | 1 |
Others | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Acks' Investments by Sector
Acks has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Life Sciences, High Tech, Sustainability Tech, Enterprise Applications and Food and Agriculture Tech. Notably, it has invested in 38 Tech companies, 36 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 5 Software companies and at least 2 companies focusing on Social impact.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Life Sciences | 34 |
High Tech | 19 |
Sustainability Tech | 6 |
Enterprise Applications | 5 |
Food and Agriculture Tech | 3 |
Others | 8 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Acks' Investments by Geography
Acks has made most investments in United States (38).Acks' recent investments
Acks has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Acks:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 03, 2019 | United States | Series A | 7512 | [+3] | |
Mar 29, 2019 | United States | Series A | 7632 | [+6] | |
Dec 13, 2018 | United States | Series C | 5577 | [+7] | |
Oct 23, 2018 | United States | Series B | 2424 | [+5] | |
Aug 13, 2018 | United States | Series A | 4467 | [+8] |
Unicorns in Acks' Portfolio
Acks has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - Inari. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Inari which became a unicorn in 2021, 2 years after Acks first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Acks' portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
63 | Developer of technology to improve crop breeding and seed production | 2016 | Cambridge | Series G | eznlugm |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Acks' Portfolio
15 of Acks' portfolio companies have become public. Obsidian Therapeutics got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Aug 2026 and Aura Biosciences got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) at marketcap of $398M.Here are Acks' portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 04, 2026 | Dec 08, 2017 | Series A | 2530 | |
Oct 29, 2021 | Dec 13, 2018 | Series C | 9509 | |
Apr 05, 2021 | Jul 12, 2018 | Series A | 1992 | |
Oct 14, 2020 | Nov 29, 2017 | Series C | 4166 | |
Jul 16, 2020 | Dec 14, 2017 | Series B | 5542 |
Acquired companies in Acks' Portfolio
6 companies from Acks' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Celsius Therapeutics in Jun 2024 by AbbVie for $*****.Here are Acks' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 27, 2024 | Oct 03, 2019 | Series A | 3218 | |
Mar 01, 2022 | Oct 16, 2017 | Series A | 4545 | |
Jan 28, 2022 | Aug 01, 2017 | Series B | 8818 | |
Mar 30, 2021 | Aug 02, 2017 | Series A | 7990 | |
Dec 15, 2020 | Mar 08, 2018 | Series A | 7197 |
Co-investors of Acks
Over the past 12 years, 371 investors have co-invested in Acks's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Acks: Alexandria, Flagship Pioneering and 85 others have invested in rounds before Acks. There are 6 companies where Alexandria has invested before Acks and 5 companies where Flagship Pioneering has invested before Acks.
- Top Co-investors of Acks: 136 investors entered a company along with Acks. These include investors like Google Ventures (7 companies).
- Invested after Acks: A total of 148 investors have invested in Acks's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Alexandria (10 companies), HHS (3 companies) and Amgen (3 companies).
Recent News related to Acks
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Durham-based Boragen raises $3 million from debt saleNorth Carolina Business News Wire•Feb 28, 2019•Boragen, Agtech Accelerator, Acks, Arch Venture Partners and 8 others
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QurAlis Raises $5.5 Million Seed RoundBusiness Wire•Nov 19, 2018•QurAlis, Amgen Business Development, MP Healthcare Venture Management, Acks and 5 others
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Stoke Therapeutics Announces $90 Million Series B Financing to Advance Novel Oligonucleotide MedicinesBusiness Wire•Oct 23, 2018•Stoke Therapeutics, RTW Investments, Apple Tree Partners, RA Capital Management and 4 others
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Corporates go back to Orig3n for series BGlobal Corporate Venturing•Jul 18, 2018•Orig3N, Haitong International Securities Group, Hatteras Venture Partners, Acks and 7 others
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Orig3n Expands Globally with Funding from Haitong International, International Tech Conference PartnershipsPR Newswire•Jul 11, 2018•Orig3N, Haitong International Securities Group, Hatteras Venture Partners, Acks and 7 others
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Precision BioSciences Raises $110M to Advance ARCUS Genome Editing ProgramsBusiness Wire•Jun 26, 2018•Precision BioSciences, ArrowMark Partners, Franklin Templeton India, Cowen and 17 others
