About Washington Research Foundation
Washington Research Foundation is a venture capital firm founded in 1981. It is primarily based out of Seattle, United States. As of Jul 2026, Washington Research Foundation is an active investor, having invested in 65 companies, with 2 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Life Sciences to Enterprise Applications and HealthTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Biobase Overall, Washington Research Foundation portfolio has seen 2 IPOs and 15 acquisitions including key companies like Sana Biotechnology, AbSci and Pathway Medical Technologies. A lot of funds co-invest with Washington Research Foundation, with names like Arch Venture Partners sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Washington Research Foundation has team of 11 people including 6 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Count
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 5 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
Washington Research Foundation's List of Top Investments
Washington Research Foundation has a portfolio of 65 companies. Their most notable investments are in Oncofactor and Cyrus Biotechnology.Their portfolio spans across United States, Sweden and United Kingdom. They have invested in Life Sciences, Enterprise Applications, HealthTech and 18 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 5 more. Here is the list of top investments by Washington Research Foundation:
Developer of engineered cell therapies for treating various human diseases. Research focuses on repairing or controlling genes within cells and replacing damaged or missing cells to address underlying disease causes. Drug candidates target conditions including diabetes, cancers, and autoimmune disorders. The work involves cellular biology and machine learning to create therapeutic interventions.
Key facts about Sana Biotechnology
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $821M
- Employee Count: 258 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: HTIF, Baillie Gifford and 18 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Aug 10, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Manufacturer of advanced silicon battery for clean energy solutions. It provides users with a company offering silicon battery technology, aiming to create a world where everything that can run on rechargeable batteries does. The company's innovative silicon battery materials are poised to revolutionize the energy storage industry, driving the electrification of everything.
Key facts about Group14 Technologies
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Woodinville (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $1.16B
- Employee Count: 248 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: BASF, Washington Research Foundation and 26 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Aug 20, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Developer of cell and gene therapy by using the epigenomic platform. The company has an epigenome editing and gene regulation platform to develop therapeutics for complex diseases without altering the DNA sequence.
Key facts about Tune Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $222M
- Employee Count: 65 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Washington Research Foundation, Mission BioCapital and 9 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 09, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Talus
Provider of drug discovery platform for gene regulators. The company provides a functional proteomics platform MARMOT focused on studying full-length GRPs in an unmodified cellular environment. It allows the development of therapeutics against the disease-causing GRPs.
Key facts about Talus
- Founded Year: 2020
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $19.8M
- Employee Count: 29 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: FundersClub, NFX and 11 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Apr 02, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Arzeda
Developer of enzyme design technology to bridge the gap by creating synthetic enzymes. The proprietary technology combines targeted computational enzyme design and protein optimization with metabolic bioengineering to create entirely novel designer cell factories capable of industry-scale chemical production.
Key facts about Arzeda
- Founded Year: 2008
- Location: Seattle (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $95.2M
- Employee Count: 78 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Washington Research Foundation, Washington Research Foundation and 22 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Aug 28, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Washington Research Foundation's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Washington Research Foundation has invested in 65 companies over the last 25 years, with an average of 2 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 1 investment, while as of Jul 2026, it has made 1 investment in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Biobase and most recent follow-on round was in Outpace Bio.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2024 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2023 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
2022 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
2021 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
2020 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2017 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Washington Research Foundation's Investments by Stage
Washington Research Foundation has made 14 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $7.47M, 11 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $9.55M and 8 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $22.2M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 14 |
Series A | 11 |
Series B | 8 |
Grant (prize money) | 3 |
Series C | 2 |
Others | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Washington Research Foundation's Investments by Sector
Washington Research Foundation has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Life Sciences, Enterprise Applications, HealthTech, Consumer and Industrial Goods and Manufacturing. Notably, it has invested in 52 Tech companies, 48 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 23 Software companies and at least 10 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Life Sciences | 21 |
Enterprise Applications | 10 |
HealthTech | 8 |
Consumer | 3 |
Industrial Goods and Manufacturing | 3 |
Others | 23 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Washington Research Foundation's Investments by Geography
Washington Research Foundation has made most investments in United States (37), followed by Austria where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 37 |
Austria | 1 |
United Kingdom | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Washington Research Foundation's recent investments
Washington Research Foundation has made 1 investments in 2026 so far - Biobase.Here are the most recent investments by Washington Research Foundation:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 08, 2026 | United States | Seed | 9103 | [+1] | |
Nov 07, 2025 | United States | Seed | 6969 | [+6] | |
Oct 30, 2024 | United States | Seed | 9697 | [+5] | |
Jul 29, 2024 | United States | Seed | 6696 | [+4] | |
Jul 17, 2024 | United States | Series B | 2467 | [+12] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Washington Research Foundation's Portfolio
2 of Washington Research Foundation's portfolio companies have become public. AbSci got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Jul 2021 at marketcap of $1.45B and Sana Biotechnology got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) at marketcap of $4.6B.Here are Washington Research Foundation's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 22, 2021 | - | - | 7605 | |
Feb 04, 2021 | - | - | 5534 |
Acquired companies in Washington Research Foundation's Portfolio
15 companies from Washington Research Foundation's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was BlueDot Photonics in Feb 2025 by UbiQD for $*****.Here are Washington Research Foundation's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 19, 2025 | - | - | 2725 | |
Jan 13, 2025 | - | - | 1257 | |
Mar 26, 2024 | Jan 19, 2022 | Seed | 1420 | |
Dec 12, 2023 | - | - | 1481 | |
Aug 06, 2019 | - | - | 2230 |
Team profile of Washington Research Foundation
Washington Research Foundation has a team of 11 members including 6 Partners and 1 Principal located in United States. Washington Research Foundation's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of top team members in Washington Research Foundation:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Seattle | - | ||
Partner | - | - | - | |
Partner | Seattle | - | ||
Partner | Seattle | - | - | |
Partner | United States | - | ||
Partner | Mercer Island | - | - | |
Principal | - | - |
Co-investors of Washington Research Foundation
Over the past 25 years, 224 investors have co-invested in Washington Research Foundation's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Washington Research Foundation: National Science Foundation, OSTI and 52 others have invested in rounds before Washington Research Foundation. There are 5 companies where National Science Foundation has invested before Washington Research Foundation and 4 companies where OSTI has invested before Washington Research Foundation.
- Top Co-investors of Washington Research Foundation: 103 investors entered a company along with Washington Research Foundation. These include investors like Arch Venture Partners (7 companies).
- Invested after Washington Research Foundation: A total of 67 investors have invested in Washington Research Foundation's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include HHS (5 companies), W. L. Gore & Associates (2 companies) and Universal Materials Incubator (1 company).
Recent News related to Washington Research Foundation
•
Accipiter Biosciences Raises $12.7M in Seed FinancingFinSMEs•Nov 07, 2025•Cercano Management, Pack Ventures, Argonautic, Alexandria and 4 others
•
•
Health startup Archon Bio raises $20 million in fundingWebrazzi•Oct 31, 2024•Archon Bio, Madrona, DUMAC, Sahsen Ventures and 4 others
•
Archon emerges from stealth with $20M and ‘antibody cages’ to power up drug developmentTechCrunch+•Oct 30, 2024•Archon Bio, Madrona, DUMAC, Sahsen Ventures and 4 others
•
AI drug discovery company Talus Bioscience raises $11.2MVator•Aug 21, 2024•Talus, Two Bear Capital, Washington Research Foundation, NFX and 4 others
•
Halda Therapeutics Raises $126M in Series B Extension FinancingFinSMEs•Aug 12, 2024•Halda Therapeutics, Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management and 22 others
•
•
•
Proniras Secures $4.65 in Series B FinancingFinSMEs•Feb 01, 2024•Proniras, Accelerator Life Science Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Watson Fund and 1 other
•
AdaptX Raises $10M In FundingFinSMEs•Nov 02, 2023•AdaptX, Cercano Management, Memorial Hermann, Morningside and 4 others
