What Illumina Ventures does

Illumina Ventures is a venture capital firm investing across genomics and precision health, organized as IIF Management Company LLC and related entities in Foster City, California. The firm manages $560M in assets under management across multiple funds, with Fund II closed at $325M in September 2021 anchored by Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) and Fund 3 (Illumina Innovation Fund III) focused on investments sourced through the firm's own company-creation engine. The firm invests across five pillars — life sciences tools, diagnostics, therapeutics, digital health, and sustainability — and supports a portfolio of approximately 35+ active and exited companies including Alamar Biosciences, Arbor Biotechnologies, Arima Genomics, Delfi Diagnostics, DNA Script, Fluent BioSciences, Iambic Therapeutics, and Sherlock Biosciences. The platform is differentiated by a strategic relationship with Illumina, Inc. that provides portfolio companies access to the dominant NGS technology stack and the Illumina Accelerator alumni network (74 companies launched, $1.2B+ third-party investment).

The firm's core operational asset is Illumina Ventures Labs, a wholly owned subsidiary launched in January 2024 that operates as a seed-stage company creation engine with fully equipped genomics laboratories in Foster City, CA and Cambridge, UK, plus virtual and hybrid support in Chicago, Boston, and Stockholm. Labs provides seed and pre-seed genomics startups with a combined cash and in-kind investment model — sequencing reagents, technical expertise, lab and office space, and mentorship — calibrated to each company's value-inflection milestones, on the basis of an approximately two-year hands-on diligence process that also feeds the firm's deal flow. Around this platform, the firm publishes annual knowledge products (Diagnostics Year in Review, Liquid Biopsy Report) and runs ecosystem programs such as the inaugural Irish Genomics Business Plan Competition (June 2026).

Revenue is generated through traditional venture fund economics: management fees on committed/invested capital across the fund family and carried interest on realized returns, with bespoke cash-plus-in-kind structures used at the portfolio company level. The firm is privately held, independently managed, and not a subsidiary of Illumina, despite Illumina's anchor-LP role. It has roughly 20+ named team members across investment, lab operations, advisory, and finance functions, with senior leadership including Founding Partner Nick Naclerio, CFO Donal Delaney, Chief Scientist Malek Faham, Chief AI Scientist Martin Moorhead, and Partners Wouter Meuleman, Ron Mazumder, and Mara Aspinall, supported by a bench of advisors that includes the scientific founder of Illumina and the former FDA Office of In Vitro Diagnostics director.

Name

Illumina Ventures

Legal name

IIF Management Company LLC

Website

https://illuminaventures.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Illumina Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in genomics and precision health with $560M in AUM. Its Illumina Ventures Labs subsidiary runs a seed-stage company creation engine in Foster City, CA and Cambridge, UK, offering cash plus in-kind support to early-stage genomics startups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital / Genomics Investing

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Multi-Asset Solutions for Institutional (Pensions/Endowments/Sovereigns) (FSAAAJAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Investor Education, Research & Portfolio Analytics Services (Retail) (FSAAAAAO)

Keywords

• Venture capital funds
• Genomics investing
• Precision health startups
• Life sciences venture capital
• Early-stage company creation

Headquarters

HQ city

Foster City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Fund Management (Fund II — $325M): Manages Fund II with $325M in total commitments closed in September 2021, anchored by Illumina Inc. with the majority of capital from other strategic and financial investors, bringing total firm AUM to $560M. Generates revenue through management fees on committed capital and carried interest on fund returns.
2. Venture Capital Fund Management (Fund 3 — Illumina Innovation Fund III): Fund 3 focuses on investments sourced through Illumina Ventures Labs and the broader genomics venture ecosystem; the fund earns management fees and carried interest on a fund-of-concentrated genomics and precision health investments.
3. Diagnostics Year in Review and Industry Reports: Publishes annual Diagnostics Year in Review, Liquid Biopsy Report, and other industry segment reports, supporting brand authority in the diagnostics market and likely serving investor relations and limited-partner communications.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Core offering

Illumina Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage genomics and precision health companies through a series of dedicated funds (Fund 1, Fund 2 of $325M, and Fund 3). It supplements fund investing with Illumina Ventures Labs, an early-stage company creation engine with fully equipped genomics labs in Foster City, CA and Cambridge, UK that provides portfolio companies with combined cash and in-kind investment including sequencing reagents, lab and office space, technical expertise, and mentorship. The firm invests across Life Sciences Tools, Diagnostics, Therapeutics, Digital Health, and Sustainability, and supports a portfolio of approximately 35+ active and exited companies.

Product overview

Illumina Ventures operates as a venture capital platform centered on a core firm (the funds and investment team) augmented by Illumina Ventures Labs, an early-stage company creation and investment engine with physical labs in Foster City, CA and Cambridge, UK that provides seed-stage genomics startups with combined cash and in-kind investment, sequencing, technical expertise, fully equipped lab/office space, and mentorship. Around this core platform the firm publishes knowledge products including the annual Diagnostics Year in Review (2024 and 2025 editions) and the Liquid Biopsy Report, and runs ecosystem-building programmes such as the inaugural Irish Genomics Business Plan Competition. The firm invests across five pillars — Life Sciences Tools (single-cell analysis, spatial biology, multi-omics, synthetic biology, molecular characterization), Diagnostics (infectious disease, cell-free DNA/RNA/protein analysis, pediatric genomics, point-of-care), Therapeutics (cell and gene therapies, gene editing, AI-enabled drug discovery, nonviral delivery, therapeutic protein libraries), Digital Health (virtual care, patient engagement, AI/ML-enabled clinical care), and Sustainability (ag biotech, biomanufacturing, bioremediation, bioexploration) — and supports a portfolio of approximately 35+ active and exited companies including Actym Therapeutics, Alamar Biosciences, Arbor Biotechnologies, Arima Genomics, Attovia, Broken String Biosciences, Bullseye Biosciences, CuBaseBio, DeepSeq.AI, Delfi Diagnostics, DNA Script, Encoded Therapeutics, Fluent BioSciences, Fuze Health, Genome Medical, Hepta Bio, Iambic Therapeutics, Infinity Bio, Integrated Biosciences, Kallyope, Kodikaz, Lightcast Bio, NanoCellect Biomedical, NuCicer, Oncko, Pattern, Pluton Biosciences, Precede Biosciences, Predicta Biosciences, Protillion Biosciences, Redshift Bio, Ribometrix, Serinus Biosciences, Sherlock Biosciences, Sonothera, Stilla Technologies, Syntax Bio, and Tagomics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Illumina Ventures Labs: Early-stage company creation and investment engine with presence in San Francisco Bay Area and Cambridge, UK; provides capital, sequencing, mentorship, and fully equipped genomics labs.

Products and services

• Illumina Ventures Fund Family (Fund 1, Fund 2, Fund 3) A multi-fund venture capital platform investing in genomics and precision health startups across five pillars (Life Sciences Tools, Diagnostics, Therapeutics, Digital Health, and Sustainability), with $560M total AUM. Fund II closed at $325M in September 2021 anchored by Illumina, Inc.
• Illumina Ventures Labs Early-stage company creation and investment engine with physical labs in Foster City, CA and Cambridge, UK, providing combined cash and in-kind investment, Illumina sequencing reagents, technical expertise, fully equipped lab and office space, and mentorship to seed and pre-seed genomics startups.
• Illumina Ventures Diagnostics Year in Review Annual industry segment report published by Illumina Ventures (e.g., 2024 and 2025 editions) offering key insights into trends, market growth, challenges, and opportunities in the diagnostics industry. The 2025 edition identifies a "Diagnostics Renaissance" driven by multi-omic technologies, prevention/at-home testing, pharma biomarker partnerships, profitable diagnostics leaders, and a supportive regulatory environment following vacatur of the FDA's LDT rule.
• Liquid Biopsy Report Industry segment report with particular focus on oncology, providing high-level insights into current trends, market growth, and technological advancements shaping the liquid biopsy industry, including a breakdown of current products and research surrounding early detection, therapy selection and response, and minimal residual disease monitoring. Distributed as a PDF download.
• Irish Genomics Business Plan Competition Inaugural competition recognizing genomics-driven start-ups with strong commercial potential, offering winners sequencing consumables, strategic mentorship, intellectual property guidance, and legal support as part of the prize package. Inaugural winners include Nax Bioscience and Imragen.

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Lux Capital: Venture firm investing at the intersection of science and technology, with a notable life-sciences and biotech practice (including genomics tools) — competes for the same technically deep founder profiles as Illumina Ventures.
• ARCH Venture Partners: One of the largest and longest-tenured early-stage healthcare and life-sciences venture firms, investing across biotech, genomics, diagnostics, and platform technologies with comparable multi-fund structures and founder-creation capabilities.
• OrbiMed: Healthcare-dedicated investment firm covering venture, growth, and public equities across therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices — a comparable institutional asset manager focused exclusively on healthcare, competing for the same genomics deals.
• Foresite Capital: Healthcare- and genomics-focused investment firm with a comparable venture-to-growth mandate across therapeutics, diagnostics, and healthcare services — overlapping with Illumina Ventures' portfolio focus.
• Flagship Pioneering: Biotech-creation firm that builds and incubates companies around platform science, with a comparable model of company origination followed by Series A funding — directly analogous to Illumina Ventures' Labs + fund approach in genomics.
• Atlas Venture: Early-stage biotech-focused venture firm that builds and funds platform and product companies from inception, with a comparable seed-to-Series A genomics and therapeutics focus.
• Khosla Ventures: Large venture firm with deep exposure to frontier science and healthcare, including early-stage biotech and diagnostics; a comparable investor in technically ambitious genomics and precision-health companies.
• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z Bio/Health): Large multi-stage venture firm with a dedicated Bio/Health fund investing across bio, healthcare, and digital health; competes for genomics and precision-health deals at scale and can write larger follow-on checks than Illumina Ventures.
• Versant Ventures: Healthcare-dedicated venture firm investing across biotech, medtech, and diagnostics with a comparable company-creation orientation; targets similar genomics, precision health, and platform-technology opportunities.
• 5AM Ventures: Early-stage life-sciences venture firm investing across therapeutics and platform technologies; has co-invested alongside Illumina Ventures (e.g., Precede Biosciences) and competes for similar founder-led genomics opportunities.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/illuminaventure

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles24 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments94 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Illumina Ventures