What Aquilo Partners LP does

Aquilo Partners, L.P. is an independent investment bank founded in 2003 by John Rumsey and Jim Zanze, both veterans of life science investment banking at Hambrecht & Quist and PaineWebber. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in New York and Wellesley (Boston area), Massachusetts, and operates as a registered broker-dealer with FINRA and SIPC. Aquilo provides strategic and financial advisory services exclusively to life science companies spanning biotechnology, specialty pharma, diagnostics, medical devices, and life science tools.

The firm's offering comprises five service lines: M&A advisory, strategic advisory, financial advisory, partnerships/licensing transactions, and private placements. Revenue is earned through transaction fees tied to closing of M&A, licensing, and capital-raising mandates; no recurring, platform, or asset-based revenue streams are disclosed. The senior team is led by six Managing Directors (John Dyer, David Metzger, John Rumsey, Jason Yip, Jim Zanze, and Ian MacKay), supported by a Principal (Kelly Gross) and an Analyst (Zachary Stabell), several of whom held senior roles at JPMorgan, Hambrecht & Quist, Cowen and Company, Montgomery & Co., and Jefferies. Disclosed transaction experience spans billion-dollar therapeutic collaborations and acquisitions (including Kymera-Sanofi at $2.1B+, Matchpoint-Novartis at $1B+, Protomer-Eli Lilly at $1B+, Adverum-Eli Lilly at $262M+, and Curio-Takara Bio at $190.5M) and notable private financings such as Nuvation Bio's $275M Series A and Neurelis's $114M Series D.

Customer acquisition is relationship-driven, relying on senior banker outreach and referrals from corporate business development and strategy teams; the firm does not employ broad marketing or third-party distribution channels. Aquilo has no proprietary technology platform, app, or AI capability, positioning itself as a high-touch specialist bank competing on industry tenure and network access rather than differentiated tooling.

Name

Aquilo Partners LP

Legal name

Aquilo Partners, L.P.

Website

https://aquilopartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aquilo Partners, L.P. is an independent, FINRA-registered investment bank founded in 2003 that provides M&A advisory, licensing, partnering, and private placement services exclusively to life science companies across biotechnology, specialty pharma, diagnostics, and medical devices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Investment Banking

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry-Specialist / Sector-Focused M&A Advisory (FSAEAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Fairness Opinions & Independent Board Advice (FSAEAGAF)

Keywords

• Investment banking services
• Life science advisory
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Private placement advisory
• Biotech financial advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Strategic and Financial Advisory Fees: Revenue generated from providing M&A advisory, strategic consulting, and financial advisory services to life science companies. Services include helping clients navigate capital raising, M&A transactions, licensing agreements, and strategic partnerships. The firm is selective in engagements to maintain quality of service.
2. M&A Advisory: Fees from advising on mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures including buyer dynamics, valuation analysis, pro forma company analysis, and fairness opinions.
3. Licensing and Partnering Advisory: Revenue from advising on licensing transactions, option agreements, and strategic partnerships across all phases of development.
4. Private Placement Advisory: Fees from helping clients raise private capital from venture capital, hedge funds, private equity, and strategic investors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Aquilo Partners, L.P. is an independent investment bank dedicated exclusively to the life science industry. The firm provides custom-tailored strategic and financial advisory services including M&A advisory, partnership and licensing transactions, private placements, strategic advisory, and financial advisory to emerging and established life science companies across biotechnology, specialty pharma, diagnostics, medical devices, and life science tools.

Product overview

Aquilo Partners LP is an independent investment bank providing custom-tailored strategic and financial advisory services exclusively to life science companies. The firm operates as a single, unified advisory service rather than a modular product platform. Their core service offering encompasses M&A advisory, Partnerships/Licensing transactions, Private Placements, Strategic Advisory, and Financial Advisory. The firm leverages over twenty years of experience to help emerging and established life science companies navigate capital raising, M&A, and strategic partnerships. Their transaction experience spans multiple subsectors including biotechnology, specialty pharma, diagnostics, medical devices, and life science tools, with notable transaction types including company acquisitions (e.g., Adverum by Eli Lilly), licensing agreements (e.g., Matchpoint with Novartis, Kymera with Sanofi), and financing rounds (equity and debt placements for public and private companies).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• M&A Advisory Advisory services for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and buy-side transactions in the life sciences sector, including buyer dynamics analysis, valuation, pro forma company analysis, and fairness opinions for life science companies.
• Partnerships and Licensing Advisory Advisory services for licensing transactions, option agreements, and strategic partnerships across all phases of life science development, including platform discovery collaborations and commercial-stage product licensing.
• Private Placements Advisory services to help life science clients raise private capital from venture capital, hedge funds, private equity, and strategic investors, covering both equity and debt placements for public and private companies.
• Strategic Advisory Strategic advisory services helping life science companies navigate positioning, value creation opportunities, and complex strategic decisions across their development lifecycle.
• Financial Advisory Financial advisory services for life science companies, including financial analysis, fairness opinions, and guidance on financial structuring related to transactions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully closed transactions valued at $13+ billion for life science clients
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• William Blair Healthcare Investment Banking: Dedicated healthcare investment banking practice within William Blair, focused on biopharma, medical devices, diagnostics, and life science tools. Comparable to Aquilo in serving emerging and mid-cap life science issuers with M&A and capital raising services.
• Jefferies Healthcare Group: Large healthcare-dedicated investment banking practice within Jefferies Group, offering M&A advisory, equity capital markets, and licensing services to biopharma and life science tools companies. Directly comparable to Aquilo as a healthcare-focused advisor, though operating at materially larger scale and with broader global reach.
• Canaccord Genuity Healthcare: Healthcare-focused investment banking practice within Canaccord Genuity serving biotech, specialty pharma, and medical device clients with M&A advisory and capital raising services. Comparable mid-market life science advisor profile.
• H.C. Wainwright & Co. Healthcare-focused investment bank specializing in equity capital markets, M&A advisory, and research for emerging life sciences companies. Directly comparable sector specialization and similar mid-market client base.
• Guggenheim Healthcare Investment Banking: Healthcare-focused investment banking group within Guggenheim Securities providing M&A advisory, equity, and debt capital markets to life science companies. Comparable sector focus and similar client base of mid-cap biotechs and life science tools companies.
• TD Cowen (formerly Cowen and Company) Healthcare Investment Banking: Specialist healthcare investment bank following the Cowen/Cowen and Company model, with dedicated life sciences M&A, equity research, and capital markets capabilities. Highly comparable sector focus, with one of Aquilo's senior MDs (John Dyer) having previously served at Cowen and Company.
• Robert W. Baird Healthcare Investment Banking: Healthcare-dedicated investment banking practice within Robert W. Baird providing M&A advisory and equity capital markets to life science companies. Operates as a comparable mid-market healthcare specialist to Aquilo.
• Leerink Partners (now SVB Securities): Healthcare-dedicated investment bank providing M&A advisory, equity research, and capital markets services to life sciences clients. Operates with similar sector specialization to Aquilo and serves many of the same emerging and mid-cap biotech issuers.

Broad incumbents

• Raymond James Healthcare Investment Banking: Diversified investment bank with a dedicated healthcare group serving biotech, medical devices, and life sciences tools companies. Overlaps with Aquilo's life science advisory mandate as part of a broader, full-service investment banking platform.
• Piper Sandler Healthcare Investment Banking: Mid-market investment bank with a dedicated healthcare practice providing M&A advisory and capital raising to biotech, medical devices, and life sciences tools companies. Comparable client overlap with Aquilo within a larger, broader-scope banking franchise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Aquilo Partners LP