Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Polaris Partners
The Boston venture firm, founded in 1996 by two Burr, Egan, Deleage alumni and a Seattle partner, that built a mixed technology-and-life-sciences franchise around Akamai-era internet deals and MIT-centred company creation (most famously with Robert Langer), then narrowed its flagship to healthcare and spun its technology growth business into a separate affiliate.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1996, Waltham, Massachusetts (later moved to Boston)
- Founders
- Jonathan (Jon) Flint, Terrance (Terry) McGuire and Stephen (Steve) Arnold
- Headquarters
- Boston, Massachusetts; offices in New York and San Francisco (a Seattle office operated in the firm's earlier years)
- Ownership / structure
- Private partnership; flagship funds named Polaris Venture Partners I–VIII and Polaris Partners IX–X; affiliated Polaris Growth Fund and Polaris Innovation Fund vehicles
- Leadership (2026)
- Managing partners Amy Schulman and Brian Chee; partners including Amir Nashat and Ellie McGuire (verify current roster); Polaris Growth led by Bryce Youngren and Dan Lombard
- AUM / capital raised
- "Over $5bn" of committed capital raised since 1996 (firm-cited); individual fund sizes ranged from ~$900m (Fund IV, 2001) to ~$355–450m in the 2010s–2020s
- Stage focus
- Seed and Series A company creation in biotech and medtech; historically also early-stage internet, software and consumer technology; profitable founder-owned tech companies via Polaris Growth
- Signature investments
- Akamai, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Alnylam, Acceleron Pharma, Sirtris, Living Proof, Automattic (WordPress.com), Fate Therapeutics, Scholar Rock, Selecta Biosciences, Kala Pharmaceuticals; instructive failures and setbacks: BIND Therapeutics (bankrupt 2016), Sirtris (shut down by GSK in 2013), Fate Therapeutics (post-2023 collapse)
10 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1998
Akamai Technologies
Series A / Early Venture
2001
Momenta Pharmaceuticals
Seed / Company Creation
2002
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Founding Series A
2003
Acceleron Pharma
Founding / Series A
2004
Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Founding / Series A
2005
Living Proof
Company Creation / Series A
2006
Automattic
Series A
2006
BIND Therapeutics
Seed / Series A
2007
Fate Therapeutics
Founding Series A
2012
Scholar Rock
Founding / Series A