# Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative

> Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative is a VC fund backing Biotechnology and Therapeutics. See 9 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Total investments: 9
- Last investment: Jan 2024
- Lead investor: 89%
- Last updated: Aug 2026

Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative is a VC fund focused on Biotechnology and Therapeutics. The Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative will focus on making non-controlling equity investments in clinical-stage public companies, with a primary focus on companies with small- to medium-sized market capitalizations across a range of therapeutic categories that are consistent with Pfizer’s core areas of focus: Internal Medicine, Inflammation& Immunology, Oncology, Rare Disease, Vaccines and Hospital.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 8 | 89% |
| Therapeutics | 5 | 56% |
| Health Care | 3 | 33% |
| Medical | 2 | 22% |
| Biopharma | 2 | 22% |

10 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Post-IPO Equity | 4 | 44% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 2 | 22% |
| Series A | 1 | 11% |
| Series B | 1 | 11% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 4 | 44% |
| Canada | 2 | 22% |
| Belgium | 1 | 11% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 11% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cour Pharmaceuticals Development | Cour Pharmaceuticals Development Co Inc operates in the pharmaceutical sector. Cour Pharmaceuticals Development Co Inc was founded in 2012 and is based in Elmhurst, Illinois. | $105M | Series A | Jan 30, 2024 |  |
| Anokion | Anokion, a spin-off from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), is focused on applying the company’s antigen-specific immune tolerance technology to reduce the immunogenicity of therapeutic proteins and to treat autoimmune and allergic diseases. As a platform technology, Anokion’s approach to antigen-specific tolerance can betranslated to virtually any protein in numerous clinical indications. | $35M | Venture - Series Unknown | Oct 18, 2022 |  |
| AgomAb Therapeutics | AgomAb is developing molecular therapies for the regeneration of damaged tissues. Their unique agonistic monoclonal antibody molecules (“agomAbs”) stimulate molecular and cellular repair mechanisms that have the potential to restore organ function in patients with fibrotic, inflammatory, autoimmune and degenerative diseases. | $38.5M | Series B | Jul 13, 2022 |  |
| AgomAb Therapeutics | AgomAb is developing molecular therapies for the regeneration of damaged tissues. Their unique agonistic monoclonal antibody molecules (“agomAbs”) stimulate molecular and cellular repair mechanisms that have the potential to restore organ function in patients with fibrotic, inflammatory, autoimmune and degenerative diseases. | $38.5M | Series B | Jul 13, 2022 |  |
| Akero Therapeutics | Akero Therapeutics is committed to providing meaningful treatment options for people with serious metabolic diseases like non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a disease marked by inflammation in the liver and liver cell damage resulting in fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver failure, and death. The company is developing pioneering medicines designed torestore metabolic balance and halt NASH progression. Akero's lead clinical program, AKR-001, is a long-acting Fc fusion modified FGF21 protein and potential best-in-class treatment for NASH. The AKR-001 builds upon two decades of work on FGF21 biology. It is designed to affect both the liver and adipose tissue, reducing liver fat and suppressing inflammation and fibrosis. | $25M | Post-IPO Equity | Jun 16, 2022 |  |
| Cardiff Oncology | Cardiff Oncology is a clinical-stage oncology therapeutics company developing drugs that target cell division for the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumor cancers. It has a broad intellectual property and proprietary technology to measure circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in urine and blood to identify and quantify clinically actionablemarkers for predicting response to cancer therapies. The company offers its PCM technology at its CLIA/CAP-accredited laboratory and plans to continue to vertically integrate its PCM technology with precision cancer therapeutics.Cardiff Oncology (formerly known as Trovagene) was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. | $15M | Post-IPO Equity | Nov 18, 2021 |  |
| Vedanta Biosciences | Vedanta Biosciences is a developer of immunotherapies designed to treat immune-mediated and infectious diseases. The company's immunotherapies include a suite of proprietary assays to select pharmacologically potent strains, vast proprietary datasets from human interventional studies, and facilities for cGMP-compliant manufacturing ofrationally-defined bacterial consortia in powder form, enabling physicians to access live bacteria drug to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases easily.It was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. | $25M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jan 12, 2021 |  |
| ESSA Pharma | ESSA is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer, with a focus on advanced prostate cancer. ESSA is developing drugs that selectively block the N-terminal domain of the androgen receptor (AR). The AR is required for the growth and survival of most prostate cancer; therefore, the ARN-terminal domain is an ideal target for next-generation hormone therapy. | $10M | Post-IPO Equity | Jan 12, 2021 |  |
| Trillium Therapeutics | Trillium Therapeutics Inc. operates as a biopharmaceutical research and development company. It focuses on the immune system and its regulation. The company specializes in the discovery and development of protein therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies, secreted proteins, and peptides. It involves in therapeutic areas, including autoimmunedisease, cancer, necrotizing enterocolitis, and transplantation. Trillium Therapeutics Inc. was formerly known as Transplantation Technologies Inc. and changed its name in May 2003. The company was founded in 1996 and is based in Toronto, Canada. | $25M | Post-IPO Equity | Sep 08, 2020 |  |

9 of 9 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Asabys Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/asabys-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Lumira Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lumira-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- Walleye Capital — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Alpha Wave Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alpha-wave-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Angelini Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/angelini-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Bristol-Myers Squibb](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bristol-myers-squibb) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [RA Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ra-capital-management) — VC Fund
- [KB Securities](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kb-securities) — VC Fund
- [Frazier Healthcare Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/frazier-healthcare-ventures) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative invest in?

Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative invests primarily in Biotechnology, Therapeutics and Health Care startups, most often at Post-IPO Equity and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 9 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative closed in Jan 2024. Shizune tracks 9 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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