Our Team

Robert Nelsen, MBA

Director

Robert Nelsen is a co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. In addition to Sana Biotechnology, he is a Director of Vir Biotechnology, GRAIL, Unity Biotechnology, and Denali Therapeutics, and he serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others.

He played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than 100 companies, including 26 that have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion.

His seed and early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN); Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY); Juno Therapeutics (JUNO); Array BioPharma (ARRY); Unity Biotechnology (UBX); Hua Medicine (2552:HK); Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX); Vir Biotechnology (VIR); Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO); Sage Therapeutics (SAGE); GRAIL; Gossamer Bio (GOSS); Ikaria; Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH); Receptos (RCPT); Aviron (AVIR); Denali Therapeutics (DNLI); Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY); Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS); Sana Biotechnology; KSQ Therapeutics; Beam Therapeutics (BEAM); NetBot; Bluebird Bio (BLUE); R2 Technology; XenoPort (XNPT); Fate Therapeutics (FATE); Caliper Life Sciences (CALP); Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN); Adolor (ADLR); deCODE Genetics; Editas (EDIT); 10x Genomics; Semma Therapeutics; IDUN Pharmaceuticals; Classmates.com; Sienna Biopharmaceuticals (SNNA) and Wuxi NextCODE. Previously, he served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, and was a Director of the National Venture Capital Association.

Robert holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS from the University of Puget Sound with majors in economics and biology.