gradCapital Biotech Arm: End-to-End Research for a New Investment Vertical
Owned the full research workstream for a proposed biotechnology arm, from firm benchmarking to first-hire identification.
Manasvi Yadav
Founders' Office Intern at gradCapital
From their time as
Founders' Office Intern
gradCapital • 2025
Overview
Manasvi took on the biotech arm research at a point where one of gradCapital's partners was looking to set up a biotechnology vertical that would run semi-independently from the main fund. There was no existing framework for what this arm should look like, who it should hire, or where it should be based.
The Story
Manasvi took on the biotech arm research at a point where one of gradCapital's partners was looking to set up a biotechnology vertical that would run semi-independently from the main fund. There was no existing framework for what this arm should look like, who it should hire, or where it should be based.
She scoped and ran the entire research workstream herself. She benchmarked five to ten leading biotechnology firms across the US and EU, studying why firms like Isomorphic Labs and Altos Labs had scaled to the size they had, and what structural choices had driven their trajectories.
A key question was geography: whether to anchor the lab in San Francisco or London. Manasvi worked through the evidence on both sides and recommended San Francisco, citing the density of relevant talent, capital, and infrastructure. The lab is being set up in San Francisco.
On the talent side, she screened more than 400 Ivy-league PhD candidates to identify profiles that would be synergistic with the firm's focus on proteins. She identified the first hire, surfaced him to the hiring manager, and he was brought on.
She also advised on the investor profile for the arm. One of the investor types she recommended was subsequently brought in as an investor.
To do the work credibly, she taught herself enough biology to read and evaluate academic paper publications, working through Stanford lecture material online to build a working understanding of the research areas she was assessing.