How much funding has Mendra raised?

Mendra has raised $82M in total funding. Their latest funding round was Series A. Key investors include OrbiMed, 8VC, 5AM Ventures, Lux Capital, Wing VC.

Where is Mendra headquartered?

Mendra is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. The company has a team of 1-10 people.

Mendra operates in the AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery sector. AI-native rare-disease biopharma that acquires, develops, and commercializes de-risked therapeutic assets for high unmet-need rare diseases. Uses AI to systematically scan, score, and acquire stalled or deprioritized rare-disease drug assets from academia, small biotechs, and big pharma, then accelerates their development and global commercialization.

When was Mendra founded?

Mendra was founded in 2025. It is based in San Francisco, USA.

How much funding has Mendra raised?

Mendra has raised $82M in total funding. Key investors include OrbiMed, 8VC, 5AM Ventures, Lux Capital, Wing VC.

Who is the CEO of Mendra?

Joshua Grass is the CEO of Mendra. The company was founded in 2025.

Where is Mendra located?

Mendra is headquartered in San Francisco, USA.

What funding stage is Mendra at?

Mendra is currently at the Active stage.

How many employees does Mendra have?

Mendra has approximately 1-10 employees.

Mendra

Category: AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery

AI-native rare-disease biopharma that acquires, develops, and commercializes de-risked therapeutic assets for high unmet-need rare diseases. Mendra was founded in 2025. The company is led by Joshua Grass. Based in San Francisco, USA. Team size: 1-10. Total funding raised: $82M. Latest round: Series A. Key investors include OrbiMed, 8VC, 5AM Ventures, Lux Capital, Wing VC.

Founded: 2025
Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
Team size: 1-10
Total funding: $82M

Value proposition

Uses AI to systematically scan, score, and acquire stalled or deprioritized rare-disease drug assets from academia, small biotechs, and big pharma, then accelerates their development and global commercialization.

Products and solutions

Rare-disease asset acquisition and portfolio-building platform, AI-driven patient identification, clinical trial enrollment optimization, and data curation tools, global commercialization infrastructure for rare disease therapeutics

Unique value

Combines deep rare-disease drug development and commercialization expertise (BioMarin veterans) with AI-driven capabilities across asset selection, clinical development, and global market access — positioned as a specialized 'aggregator' for rare disease medicines stalled at larger pharma companies.

Target customer

Rare disease patient populations globally; asset-in-licensing from academia, small biotechs, and large pharma portfolios

Industries served

Biotech / Pharmaceuticals, Rare Disease Therapeutics

Technology advantage

AI-driven asset scoring/triage for identifying high-potential shelved rare-disease assets; AI application across patient identification, clinical trial enrollment, and data curation; leadership combining rare-disease clinical/commercial expertise (BioMarin) with AI/data expertise (Palantir Life Sciences)

How they differentiate

Focuses specifically on acquiring and reviving shelved/deprioritized rare-disease assets rather than ground-up discovery, applying AI across the full lifecycle from asset scoring to global commercialization, led by a team with direct BioMarin rare-disease commercialization experience.

Main competitors

BridgeBio Pharma (rare-disease asset development/roll-up model), Recursion Pharmaceuticals (AI-driven drug discovery incl. rare disease), Insitro (AI-native biopharma platform)

Major milestones

Founded 2025 by 8VC and 5AM Ventures, launched publicly January 21, 2026 with $82M oversubscribed Series A financing led by BioMarin veterans Joshua Grass and Jeff Ajer.

Market positioning

Emerging specialized 'aggregator' play in rare disease biopharma, differentiating between discovery, development, and commercialization capabilities within the sector.

Geographic focus

Global rare disease markets, US-based operations

About Joshua Grass

Ex-BioMarin (2002-2017, helped build rare disease portfolio); former CEO at Modis Therapeutics and Escient Pharmaceuticals (both acquired), and served at 5AM Ventures, Glycomine, NFlection Therapeutics. 20+ years biopharma leadership experience.

Latest news about Mendra

Mendra Therapeutics launched with 82 million dollars in Series A funding to modernize rare disease drug development through AI. Led by BioMarin and Palantir veterans, the startup applies data science

More AI in Biotech / Drug Discovery companies

Official website: https://www.mendra.com