Ex-a16z Partner Vijay Pande Launches Smaller AI-Native Biotech Fund VZVC

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Vijay Pande, who previously oversaw a roughly $4 billion biotech investment practice at Andreessen Horowitz, has departed to launch VZVC, a smaller AI-focused venture fund. Pande argues that biology is undergoing a fundamental shift from a discovery-driven science to an engineering discipline, opening new opportunities for AI. Despite the promise of AI in medicine, he acknowledges that clinical trials remain prohibitively expensive, posing a persistent challenge for the sector. He believes that open, shared datasets — rather than proprietary, siloed ones — will be the key enabler for AI to meaningfully transform healthcare. Unlike his time at a16z, Pande says VZVC will take a more selective approach, making far fewer bets per year.

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