Vijay Pande

Vijay Pande angel-invests alongside his role as a General Partner at a16z Bio + Health, working out of Menlo Park. His healthcare focus spans biotech, pharma/therapeutics, and AI/ML in drug discovery, with check sizes of $250k+ at seed and Series A. The combination of a Stanford computational biology background, a16z platform, and personal angel activity makes him one of the most credentialed AI-for-bio investors in the market. Founders building computational drug discovery platforms, generative biology tools, ML-driven diagnostics, or any company sitting at the seam of software and wet-lab science should treat him as a top-of-list target if there is genuine technical depth to defend. He is not the right audience for digital health point solutions, consumer wellness apps, or non-AI care delivery models. The angel allocation is typically reserved for founders he wants to back personally or for situations where a16z is not the lead, which means an angel check from him often signals strong conviction even when the fund itself isn’t on the cap table. Approach via warm introduction through Stanford networks, a16z portfolio CEOs, or the broader computational biology community. Cold LinkedIn outreach is unlikely to land given his deal flow, and a thesis-led email referencing specific portfolio companies or his published work will materially outperform generic pitch decks.