Vivo Capital

Vivo Capital is a global healthcare specialist with approximately $5.8 billion in assets under management and a distinctive multi-strategy platform that spans venture capital, private equity, and public equity across the United States, China, and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Palo Alto, with substantial operating offices in Shanghai, Chengdu, and Beijing, Vivo has built one of the most credible cross-border healthcare investing franchises in the world, with a portfolio of more than 430 public and private companies across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services. The firm celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2026, having grown from a focused biotech venture firm into a multi-strategy global healthcare platform.

The firm’s distinctive thesis combines US development-stage and commercial-stage therapeutic investments with revenue-stage company investments in China, allowing Vivo to capture both the innovation arbitrage of cross-border drug development and the commercial scale of Chinese healthcare markets. Senior leadership includes managing partners and general partners across the US and Asia teams, with longtime managing directors Frank Kung (co-founder), Edgar Engleman (co-founder), Ed Hurwitz, Albert Cha, Hongbo Lu, Mahendra Shah, Helen Chen, Shan Fu, and a broad bench of partners across the firm’s three strategies. Vivo’s distinctive operating asset is its bilingual and bi-cultural team, which can credibly source, diligence, and partner with companies in both US and Chinese healthcare ecosystems.

The portfolio includes more than 430 companies across biotech, pharma, medical devices, and healthcare services, with notable partnerships and investments including Sinovac Biotech, WuXi AppTec, and Avistone Pharmaceuticals (which received a $200 million strategic investment co-led by Vivo, Bain Capital, and Primavera Capital in 2021). The venture and private equity portfolio spans small molecules, biologics, cell and gene therapy, RNA therapeutics, immuno-oncology, rare disease, ophthalmology, and platform biology, with substantial cross-border activity that takes US-developed assets into China and Chinese-developed assets into the US.

Check sizes are wide. At early venture, Vivo typically writes $5 million to $25 million; at Series B and growth, $25 million to $100 million; and at private equity and growth-stage transactions, $50 million to $300 million plus. The firm leads and co-leads across stages and is comfortable participating in syndicates with peer specialists including OrbiMed, RA Capital, Versant, Third Rock, F-Prime, and the broader Chinese healthcare investment community. Geographic scope is genuinely global with US, Chinese, and broader Asian practices, plus selective deals in Europe.

Founders who should approach Vivo are scientific founders with novel therapeutic platforms or assets seeking a cross-border partner, repeat biotech and pharma operators with global ambition, devices founders building Class II and III products with global commercial potential, and growth-stage healthcare services founders building toward commercial scale in either the US or China. The firm is particularly suited for founders who envision raising substantial capital across multiple rounds and who want a partner with credible Asian operational and commercial relationships. Founders building US-only consumer DTC, pure SaaS without a healthcare wedge, or biopharma assets without a credible cross-border thesis should pitch other firms. Founders should also be aware that the geopolitical environment around US-China healthcare collaboration is dynamic, and Vivo’s value-add can vary depending on the specific cross-border thesis and current regulatory framework.

Entry path runs through warm introductions from portfolio CEOs, scientific advisors, peer specialist investors, and the broader US-China healthcare operating networks. The senior team is at JPMorgan Healthcare, BIO, BIO Asia, BioCentury East-West Summit, China Bio-Industry Convention, and the major scientific and clinical conferences. Cold inbound through the website is triaged. Diligence is rigorous and partner-driven, frequently including bilingual scientific and commercial review, typically six to ten weeks from first meeting to term sheet for novel platforms with cross-border activity.

In a pitch, lead with the science, the unmet need, the IP estate, the clinical or regulatory plan, and the cross-border opportunity. Vivo partners are technical and globally minded; they will probe your translational data, your manufacturing strategy, and your strategic positioning in both US and Chinese markets in detail. Bring credible senior leadership with global experience and a clear path from current data to a value-creating inflection. The firm’s added value is most powerful when founders use the full Vivo platform: cross-border scientific and operating networks, Chinese pharma and government relationships, US public-equity follow-on capital, and the firm’s deep partnerships with peer specialists in both regions. Founders building global category-defining healthcare companies with credible cross-border ambition will find Vivo one of the most powerful and uniquely positioned tier-one partners in the healthcare investment landscape.