# Longwood Fund

Longwood Fund is a Venture Capital based in Boston, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Venture Capital
- **Headquarters:** Boston, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Boston, MA, United States
- **Founded:** 2010
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** longwoodfund.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/longwoodfund

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Longwood Fund is a healthcare venture capital firm that founds, manages, and builds healthcare companies. The firm identifies technologies and founds companies to advance new therapeutics. Longwood Fund has made 84 investments, including a Series B investment in Sidewinder Therapeutics on April 08, 2026.

## Sectors

- Digital Health
- Healthcare Services

## People

- Christoph Westphal — Managing Partner
- Rich Aldrich — Partner
- Michelle Dipp — Managing Partner
- David Steinberg — Partner

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Longwood Fund?

Managing Partners Christoph Westphal, Rich Aldrich, and Michelle Dipp form the core investment committee. Each brought an exit track record prior to Longwood — Westphal and Aldrich from Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (sold to GSK in 2008), Dipp from Alnara Pharmaceuticals — and they collectively approve every new company creation. Partner David Steinberg handles operational aspects of portfolio company formation.

### Is Longwood structured as a venture fund or an incubator?

It operates as a hybrid. The firm raises limited-partner vehicles like a standard venture fund but deploys the capital through a venture-creation model — originating companies, installing management, and funding the initial preclinical program before introducing institutional co-investors at Series A or B. LPs are passive investors in the fund vehicle, not in individual portfolio companies.

### How does Longwood Fund relate to Longwood Healthcare Leaders?

Longwood Fund and Longwood Healthcare Leaders are distinct entities. The fund is the venture-creation vehicle managed by Westphal, Aldrich, and Dipp. Longwood Healthcare Leaders operates as an invitation-only conference series for biopharma CEOs and institutional investors, sharing certain principals but not co-mingling capital.

### Which sectors does Longwood Fund target, and where does it not invest?

The firm concentrates on prescription therapeutics — oncology, neurology, metabolic disorders, and genetic medicine account for the bulk of its portfolio. It systematically avoids medical devices, digital-health platforms, and diagnostics, preferring modalities where a well-defined clinical trial endpoint can unlock an acquisition or large Series B within three to four years of formation.

### What is Longwood Fund's track record of exits?

Prior to Fund I, the managing partners were responsible for Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (acq. GlaxoSmithKline, 2008) and Alnara Pharmaceuticals (acq. Eli Lilly, 2010). Since formalizing in 2010, Longwood has seeded companies including Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ IPO 2020), Pyxis Oncology (NASDAQ IPO 2021), and Nimbus Therapeutics, whose TYK2 inhibitor program was licensed to Takeda in a multi-billion-dollar deal (per the firm's official communications).

## Related profiles

- [Longwin Capital](https://altss.com/profile/longwin-capital)
- [Longworth Venture Partners](https://altss.com/profile/longworth-venture-partners)

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Last updated: 2026-06-28T22:10:06.673Z

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