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Rafael Holdings
Howard Jonas's clinical-stage oncology and life-sciences real estate firm, shaped by the $3.1B Straight Path sale to Verizon.
Rafael Holdings
Rafael Holdings was founded in 2017 by telecom entrepreneur Howard Jonas, who built IDT Corporation into a multinational carrier and later backed Straight Path Communications, whose millimetre-wave spectrum portfolio was acquired by Verizon in a landmark $3.1 billion deal. The firm originally listed on the NYSE as a blank-check unit before combining its drug-development subsidiary with a public entity, resulting in a corporate structure that holds both clinical-stage oncology assets and commercial real estate. Jonas serves as Chairman and CEO, operating the firm from Newark, New Jersey (per the firm's official communications). The firm's investment strategy spans two distinct silos: biotechnology development and income-producing real estate. In biotech, Rafael Holdings owns a majority stake in Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals and its CPI-613 cancer metabolism drug candidate, which targets mitochondrial pathways in pancreatic cancer and acute myeloid leukemia — clinical-stage programs advanced through institutional grants and public-market capital raises rather than a blind-pool fund. On the real estate side, the firm owns the 460,000-square-foot former Hoffman-La Roche campus in Nutley, New Jersey, repositioned as the ON3 life-sciences hub, and a 418,000-square-foot office tower at 500 North Franklin Turnpike in Ramsey, New Jersey. The portfolio concentrates on northern New Jersey life-sciences infrastructure. The firm operates with a lean public-company structure rather than a partnership-based family office. William Conkling serves as CFO (per the firm's official communications). In May 2024, Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals was merged with Cyclo Therapeutics, a publicly traded clinical-stage rare-disease company, to form Cyclo Raven in a deal backed by a $10 million bridge loan from Rafael Holdings — preserving majority control while adding an SEC-listed vehicle for the combined pipeline. The real estate holdings are segmented into units that can be sold, leased, or recapitalized independently from the drug assets. Rafael Holdings' structural differentiator is its use of a public-company balance sheet to bridge the gap between academic oncology research and commercial biotech exits, paired with a real estate portfolio that serves as a hedge and a physical platform for tenant life-sciences firms. Rather than fund drug trials through a traditional VC fund with a fixed lifespan, Jonas runs the asset as a permanent-capital vehicle where the real estate generates recurring revenue and the drug candidates are advanced through milestone-attached tranches — a governance model that insulates clinical decisions from outside limited-partner redemption pressures.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Newark
Corporate office
Newark, NJ, United States
Principals
Howard Jonas
Chairman and CEO
William Conkling
Chief Financial Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is the connection between Rafael Holdings and IDT Corporation?
Rafael Holdings was founded in 2017 by Howard Jonas, who also founded IDT Corporation in 1990. The capital for both the biotech and real estate investments is understood to be tied to the wealth Jonas generated from IDT and the 2018 sale of Straight Path Communications to Verizon for $3.1 billion. The two entities share some office infrastructure in Newark but are legally separate public companies with distinct boards.
Is Rafael Holdings structured as a family office or a public company?
Rafael Holdings trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RFL, which is an uncommon structure for vehicles associated with a single-family fortune. It operates as a public holding company rather than a conventional single-family office or venture fund. This public structure provides a liquidity path for the drug pipeline and allows the real estate assets to be valued independently by the public market.
What is the lead drug candidate in the Rafael Holdings pipeline?
The firm's primary drug development asset has been CPI-613 (devimistat), a compound designed to disrupt mitochondrial metabolism in cancer cells, originally developed by Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals. As of the 2024 merger with Cyclo Therapeutics, the combined pipeline is advanced under the Cyclo Raven name and focuses on rare metabolic diseases alongside the cancer metabolism programs.
How does the real estate portfolio relate to the biotech operations?
The real estate side functions both as a standalone investment and as a strategic platform. The ON3 campus in Nutley, formerly the Hoffman-La Roche R&D headquarters, is leased to life-sciences tenants, creating a natural ecosystem for collaboration and licensing. The real estate generates operating income that offsets clinical-trial burn, giving the firm a longer runway than a pure-play biotech startup.
Does Rafael Holdings take outside capital or operate as a fund?
The firm does not operate as a blind-pool fund raising third-party limited-partner capital. It uses its public-company treasury, debt financing, and strategic bridge loans to fund clinical trials and acquisitions. The 2024 Cyclo Therapeutics deal included a $10 million bridge note from Rafael Holdings, illustrating this self-funded approach.
What is Howard Jonas's investment track record outside of Rafael Holdings?
Jonas's most notable investment was in Straight Path Communications, a company that held a portfolio of FCC-licensed millimeter-wave spectrum. He served as chairman and guided the asset to a $3.1 billion all-stock acquisition by Verizon in 2018. Prior to that, he founded IDT Corporation and Net2Phone, taking the latter public in 1999, and has backed ventures ranging from payment processing to energy-commodity trading.
How does the Cyclo Raven merger affect Rafael Holdings' exposure?
The May 2024 merger consolidated Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals into the combined entity Cyclo Raven, with Rafael Holdings providing a $10 million bridge loan and retaining majority control. The structure adds a publicly traded vehicle to the portfolio while allowing Rafael Holdings to consolidate results and potentially surface value for the CPI-613 program through a distinct SEC-registration path.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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