How Ascenta Capital’s $325M Fund Is Poised to Transform Palm Beach’s Biotech Future
Palm Beach County just received one of its strongest signals yet that it’s emerging as a national biotech contender. Dr. Lorence Kim, who raised $4 billion for Moderna and led the largest IPO in biotech history, and his partner, Dr. Evan Rachlin, who shaped Moderna’s strategy as it grew from a startup into a COVID-19 vaccine powerhouse, have launched a new biotech fund.Conventional wisdom would have pointed them toward Boston or San Francisco.
Instead, they chose West Palm Beach.
Ascenta Capital, a $325 million biotech fund, established its headquarters in South Florida with a clear mission: to close the region’s critical growth-stage funding gap and help Palm Beach biotechs scale without having to relocate.
Why Ascenta’s Arrival Matters
Palm Beach's biotech challenge has never been about innovation capacity.. The county has more than 625 life sciences companies, world-class institutions like Scripps Research and Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, and billions in regional output, that rival many established clusters. Nevertheless, Florida captures less than 1% of national biotech venture capital.
Florida’s low growth capital often leaves many startups stranded between Seed funding and commercialization. Ascenta is targeting this exact gap with Series B and Series C investments.
“We take a deliberate approach with every one of our portfolio companies, who understand that we don't want to simply act as a financial partner," explained Dr.Kim. "We want to earn both our board positions and the companies' trust through our team's deep, technical, interdisciplinary expertise across clinical, scientific, and financial dimensions,” emphasizing that the firm provides both capital and deep operating expertise.
This strategy is crucial because most Palm Beach biotechs can secure seed funding locally, but must relocate their operations to access growth capital. Consequently, the region has functioned as an incubator for companies that ultimately mature elsewhere.
Ascenta's $325 million war chest changes this equation by providing the financial runway necessary for companies to scale in place.
Driving Startup Growth and Attracting Elite Investors
Ascenta’s leaders helped guide Moderna through historic fundraising and strategic scaling, experience now accessible to Palm Beach founders.
The firm has already:
Deployed $100M+ into six portfolio companies
Supported 14 clinical trials
Co-led major national rounds including
ADARx Pharmaceuticals’ $200M Series C
Iambic Therapeutics’ $100M Series B
These large, sophisticated rounds attract coastal investors like Bain Capital Life Sciences, TCGX, Abingworth, and OrbiMed, opening doors for other Palm Beach companies.
Local standouts reflect the region’s growing strength:
EXUMA Biotech (CAR-T therapies)
ADMA Biologics ($122M in Q2 2025 revenue)
Akron Biotechnology (110,000 sq. ft. expansion)
TherapeuticsMD ($918.6M raised to date)
Syndication, Momentum & the Path to Exits
South Florida’s medtech sector raised $572.5M across 45 deals in 2024, according to the new eMerge Insights Florida Venture Capital report.
With Ascenta now anchoring rounds, Palm Beach companies are better positioned for:
Stronger syndicates
Larger valuations
More successful licensing deals, acquisitions, and IPOs
Kelly Smallridge, President & CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, previously noted that UF’s acquisition of Scripps Research, including 70 acres of land for bioscience expansion, is accelerating this momentum.
Accelerating Lab Space & Infrastructure Expansion
More funding creates more demand for space — and Palm Beach is responding:
Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC) invested $100M to attract tech and life science tenants, with 266,000 sq. ft. leased recently.
Jupiter Center for Discovery is adding high-end labs next to Scripps Research and Max Planck.
Derek Baker’, Executive Managing Director at Colliers, noted that "Being adjacent to a research institution offers a crucial advantage in competing for skilled workers, particularly in sectors like life sciences."
This reduces risk for developers and supports future expansion.
A Magnet for Talent
Palm Beach’s biotech ecosystem already employs nearly 100,000 people, the county’s largest sector.
The region offers a rare mix:
Top-tier research institutions
Tax advantages
Strong quality of life
Growing workforce pipelines
Palm Beach State College’s 90,000 sq. ft. Bioscience Technology Complex and Florida Atlantic University’s partnership with the Cleveland Clinic strengthen local training. In a 2020 Scripps Research report, it shows that the center alone generates one new spinoff per year and had delivered a $3B economic impact over the previous 17 years.
A Region on the Rise
Ascenta’s $325 million fund doesn’t create opportunity from scratch because it unlocks decades of groundwork laid by researchers, educators, institutions, and early pioneers.
Early indicators are strong:
Syndication partners are arriving
Lab capacity is expanding
Local companies are raising larger rounds while staying in Palm Beach
Palm Beach’s biotech story is shifting from aspiration to execution. The question now isn’t if the region becomes a top-tier biotech hub - but how fast it will scale.
