BridgeBio's Neil Kumar Remembers Those Humble Beginnings

When Neil Kumar, Ph.D., finally landed funding for BridgeBio (2015), the company he cofounded and for which he now serves as CEO, they were finally able to lease a space in Palo Alto. “It wasn’t very nice, but it wasn’t horrible,” he states. At the time, the company was trying to raise money for its formal series B. “We had these investors in the office, during a La Niña, so it was raining a lot,” he recalls. The investors and some members of the BridgeBio leadership team were sitting around a conference room table, when water starts to drip from the ceiling. “Then the ceiling tiles fall down, spraying water everywhere,” Kumar laughs. “These guys are looking at us like, “We’re not going to be giving you any money, as this doesn’t seem like a real company.”

From those humble foundational beginnings, BridgeBio has since grown into a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: BBIO) valued at more than $10 billion, and with 31 assets (12 undisclosed) in its pipeline. And, this past February, the company garnered its first FDA approval for NULIBRY (fosdenopterin) for injection as the first therapy to reduce the risk of mortality in patients with molybdenum cofactor deficiency (MoCD) Type A (an ultra-rare and progressive condition known to impact less than 150 patients globally). Kumar is the subject of an upcoming feature in Life Science Leader, in which he details his startup journey. Be sure not to miss out on learning from this intriguing entrepreneur by becoming a subscriber today.