Josh Wolfe backs startups that make tech straight out of our favorite science fiction movies, from Star Wars surgical robots to metal detectors that evoke Total Recall. But there’s one startup he’s especially proud of because it "seemed the craziest at the time." The company is inspired by X-Men.
"We had this crazy idea a few years ago, and we talked to a lot of people," said Wolfe, Lux Capital cofounder and managing partner. "Usually when we have these ideas, some people will say one of two things: 'That's absolutely brilliant, I'm in' or 'That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard.' Both are extremely validating for us. We decided to start a company where none existed, to go out and find outlier people with outlier traits in the outlier world."
That company became Variant Bio, cofounded (with critical involvement from Lux) in 2018 by scientists Kaja Wasik and Stephane Castel. In its way, Variant Bio lives up to the promise of X-Men: The company develops therapies by studying the genes of medically pertinent outliers. To date, Variant has raised about $130 million from big names like SoftBank Vision Fund and General Catalyst—and of course, Lux.
Since its inception in 2000, Lux has helped start from scratch more than 20 companies, and now the firm is formalizing that process. Lux Capital recently launched Lux Labs, a platform and strategy devoted to helping scientific ideas move from labs into real-world settings. Variant Bio is considered a Lux Labs company.
"It's rooted in philosophy and the penchant we have for this," said Wolfe. "There’s also this perfect storm of what’s going on in the market now that I think this is an advantaged investment strategy."
Venture is in a pullback, Wolfe says, making this the ideal time to pursue a differentiated approach. Lux Labs will offer hands-on support, like IP rights, company formation, board member recruitment, and building networks.
"Sometimes it starts with a thesis," said Wolfe. "Sometimes it starts with a specific breakthrough. Sometimes it starts with a breakthrough scientist, an individual. We’ll find a team and actually convince them that they should spin out."
Some companies in Lux's portfolios that are considered Lux Labs include autonomous vehicle sensor maker Aeva, ocular disease-focused Kala Therapeutics, scent digitizing startup Osmo, and nuclear waste cleanup startup Kurion. Kurion—acquired in 2016 by Veolia for $350 million—played a key role in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Today Wolfe describes Kurion as both a "great financial success" and a "great moral success." But it wasn’t obvious at the time.
"We looked at nuclear, and we looked at every part of the fuel cycle," said Wolfe. "We tried to find companies. At the time, virtually no startups existed."
Wolfe invests in deep tech, but it seems important to him to have a wide cultural view of the world. Throughout our conversation, he references The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, science fiction novelist Ted Chiang, and in quick succession quotes Linus Pauling and Charlie Munger. Wolfe tells me over the phone that he has a "wall of nostalgia" in his office, with memorabilia from G.I. Joe, Star Wars, and Thundercats.
There are a lot of reasons to get into tech, but the science fiction origin story is especially compelling to me. Because the line between fiction and reality has always been thin. Wolfe wants to back companies doing what seems impossible. And if something seems impossible, that means there isn’t a pre-existing road to success. But maybe on this one, it’s worth trusting Doc Brown from Back to the Future.
"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."
See you Monday,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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