MRL Ventures Fund (MRLV) partners with visionary founders pursuing breakthrough innovations and medicines to transform patient care. We invest globally in early-stage, preclinical therapeutics companies, providing capital, strategic guidance and access to Merck’s deep domain expertise to accelerate development of breakthrough therapeutics from concept to clinic.
Overview | What we look for | How we partner | Portfolio | Team
First-in-class science. First-class partnership
MRLV is our therapeutics-focused corporate venture group, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We back exceptional science across all modalities — from small molecules to cell therapies — providing committed capital and board-level partnership to early-stage (including seed-stage) companies. Our mission is finding and funding imaginative scientists and entrepreneurs who are advancing differentiated, high-quality breakthrough therapeutics.
What sets us apart
We support companies from initial investment through key inflection points with sustained capital, board engagement and strategic guidance.
We operate as a disciplined institutional venture capital and provide access to Merck’s R&D leaders and domain expertise to accelerate scientific progress.
Our model embraces opportunities at the bleeding-edge of science and technology and is centered on achieving transformational patient impact.
Therapeutics that change medical practice
We’re a science-first fund focused on therapeutics with the potential to transform standards of care. We pursue and invest in first‑ and best‑in‑class therapeutic innovation with the goal of delivering breakthroughs and advances with unambiguous competitive advantage.
Our evaluation criteria: strength of underlying biology, quality translational data, clear development path to human proof-of-concept and the team’s capabilities and syndicate alignment.
MRLV does not require product or technology rights as a condition of investment. We focus exclusively on therapeutics — not medical devices, diagnostic platforms or digital health. For digital health opportunities, please visit the Global Health Innovation Fund.
Our impact since 2014
Committed capital
Raised by portfolio companies
In acquisitions
Clinical programs impacted
U.S. FDA-approved therapeutics
“We operate as an institutional venture partner — investing with a long-term view, taking active board or observer roles and, as appropriate, offering focused development input to help companies progress from compelling biology toward proof-of-concept in patients.”
- Peter Dudek, Ph.D.
President and managing partner, MRL Ventures Fund
Disciplined investment, active partnership
- Lead or co-lead with sustained capital: Up to $25M per company, initially investing from concept to investigational new drug application (IND)
- Active governance: Director/observer roles and regular working sessions as needed
- Confidentiality first: Robust firewall from the broader corporation
- Scientific expertise: Access to insights on target selection, translational strategy, target product profile and clinical planning
- Transparent process: Defined timelines and constructive feedback
- Long term support: Follow-on funding through key value inflection points to liquidity
- Strategic connectivity: Early relationship-building with Merck business development and licensing (BD&L) colleagues and senior leadership
Our portfolio
We invest in early-stage product concepts across modalities and disease areas, backing programs poised to transform medical practice.
Active portfolio
Acquired and IPOs
Our team
Our team of investment professionals has years of accumulated experience as scientists, operators and investors. This broad experience enables a rich engagement with portfolio companies and co-investors.
