# Mark Levin (investor)
[Mark Levin](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-levin) is an American biochemical engineer and venture capitalist, co-founding partner of [Third Rock Ventures](https://www.edgepedia.org/third-rock-ventures), the Boston-based firm that creates biotechnology companies from scratch rather than making conventional passive investments.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) Before Third Rock, he spent roughly 13 years as chief executive of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, the cancer-drug developer purchased by Takeda in 2008, and earlier worked at Eli Lilly, Genentech, and the [Mayfield Fund](https://www.edgepedia.org/mayfield-fund).[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html) • [3](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/)
## Key facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | Co-Founder of Third Rock Ventures; advisor to Fund IV portfolio companies while holding board roles in Fund I-III companies[4](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1525481) |
| Prior firms | Eli Lilly, Genentech, Mayfield Fund (partner, 1987-1994), Millennium Pharmaceuticals (CEO 1994-2008)[4](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1525481) • [3](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/) |
| Education | BS (1973) and MS (1974) in chemical engineering, Washington University in St. Louis; all sourced credentials are engineering degrees, with no PhD in the record[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html) |
| Third Rock's first fund | $378 million, raised within ten weeks of the firm's 2007 founding[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) |
| Fund performance | 25.7% internal rate of return on the 2007 fund per CalPERS, top quartile per Preqin[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) |
| Notable companies | Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Foundation Medicine, Voyager Therapeutics, Fulcrum Therapeutics[5](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/) • [1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) |
| Board roles | Chairman of Fulcrum Therapeutics and Voyager Therapeutics; board member of Corvia Medical and NinePoint Medical[4](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1525481) |
## Early life and career
Levin grew up in St. Louis, the son of a shoe-selling entrepreneur. His early ventures included buying a doughnut shop, and his first professional work was in process engineering at Miller Brewing before he moved into California's early biotech scene as a dealmaker.[5](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/) He graduated from [Washington University in St. Louis](https://www.edgepedia.org/washington-university-in-st-louis) with a bachelor's in chemical engineering in 1973 and a master's in 1974.[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html) His training is in engineering, not medicine: no source records a PhD or postdoctoral appointment, and readers should not assume the physician-scientist path common among biotech founders.[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html)
From 1987 to 1994 he was a partner at the Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, and co-director of its Life Science Group. In that role he served as founding chief executive of several biotechnology companies, including Cell Genesys, CytoTherapeutics, Tularik, and Focal.[3](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/)
## Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Levin joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals at its inception as a director, became chief executive in November 1994 and chairman of the board in March 1996.[3](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/) During his tenure the company commercialized Velcade, a treatment for multiple myeloma.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) [Millennium](https://www.edgepedia.org/millennium) was purchased by Takeda in 2008, closing a roughly 13-year run as CEO.[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html)
On the founding question, sources differ. Some describe him as a director from inception and say he "joined" the company after [Genentech](https://www.edgepedia.org/genentech), while his own Possible Zone biography and other profiles call him a co-founder as well as CEO and chair.[3](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/) • [6](https://possiblezone.org/team-member/mark-levin/) On the financial question, the record is thin: SEC filings document 75,000 employee stock options in Millennium around the time of the Takeda acquisition, but no source quantifies his realized gain.[7](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/own-disp?CIK=0001180428&action=getowner&sortid=filings-DESC) Note also that no retrieved source supports a 2003 acquisition date; the sourced year for the Takeda purchase is 2008.[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html)
## Third Rock Ventures: founding and company-creation model
Third Rock Ventures was conceived in 2006 during a conversation between Levin and Kevin Starr, who had worked with him on Velcade; Robert Tepper later joined as the third co-founder. The firm was founded in 2007, and by ten weeks in it had raised its first fund of $378 million.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
**Company creation, not stock picking.** Third Rock's model differs from conventional venture capital in how much of the company the firm itself builds. The firm keeps a long list of scientific ideas, then spends three to four years studying the science and markets before recruiting leading experts.[5](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/) When it launches a company, a team of in-house PhDs and MDs designs the product, drafts the business plan, infuses a large first round of capital and selects the CEO. Greylock's Bill Helman described this approach as a reinvention of venture capital.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/) In one venture, Voyager Therapeutics, launched in 2014 with $45 million to develop gene therapies for nervous-system disorders such as ALS, Levin took the chief executive role himself.[5](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/)
## Notable investments, boards and exits
The firm's best-documented success is [Foundation Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/foundation-medicine). Third Rock hatched the idea in-house in 2008; its team of roughly 50 scientists and technologists designed the company's diagnostics service and drafted the business plan. When the company launched in 2010, Third Rock backed it with $25 million of a total $40 million round, far above the typical $5 million to $8 million Series A in biotech. Foundation Medicine went public in September 2013, and in January 2015 Roche announced a stake of about $1 billion in the company.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
Levin's governance footprint is extensive. SEC ownership filings list him as a director or 10 percent owner in dozens of Third Rock-linked issuers, including Foundation Medicine (2014), [Editas Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/editas-medicine) (2016), Blueprint Medicines (2016), Voyager Therapeutics (2016), [Fulcrum Therapeutics](https://www.edgepedia.org/fulcrum-therapeutics) (2020), [Relay Therapeutics](https://www.edgepedia.org/relay-therapeutics) (2020), Pliant Therapeutics (2020), Nurix Therapeutics (2020), and Decibel Therapeutics (2021), as well as a Millennium Pharmaceuticals director filing from 2008.[7](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/own-disp?CIK=0001180428&action=getowner&sortid=filings-DESC) A Third Rock biography describes him as an advisor to Fund IV portfolio companies who continues to hold active board roles in Fund I through III companies, including the chairmanship of Fulcrum Therapeutics and Voyager Therapeutics and board seats at Corvia Medical and NinePoint Medical.[4](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1525481)
## By the numbers
- **$378 million**: Third Rock's first fund, raised in ten weeks in 2007.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
- **25.7% IRR**: the 2007 fund's return according to CalPERS, well into the top performance quartile per Preqin.[1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
- **32 companies and 25 products in human trials** by 2014, rising to 36 portfolio companies by February 2015, with Agios and Bluebird Bio among 2014's top biotech stocks at roughly 300% gains.[5](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/) • [1](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
- **More than 70 companies and 20+ marketed products**: self-reported figures from Levin's Possible Zone biography, which the organization, not an independent source, states.[6](https://possiblezone.org/team-member/mark-levin/)
A claim that the firm has raised $3.8 billion in total appears only in an unverified directory profile and is not corroborated, so it is not treated as established here.[8](https://fundraisingfox.com/people/mark-levin-third-rock-ventures)
## Recognition and philanthropy
Levin's Possible Zone biography states he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a self-reported distinction.[6](https://possiblezone.org/team-member/mark-levin/) Washington University awarded him the Founders Day Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002 and the Alumni Achievement Award in 2011, and he serves on the engineering school's National Council.[2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html) In philanthropy, he is co-founder and Working Chair of The Possible Zone, a nonprofit that teaches entrepreneurship to young people, co-founded with Becky Levin. The idea dates to the late 1970s in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, and he launched the effort in 2008 after leaving Millennium.[6](https://possiblezone.org/team-member/mark-levin/) • [2](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html)
## References
1. [Third Rock Ventures biotechs — Fortune, Feb 19, 2015](https://fortune.com/2015/02/19/third-rock-ventures-giving-birth-to-a-new-generation-of-biotechs/)
2. [Yes, it's possible! — WashU McKelvey School of Engineering](https://engineering.washu.edu/news/magazine/2015-fall/Yes-its-possible.html)
3. [Levin, Mark L. — The Wall Street Transcript](https://www.twst.com/bio/mark-l-levin/)
4. [Position: Mark Levin — LittleSis (quoting Third Rock Ventures bio)](https://littlesis.org/relationships/1525481)
5. [Third Rock Ventures — MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/company/third-rock-ventures-2014/)
6. [Mark Levin — The Possible Zone](https://possiblezone.org/team-member/mark-levin/)
7. [Ownership Information: LEVIN MARK J — SEC](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/own-disp?CIK=0001180428&action=getowner&sortid=filings-DESC)
8. [Mark Levin — Fundraising Fox](https://fundraisingfox.com/people/mark-levin-third-rock-ventures)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Founders, operators, and investors › Venture and growth investors › Life-science venture and company creation › Biotech venture capital partners › Titles K to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license