Flagship Pioneering’s offices sit right on the water in the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass., with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a breathtaking view of the Charles River as it gives way to Boston’s downtown skyscrapers. On a sunny spring day, the view from here can make the misery of a Bostonian winter feel worthwhile.
For many of the folks working behind these windows, history can be divided into two parts: Life Before Moderna and Life After. Flagship Pioneering is the biotech venture capital firm best-known for funding Moderna, a startup that went from also-ran to household name after it created a highly effective COVID-19 vaccine based on its mRNA technology.
