Rare Ventures

04/09/2026

Today, Michael Hund CEO and Founder of Rare Ventures, rang the New York Stock Exchange Opening Bell alongside Richard King Mellon Foundation Director and Trustee Sam Reiman, EB Research Partnership and Rare Ventures partners, as well as members of the EB (epidermolysis bullosa) and rare disease community.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh and built for the world, Rare Ventures is a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy platform designed to accelerate the development of therapies for rare diseases and establish a new model for medical innovation. Launched last month with a landmark investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation of up to $25 million, Rare Ventures seeks to create a future where no rare disease is too rare to matter.

A huge thank you to Richard King Mellon Foundation, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC Vision Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Stanford Medicine , and ElevateBio for your collaboration and for joining us to celebrate this milestone.

Standing on the podium with patients, advocates, and partners was more than symbolic, it was a powerful call to action. A special thank you to the NYSE for welcoming our community, and to everyone who made this moment possible. Together, we’re changing the future and pioneering a path for rare disease at large.

21/08/2026

Rare Ventures co-founder and CEO, Michael Hund joined CNBC Squawk Box'x Becky Quick to introduce something the rare disease field hasn't seen before: a first of it's kind platform built on the principles of venture philanthropy, de-risking promising science, connecting researchers and capital, and turning fragmented progress into a coordinated path forward.

This model isn't theoretical. It's being proven. Founded by the team behind leading patient foundation EB Research Partnership(EBRP) and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, built in collaboration with UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Vision Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford Medicine, ElevateBio, and leading biotechnology partners.

Rare disease research has always faced the same barriers: small patient populations, fragmented data, underfunded science, and no clear path from discovery to treatment.

Rare Ventures exists to close that gap.

Built for the Bold Pursuit of Cures.

20/08/2026

CEO & Co-Founder Michael Hund joined Squawk Box to talk about journey and the launch of Rare Ventures, our platform for scaling venture philanthropy to help more rare disease communities.
Thank you, for the thoughtful conversation and for giving rare disease families a voice.
EB is our proof point. Rare disease is the opportunity. Families are the reason.
Built for the Bold Pursuit of Cures.
Full clip in bio

19/08/2026

This morning, Michael Hund, Co-Founder of Rare Ventures joined Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC's Squawk Box to talk about the urgent mission driving progress in rare disease and the growing momentum behind the work.

Conversations like this matter. They bring visibility, urgency, and hope to communities that need it most.

Catch the segment below stream it via Squawk Pod on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

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Michael Hund, Rare Ventures founder and CEO and EB Research Partnership CEO, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss funding the next breakthrough in rare disease through venture capital, the launch of a new $25 million fund, details of the venture philanthropy model, and more.

18/08/2026

Rare Ventures and Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) reached a national audience on CBS News as correspondent Celine Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA, MD, ScM, FIDSA examined the clinical realities of EB and a question central to our work: how do we accelerate rare disease research?

Individually rare, collectively significant, these conditions affect millions of Americans, and most still lack an approved therapy.

The bottleneck isn’t just biological complexity; it’s the translational infrastructure connecting early-stage science to viable treatments.

That’s the gap Rare Ventures built to close: rigorous evaluation, strategic capital, and faster paths from promising data to clinical impact.

Thank you to Dr. Gounder and CBS News for elevating this conversation.

Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is pushing to help kids with Epidermolysis...

17/08/2026

Thank you, Forbes, for highlighting Rare Ventures!

Forbes contributor Dr. Greg Licholai just published a deep dive on Rare Ventures, calling it a bet on a "better model for rare disease," and breaking down why a first-of-its-kind accelerator like this matters right now.

The piece digs into how we're connecting patient data, AI, translational science, clinical development, and manufacturing into one coordinated system, with partners including University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the UPMC Vision Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford Medicine, and ElevateBio, backed by a $25M commitment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

As our co-founder Michael Hund told Forbes: "Rare disease patients have waited long enough."

Check out the full story:

Rare disease, epidermolysis bullosa, venture philanthropy,

12/08/2026

Today, The Wall Street Journal shared something we've been building quietly for a long time.

Four hundred million people live with a rare disease, and 95 percent of them have no approved treatment. Not because the science isn't there. Because the system was never built to move fast enough.

So we built something new: Rare Ventures, the first platform of its kind, connecting the science, data, capital, clinical development, and manufacturing it takes to move treatments to patients faster.

No disease is too rare to matter.

Read the full story in The Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/pro/venture-capital/most-rare-diseases-have-no-approved-drug-this-accelerator-aims-to-help-a5a51534?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

12/08/2026

Rare Ventures: Built for the Bold Pursuit of Cures. Join the journey. http://www.rareventures.org