# Adam Freund

> Adam Freund is the founder and CEO of Arda Therapeutics, a San Carlos biotech built on a simple, contrarian bet: many chronic diseases are caused by specific cells gone wrong, so the cure is to find and delete those cells while leaving healthy tissue intact. A molecular biologist with a Berkeley PhD and a Stanford postdoc, he spent seven years at Google-backed Calico Life Sciences, where he helped grow the company from roughly 15 to 200-plus people and started its most advanced anti-aging therapeutic program. In late 2021 he left to start Arda as a solo founder with a deck and a thesis, and by October 2024 had raised a $43M Series A led by a16z Bio + Health. His tools are single-cell sequencing to map disease cell-by-cell and antibodies to do the deleting.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Arda Therapeutics
- **Organizations:** Arda Therapeutics, Calico Life Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Impetus Grants, On Deck
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Postdoctoral research (telomerase biochemistry, aging), Stanford University School of Medicine
- **Known for:** Founded Arda Therapeutics and raised a $43M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z Bio + Health) in October 2024, with total funding of about $50.5M., Started and led Calico's most advanced anti-aging therapeutic program, a first-in-class biologic targeting a validated aging pathway., Helped scale Calico Life Sciences from roughly 15 to more than 200 employees as a Principal Investigator.

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Earns B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
- **2010** — Completes Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, studying signaling pathways that regulate cellular senescence with Judith Campisi.
- **2010s** — Postdoctoral researcher at Stanford, focused on telomerase biochemistry and the biology of aging.
- **2014** — Joins Calico Life Sciences as a Principal Investigator.
- **2014-2021** — Leads multiple R&D teams at Calico, helps grow the company from ~15 to 200+ employees, and starts its most advanced anti-aging biologic program.
- **2021** — Founds Arda Therapeutics as a solo founder, building the company around targeted cell depletion.
- **2024** — Arda raises a $43M Series A led by a16z Bio + Health; hires Scott Turner as CSO.

## Achievements

- Founded Arda Therapeutics and raised a $43M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z Bio + Health) in October 2024, with total funding of about $50.5M.
- Started and led Calico's most advanced anti-aging therapeutic program, a first-in-class biologic targeting a validated aging pathway.
- Helped scale Calico Life Sciences from roughly 15 to more than 200 employees as a Principal Investigator.
- Authored more than 20 peer-reviewed papers and patents, cited over 10,000 times.
- Built Arda's platform on single-cell sequencing to characterize and selectively target pathogenic cells.
- Served as a core reviewer for Impetus Grants, funding aging research.

## Latest updates

- **2024-10** — Arda Therapeutics announced a $43M Series A led by a16z Bio + Health, with Eli Lilly, GV, Two Sigma Ventures and others participating, and appointed Scott Turner, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer.

## Links

- Website: https://www.ardatx.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-freund-0657654
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hggrqXbsp4k

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/adam-freund
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-20