Arie Belldegrun's family business strikes it rich

A two-year-old VC firm led by Arie Belldegrun and other Kite Pharma alumni is looking for $600 million — and they seem to have found nearly all of it.

More than 100 investors have already committed well over $500 million to Vida Ventures’ second fund, according to SEC documents filed on Monday.

When it closes, the fund will be one of several so-called mega-funds raised by biotech VCs in recent years — though it won’t be the biggest. Arch Venture Partners is also raising about $600 million, while Flagship Pioneering closed a $824 million “special opportunities” fund in 2017.

Belldegrun himself has been particularly busy this week, too. He and his wife, Rebecka Belldegrun, announced on Tuesday that they had formed a new life science real estate company, Breakthrough Properties. (Their son will be the new company’s CEO.) Breakthrough’s first development will be in Boston’s Seaport; it should be open in 2021.