Flagship Pioneering Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023

Ranks #5 Most Innovative Company in North America

Company is Recognized for the Second Consecutive Year

Cambridge, Mass. – March 2, 2023 – Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023, ranking as the #5 most innovative company in North America.

This year’s list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.

“At Flagship Pioneering, we believe that bold scientific leaps can lead to big scientific breakthroughs, and that those breakthroughs can be achieved in a systematic and repeatable way,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Flagship Pioneering. “We encourage our team of 350 employees to imagine high-value scientific outcomes without the constraints of reason, and to rigorously test and pressure those ideas until some emerge as important new scientific innovations. This approach has allowed us to make major advances in human health and sustainability.”

Flagship Pioneering founds and builds companies based on its in-house breakthrough innovations that address three of the most consequential problems facing society: preventing and treating disease, feeding a growing population, and combatting climate change. The company’s model blends life science innovation, capital formation, and company formation and scaling in a way that is largely without precedent or replication. Flagship launches 6-8 companies each year that it fosters and grows until they become independently operating businesses with additional investors, primed for scalable impact.

Many of the bioplatform companies Flagship has founded have invented entirely new modalities or therapeutic approaches, bred new plants, or introduced novel agricultural methods for measuring and rewarding carbon capture. They include Moderna, which harnesses mRNA to instruct the body to make its own therapies; Seres Therapeutics, which is revolutionizing treatment and prevention of a range of diseases by modulating the human microbiome; Inari, which designs nature-positive seeds for a more sustainable food system; and Indigo Ag, which improves farms’ sustainability, growers’ profits, and consumer health through microbiology and digital technologies.

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.

“This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation,” said Fast Company editor-in-chief BrendanVaughan.

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $100 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.1 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $19 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 42 transformative companies, including Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), and Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB).

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.