Forbes estimated Noubar Afeyan's net worth at $3.3 billion in November 2021, ranking him 212th on its list. That figure is dated. It came at the height of Moderna's share price during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and it moves with the stock.
His wealth comes from two places. He is founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the venture firm he started in 2000, which says it has created more than 100 scientific ventures. He is also a co-founder and chairman of Moderna and owns more than 2 million of its shares.
Moderna was founded in 2010 as ModeRNA Therapeutics, though Afeyan's own biography dates it to 2009. It raised about $2 billion in venture capital between 2011 and 2017 and listed on Nasdaq on 7 December 2018 at $23 a share, raising $621 million, the largest biotech IPO to that point. Its COVID-19 vaccine received US emergency authorization in December 2020.
In 2021 Afeyan announced that Moderna would not enforce its patents against anyone making COVID-19 vaccines. Revenue then fell sharply, and Moderna reported about $1.94 billion in 2025.