Biotech companies in San Francisco: 100 labs in the city, 572 across the Bay

This page is for job seekers, investors, partners and suppliers looking for biotech companies in San Francisco. It starts with the city (the Census geography is San Francisco County) and then widens to the Bay Area, because South San Francisco, despite its name, is a separate city in San Mateo County.

How many biotech companies are in San Francisco

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, San Francisco County, California, NAICS 541714 (biotech research and development) and 325414 (biological product manufacturing):

All 100 are research labs; the county has no biological product manufacturing establishments in the published data. CBP counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out founders who don't take a salary.

Small labs, very high pay

The 100-or-more band is the total less the smaller bands, because the Census Bureau doesn't publish the cells above 249. The pattern fits a city of early-stage startups, where a five-person company is mostly scientists and executives; that keeps the average size small and pushes average pay up.

The city versus the Bay Area

The San Francisco metro (CBSA 41860: San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties) had 572 biotech establishments and 28,042 employees in 2023, with average pay of $227,597 (from the same CBP metro file). That's the second-largest cluster in the country after Boston's 700. The city holds 100 of the 572.

The City of South San Francisco describes itself as the "birthplace of biotechnology, dating back to the founding of Genentech in 1976", and says it has "over 250 biotech companies and 12 million square feet of biotech space"; its linked company list was last updated in April 2024. Genentech is owned by Roche and doesn't file its own annual report with the SEC.

What the codes miss

Two codes can't capture the whole industry. Drug discovery labs coded 541715 (other life-sciences R&D), diagnostics makers (325413), sequencing and tools companies classed as instrument makers, and research institutes classed as nonprofits (Gladstone, for one) all fall outside. Biocom California's 2026 Economic Impact Report, using a broad life-sciences definition, counts 137,779 direct life-science jobs in the Bay Area in 2025.

Listed biotechs headquartered in the city

SEC EDGAR lists seven listed companies with a San Francisco business address in SIC 2834 (pharmaceutical preparations, 6) and 2836 (biological products, 1). Six have filed a 10-K; the seventh, Braveheart Bio, hasn't yet. From their 10-Ks for 2025:

Cash is our sum of each balance sheet's cash and cash equivalents and short-term investment lines. Employees as of 31 December 2025, blank where we didn't take a figure.

The big Bay Area biotechs nearby

Most of the region's large companies are a short drive south or across the bay. From their latest 10-Ks:

Calendar 2025, except Exelixis (year ended 2 January 2026) and Twist (year ended 30 September 2025). BioMarin's EDGAR address is Novato; its 10-K cover gives San Rafael.

Revolution Medicines ($987.3 million) and Vaxcyte ($794.3 million) each spent more on R&D than any company headquartered in the city, with no revenue.

UCSF and the research base

NIH RePORTER shows $982.7 million of NIH awards to 41 San Francisco organizations in fiscal 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), across 1,580 projects. UC San Francisco received $824.2 million (84%), the Gladstone Institutes $47.7 million, the Northern California Institute for Research and Education $46.0 million and the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute $25.2 million. Companies received 38 awards worth $27.7 million, nearly all small-business (SBIR or STTR) grants.

The city makes almost nothing. FDA's drug establishment file lists four registrations in San Francisco, one with manufacturing operations, and its cell and tissue registry lists one establishment registered for blood stem cell or immune cell products, UCSF Health's pediatric cellular therapy lab. Investigational manufacturing doesn't require registration, so trial supplies made in city labs won't show up.

How to find San Francisco biotechs

1. Startups: search NIH RePORTER for UCSF and Gladstone principal investigators with small-business partners, and watch which ones form companies.
2. The association: Biocom California has a Bay Area office, a member directory and the Career Hub job board.
3. South San Francisco's list: the city's Biotech in SSF page links a company list, though it dates from April 2024.
4. Filings: for listed companies, the 10-K cover gives the current headquarters, and the properties section shows lab leases.

Selling to San Francisco biotechs

Worked example: a startup finance firm

Illustrative example. The firm and fees are invented; the counts come from CBP 2023.

Fogline Finance (fogline.example) runs outsourced accounting and FP&A for venture-backed biotechs.

1. Pick the size band. 83 of the city's 100 establishments have fewer than 20 employees; most can't justify a full-time finance team.
2. Do the arithmetic. Reaching half (about 41) and converting 10% gives 4 clients; at $9,000 a month each, that's $432,000 a year.
3. Time it to a financing. A new round brings board reporting, audits and budgets within weeks; a fresh Series A is the best moment to call.

For a list this small, research beats volume. Bebop researches each startup in a list and explains who to contact first.

For the largest companies nationally, see the largest biotech companies, and for the state's wider business base, companies in California.

Next step: compare another California cluster in biotech companies in San Diego.