Arrowhead Research Corporation is an "institutional entrepreneur" that leverages the deep experience and systematic approach of an institution to actively create and build companies out of raw science. We look for smart people doing excellent applied science (often from disparate and non-traditional places), build market-based business models around them, and organize companies capable of executing these models to exploit high-growth opportunities. This requires Arrowhead to be a highly active operational component of portfolio companies initially. Senior Arrowhead executives serve as founding interim CEOs for portfolio companies, and Arrowhead as an institution provides complete initial upper management. As such, Arrowhead portfolio companies have something on day-one that very few start-ups are able to attract: a seasoned management team and focused business strategy. Portfolio companies are, therefore, built in such a way that once Arrowhead ceases everyday operational responsibilities, they are capable of competing for institutional capital and continued growth. Efforts are currently focused on the rapidly expanding nanotechnology sector.

Currently, Arrowhead has five subsidiaries commercializing nanotech products and applications, including anti-cancer drugs, RNAi therapeutics, regenerative therapies, carbon-based electronics and compound semiconductor materials.