Niccolò Bacchi, PhD, is the Founder & Managing Director of BiotechFounder, a venture builder that builds biotech companies from scratch with the aim to accelerate commercialization of emerging science. He believes there is tremendous value to be delivered to patients and investors by proactively seeking great science and structuring it into fit-for-purpose startups with an entrepreneurial mindset from the start.

Niccolò brings several years of early-stage venture capital investment and company creation experience. He worked at Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment team of Novo Holdings, one of the largest life science investors globally, and most recently at DROIA Ventures, a global early stage venture fund specialized in genetic diseases and oncology. Niccolò also held the position of Business Development Officer at Fondazione Telethon, an Italian foundation which finances and conducts research in rare genetic diseases. 

Niccolò holds a Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences (University of Trento, Italy), a M.Sc. in Medical, Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy – completed within the Dutch gene therapy company Uniqure) and an M.B.A. (IE Business School, Spain).

About BiotechFounder - We build biotech companies from scratch independently and via partnerships. Our main focus is the development of innovative therapeutics for high unmet medical needs. Operating globally, we proactively source high potential emerging science and team up with scientific co-founders to create and spin-out game-changing companies.

For more information, please visit: www.biotechfounder.com

Jeroen Bakker, PhD, joined Novo Holdings in 2018 as a Senior Associate in the Novo Seeds team. Previously, Jeroen worked at the corporate investment group of Merck KGaA, M Ventures, focusing on early-stage investments in US, EU and Israel. Prior to this, Jeroen was active as a consultant acquiring several millions in non-dilutive funding for biotech and translational academic research. Jeroen worked in biotech at Syntaxin Ltd (acquired by Ipsen) and published several articles on innate immunity in high-ranking journals such as Journal of Experimental Medicine while obtaining his PhD in immunology from the University of Amsterdam.

About Novo Seeds - Novo Seeds is the early stage investment arm of Novo Holdings. Novo Seeds identifies, builds and invests in innovative start-up companies founded on strong science with the aim of developing products with the potential to transform patient treatment. In addition to providing managerial and strategic support to start-ups, Novo Seeds has the financial capability to invest all the way to the exit. 

For more information, please visit: www.novoholdings.dk

Philipp Bräuer is an associate at EQT Life Sciences, which he joined in 2021. He is focused on private companies and is involved in all stages of the investment process, especially deal flow screening and scientific due diligence. Before joining EQT LS, he was at M Ventures, the corporate VC of Merck KGaA. He completed his doctorate in Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, and his research has been published in several high impact journals.

About EQT Life Sciences - EQT Life Sciences, formerly LSP, is one of Europe’s largest and most experienced healthcare investors, targeting innovative life sciences and health care companies. With a track record going back 30 years, EQT Life Sciences has raised more than €3 billion, and invested in over 150 private companies. With a dedicated team of highly experienced investment professionals, coming from backgrounds in medicine, science, and industry, EQT Life Sciences backs the smartest inventors who have ideas that could truly make a difference for patients. The team combines deep sector knowledge, analytical skills, and investment experience to provide the added value that inventors seek.

For more information, please visit: https://eqtgroup.com

Karen Chan, PhD, joined BGV as an Analyst in 2022. Prior to joining BGV, Karen was an Investment Fellow in the Biotechnology Investment Team at M Ventures. Karen also has research experience in the pharma industry and academia as a Postdoctoral Scientist in Germany and holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.

About BioGeneration Ventures - BGV is a venture capital firm specialised in seed investment in early-stage companies developing therapeutics. We manage over EUR 400 million across five funds and are actively investing from our fifth fund of EUR 150 million. We seek innovations with a compelling and differentiated scientific basis and the potential to address a significant unmet medical need. BGV is based in Naarden, The Netherlands, and closely collaborates with Forbion.

For more information, please visit: www.biogenerationventures.com

Dr. Frank Hensel is Principal at the High-Tech Gründerfonds. Since he joined the team in 2015 he was involved in the financing of more than 14 companies and the exit of 3 companies, with the most successful one being the exit of Amal Therapeutics to Boehringer Ingelheim in 2019 with a deal value of up to EUR 425 Mio.

Prior to the HTGF Frank was founder of OncoMab GmbH, a spin-off of the University of Würzburg’s Institute of Pathology. The expert for tumour-reactive antibodies brings with him significant experience in biotechnology. His focus lies in the development of biologicals from the manufacturing phase to the clinical-trial stage.

About HTGF - HTGF (Bonn/Berlin) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With nearly EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge over 500 start-ups since 2005. Driven by their expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion, its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts help guide the development of young companies. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in a range of sectors, including software, media, internet, hardware, automation, health care, chemicals and life sciences. Investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, the KfW Banking Group and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V., as well as a number of well-known companies spanning all industries and segments.

For more information, please visit: www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

Andreas Jurgeit joined the Gimv Life Sciences team in 2021. Prior to that, he has been working at Lundbeckfonden Emerge (Copenhagen, DK) and at Merck Ventures (Amsterdam, NL) where he was responsible for VC investments and company creation in Europe, the US and Israel. Andreas started his career at Redalpine Venture Partners (Zurich, CH). Andreas Jurgeit holds a PhD in Cell Biology/Virology from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) as well as a master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Innsbruck (Austria).

About GIMV - Gimv is a leading European investment company with over 40 years of experience in private equity and venture capital. Listed on Euronext Brussels, Gimv currently manages around EUR 1.8 billion of investments in about 60 portfolio companies.

As part of its Life Sciences platform, Gimv’s investment team is well established and recognized as one of the leading European life sciences venture capitalists, investing in biotech and medtech. The team has built a successful track record in identifying high potential innovation across the life sciences sector, and providing capital, expertise and network to accelerate product development, commercialization and successful exits for our portfolio companies. To date, Gimv manages an exciting life sciences investment portfolio and is actively pursuing new investments.

For more information, please visit: https://www.gimv.com/en

Dr. Amy Kao joined TVM Capital in April 2023. Before TVM, Amy was at Oxford Science Enterprises, an early stage venture funding & building investment company focusing on healthtech. Amy brings rich experiences in strategy transactions & innovation from her previous roles with EY Global and Merck KGaA as well as hands-on operational experience having been Chief of Staff at Neu Health, a digital Parkinson’s and Dementia platform. Her academic work in the gut-brain axis has been published in Nature’s Translational Psychiatry and other high-impact journals, including Schizophrenia Research, Neuropharmacology, and Psychoneuroendocrinology. Amy holds a DPhil in neuroscience from the University of Oxford.

About TVM Capital Life Science - TVM Capital Life Science is one of Europe’s oldest Venture Capital funds with teams based in Munich and Montreal. Our investment professionals draw upon the experience, international approach and demonstrated success of about 100 dedicated Life Science exits from our portfolio. These exits include 45 initial public offerings on the NASDAQ, and various European Exchanges and multiple trade sales and mergers. With more than two decades of experience in picking promising entrepreneurs, concepts and products for development, and building successful entrepreneurial companies, we are acutely aware of what it takes to build a world class technology, product or company, and astute at supporting management teams to bring companies and projects to value inflection points. Our most recent fund focuses on a new investment approach to developing early-stage pharmaceutical assets in a capital efficient fashion, to a human proof-of-concept in single asset companies. Besides this, we are actively seeking investments in innovative later-stage biotech, pharmaceutical, medtech and digital-health companies in Europe, North America and Asia.

For more information, please visit www.tvm-lifescience.com.

Dr. Jörg Knäblein is currently Scientific Finder in the Collaborate to Cure Hub EMEA, the regional partnering interface of Bayer AG within Business Development & Licensing and Open Innovation. He is responsible for identification and evaluation of new technologies, projects, or molecules from external sources.

Prior, Jörg worked for more than 14 years as Technology Scout within Global External Innovation & Alliances inside Global Drug Discovery of Bayer and also headed Bayer´s CoLaborator Berlin, an incubator to host biotech startups. Before, he had several positions within the company, including Head of Microbiological Chemistry Department at former Schering AG and also worked for Schering’s biotech subsidiary Berlex Biosciences in San Francisco and for Hoechst in New Jersey (1995) and UK (1990).

Jörg holds two diploma, one in biotechnology from The Society of Biotechnology Research (GBF) and another in biochemistry from Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry. Here, he also received his PhD working with Prof. Robert Huber (Nobel Prize Laureate 1988). After winning the First McKinsey Business Plan contest (1997), he founded the biotech company “Proteros” (with today more than 80 employees), prior to working for a HighTech consultancy firm for two years – focusing on the LifeScience business of global players (i.e. Baxter, Hoechst, Elan).

He serves as “Executive Board Member and Scientific Advisor to the European Association of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology” (EAPB), and to the Editorial Boards of the “Biotechnology Journal” (BTJ: BTJ) and the “European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics” (EJPB). Jörg is author and editor of the four-volume publication "Modern Biopharmaceuticals: Design, Development and Optimization" published at Wiley-VCH in 2005 and the sequel "Modern Biopharmaceuticals: Recent Success Stories" (2013).

About Bayer - Bayer is a life science company and a global leader in healthcare and nutrition with three divisions (Bayer Crop Science, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Consumer Health).

Our innovative products support efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population.

We help prevent, alleviate and treat diseases.

We also aim to ensure the world has a reliable supply of high-quality food, feed and plant-based raw materials. As part of this endeavor, the responsible use of natural resources is always a top priority.

In line with our vision “Health for all, hunger for none”, we aim to put an end to hunger and help everyone lead a healthy life, while at the same time protecting ecosystems.

That is what we aspire to achieve, guided by our purpose “Science for a better life.”

For more information, please visit: www.bayer.com

Marek Kozlowski (PhD) combines 20 years of experience in research, industry and company building across life science and healthcare with a focus on therapeutics, diagnostics and research tools. He is currently a Senior Investment Director at NRW.Venture and a board director at 4TEEN4 Pharmaceuticals, Abalos Therapeutics, SphingoTec, Resolve Biosciences and Emergence Therapeutics (exited in 2023). Marek is trained as biotechnologist (MScEng, Warsaw University) and molecular biologist (PhD, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Ludwig Maximilians University).

About NRW.Bank - NRW.BANK is Europe's third largest development bank. NRW.Venture is an equity investment arm focusing on Cleantech, Digital and Life Science Sectors (Therapeutics, Diagnostics, MedTech, Research Tools, Manufacturing and Digital Health). Since 2005 NRW.Venture invested into 60 companies, with over 30 belonging to the Life Science & Healthcare portfolio, including Emergence, Rigontec, Direvo, NEO New Oncology, Scienion, Hemovent, phenox, Cevec and many more.

For more information, please visit www.nrwbank.de

Dr. Caroline Lehmann joined LBBW VC in October 2023 where she is responsible for deal flow generation and investment management in the life science sector. Prior to joining LBBW VC, Caroline was with EMBL Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm associated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, where she managed investments in early-stage start-ups and consulted with spin-offs from research organisations and mid-sized companies with a focus on strategy, business models and financing. For one of the big 5 consultancy companies, Caroline did technology deep dives and market research. Prior to her EMBL Ventures activities, she gained experience in clinical trial management being responsible for international vaccination – and oncology trials. Caroline is a PhD biologist by training with a focus on immunology and virology and is passionate about disruptive ideas transforming the current treatment paradigm of patients.

About LBBW Venture Capital - LBBW VC was founded in 1998 as an independent subsidiary of the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. LBBW VC invests in early-stage disruptive IT and life science companies in the DACH region with a passion for entrepreneurs and their ideas. We aim to participate in early-stage financings from Seed to Series A. Our tech team is interested in software driven approaches within Enterprise IT, IoT, Industry 4.0, AI/ML, Big Data & Analytics in various industrial sectors. In the life sciences we invest in drug development, diagnostics, MedTech and Healthcare IT. Investing on behalf of LBBW allows a long-term view which is especially helpful when investing in early innovations. The LBBW VC team has a long-standing investment experience in the covered industries and a history of supporting strong entrepreneurs in turning their ideas into reality.

For more information, please visit: www.lbbwc.de

Tim Lohoff, PhD, is a Senior Associate at Forbion, where he has been part of the investment team since February 2022, operating from the Munich office. His focus involves investing and building companies across therapeutic areas and modalities. Tim was part of the team that helped build Kynexis and holds observer roles on the board of AAVantgarde Bio, Seamless Therapeutics, and Kynexis.

Before his tenure at Forbion, Tim worked for L.E.K. Consulting as a Life Sciences Specialist. In 2021, he received his Ph.D. in Stem Cell Biology & Medicine from the University of Cambridge, where he investigated the epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of stem cell differentiation in health and disease by using and developing novel single-cell multi-omics sequencing technologies. Tim published research in multiple leading journals, including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, and Cell Stem Cell.

During his studies, Tim was involved in the organization of GapSummit 2018, the world’s first intergenerational biotech leadership forum that connected industry leaders with the next generation of biotech pioneers. Tim also completed his MSc in Regenerative Biology and Medicine from the TU Dresden and a BSc in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Bielefeld.

About Forbion - Forbion is a dedicated life sciences venture capital firm with offices in The Netherlands, Germany and Boston. Forbion invests in life science companies that are active in the (bio-)pharmaceutical sector. Forbion manages €3 billion across multiple fund strategies that cover all stages of (bio-)pharmaceutical drug development. Forbion’s current team consists of over 30 life sciences investment professionals that have built an impressive performance track record since the late nineties with investments in over 95 companies across 10 funds. Forbion’s record of sourcing, building and guiding life sciences companies has resulted in many breakthrough therapies and valuable exits. Recent portfolio company successes include Inversago, Vectiv Bio, Versanis, Gyroscope, NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ: NAMS), Engene (NASDAQ: ENGN), and Replimune (NASDAQ: REPL). Besides financial objectives, Forbion selects investments that will positively affect the health and well-being of patients. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment. Forbion operates a joint venture with BGV, the manager of seed and early-stage funds, especially focused on Benelux and Germany.

For more information, please visit: www.forbion.com

Marianne is a Partner at Apollo Health ventures with more than ten years of experience in the life science industry spanning venture investing, strategy consulting and research. She is responsible for Apollo’s investment and company building activities. Prior to joining the Apollo team, Marianne was a Principal with Wellington Partners, a pan-European Venture Capital firm investing in early- and growth-stage Life Science companies. In this role she led Wellington’s investments in Confo Therapeutics and Imcheck Therapeutics, and supported portfolio companies across different stages of development. Before Wellington Marianne was an Investment Manager in the Life Science Team of High-Tech Gründerfonds where she managed a portfolio of seven companies and concluded the initial investments in Cardior Pharmaceuticals and Verovaccines. She represented the fund on the Boards of preOmics and coramaze technologies. Earlier in her career Marianne worked as a management consultant and supported pharmaceutical and medtech companies relative to strategy, portfolio and business unit development. Marianne obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree with distinction in Biotechnology from the RWTH Aachen University and The Scripps Research Institute, and conducted her PhD research focusing on the molecular imaging of cardiac regenerative medicines. Her research has been honored with several awards and published in high-ranking journals.

Martin Strehle, PhD and MBA, is venture and community manager at the Life Science Factory, Göttingen. Martin's focus is on bundling the scientific and business requirements of startups of all phases and providing individual support within the national Life Science Factory ecosystem. Martin completed his master's degree in biochemistry at the Technical University of Munich with a focus on protein biochemistry, virology, and immunology. He holds a doctorate from the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at LMU Munich and an MBA from Munich University of Applied Sciences. After his postdoctoral period, he worked for several years as a project manager for the development of the German Biosecurity Program under the direction of the Federal Foreign Office and was responsible for the Eastern European regions of the South Caucasus. Martin also worked in lab-tech at HP Medizintechnik GmbH and founded the spin-off INCYTON, where he served as CEO.

About Life Science Factory - The Life Science Factory is a life science hub in Germany with fully equipped laboratory infrastructure in Göttingen and (soon) Munich, offering scientific teams a sandbox environment in which they can quickly focus on research and development. The aim of the Life Science Factory is to lower the entry barriers for founding a start-up in the life sciences in the areas of biotechnology, agriculture, and novel food. The aim is to mobilize the entrepreneurial spirit of national and international scientists and to maximize the economic success of teams through the lively ecosystem of investors, mentors, and industry experts as coaches. The venture building arm of the Life Science Factory, together with the Fraunhofer and Helmholtz communities, bundles various activities in the flagship accelerator ELSA (Entrepreneural Life Science Accelerator).

For more information, please visit: https://www.lifescience-factory.com

Alex holds a PhD degree in computational chemistry and an MBA from Mannheim Business School. Alex brings more than 10 years of experience in the biotech space, being a co-founder of drug development startup himself and then moving to the VC side. He successfully invested in Biotech and Medtech startups from a VC fund, RBV Capital, and from the CVC arm of tier 1 reinsurance company SCOR.

About RV Invest - RVI is a VC fund of Vetter Pharma family office. We’re investing in highly differentiated technical solutions that can become future standards of care. Our mission is to support innovations that improve patients‘ lifes. We engage early and stand alongside founders and researchers to bring outstanding ideas to the market.