Zach Weinberg, co-founder and CEO of Curie.Bio, is redefining early-stage biotech investing with an operator’s mindset and a founder-first philosophy. His approach combines funding with operational support and direct access to world-class drug hunters to dramatically increase odds of success. Today, Zach sits down with Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners to discuss the massive risk associated with traditional therapeutics startups, how pairing a drug discovery partner with a seed investor solves those inefficiencies, and how biotech, the global economy and the political landscape are all closely connected.
Learn more about Sapphire Partners: https://sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners
Learn more about OpenLP: https://openlp.vc
Learn more about Asylum Ventures: https://asylum.vc
Learn more about Curie.Bio: https://curie.bio
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CHAPTERS:
0:00 Welcome to Origins
5:08 Was Hunter High School Harder Than Penn?
10:22 Transitioning From SaaS to Biotech
20:55 Why Is Building a Biotech Venture Firm So Hard?
27:55 Building Curie.Bio
32:24 Zach on Drug Discovery
43:12 Biotech in China
49:42 AI in Biotech
54:51 "The Manhattan Project of Biology"
Origins is produced by Sapphire Ventures in partnership with Pod People.
Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures, LLC (“Sapphire”). Any offer or solicitation of securities by Sapphire may only be made in accordance with the current offering documents for a managed Fund in which Sapphire is an advisor. Additionally, Sapphire does not solicit or make its services available to the public; such offerings may only be provided to accredited investors and qualified purchasers defined within the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Information provided reflects Sapphire Ventures’ views as of a particular time. Such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire Ventures shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. While Sapphire Ventures has used reasonable efforts to obtain information from reliable sources, Sapphire makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of third party information presented herein. Nothing presented herein may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular investment opportunity or strategy. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
