Phase Capital

It was the second time Phase Capital brought together an inspiring community of biotech leaders! It was so exciting to attend and meet amazing people at the event. Already looking forward to the next time Kavya Sharman visits Chicago! Grateful for all the meaningful connections I made there.

Earlier this month we hosted our second Biotech Breakfast in Chicago, hosted in partnership with the CBC BioCapital Summit! This time, we: ? Welcomed more than double the attendees from our last breakfast. ? Collaborated with twice as many sponsors and partners. ? Set up Office Hours for personalized mentorship and advice. ? Hosted a full day of coworking and networking Starting a biotech company is incredibly difficult. Starting one outside one of the major hubs is even more difficult. Since we don't have the physical density of founders, investors, and strategic alliances, we have to create opportunities to connect with each other. Building this fabric of the ecosystem, one thread at a time, has lead to some incredible partnerships, investments, and friendships. While this is our last event of the year, I'm excited to share that 2025 is already shaping up to be a year of more connections and collaborations. Thank you to everyone who attended, participated, and supported us. More to follow! Phase Capital, Chicago Biomedical Consortium, TeamWorking by TechNexus, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Collaborative Drug Discovery - CDD Vault, Department of Growth, Stout Street Capital, Portal Innovations, LLC, Vong BioPharma Consultants

I had such a blast kicking off the Chicago BioCapital Summit last week with our inaugural pre-summit event, "Empowered Perspectives: High Tea with Women Investors in Life Sciences", co-hosted by the Chicago Biomedical Consortium and Qral Ventures. A huge thank you to my partner-in-crime Dimitra Georganopoulou for helping bring this vision to life, live harpist and all! We had a wonderful morning full of conversation, connection and inspiring talks by Kavya Sharman (Phase Capital), ELIZABETH WALDER (Walder Foundation), Michelle (Gould) Pfeifer (J.P. Morgan), Anastasia Budinskaya (NFX) and Dana Watt, PhD (Breakout Ventures) covering topics that ranged from building an inclusive biotech ecosystem to supporting career progression in venture capital. Thank you to our fantastic speakers - I'm grateful for and inspired by your incredible vision, drive, and authenticity. And a huge thank you to our wonderful attendees for engaging and sharing your ideas and insights - let's keep the conversations flowing and continue to support each other! Finally, a shoutout to #FoundHer Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH for the lovely Yobee gifts and to my incredible Chicago Biomedical Consortium and Portal Innovations, LLC colleagues who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event possible! Until next year! ?? ? ? #CBCSummit2024

Last week's Chicago BioCapital Summit hosted by the Chicago Biomedical Consortium was one for the books! We began the day with a Women's Investor High Tea - seeing so many incredible women creating meaningful change was incredible. One of my favorite lessons shared was from Dana Watt, PhD, who emphasized "be a thought partner, not just deal flow partner, and have thoughts!" The ideas and insights in the room were incredible, and we need to do a better job of sharing these with others! The Portal Innovations, LLC pitch showcase featured a range of companies from early-stage startups to those in Series A/B funding rounds. It was exciting to see talent across the Portal hubs in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Boston coming together and presenting game-changing ideas. The summit itself the next day was electric. Keynote speaker Ted W. Love, MD captured this well, noting that, "combination technologies" will be most productive for creating new therapies." While biotech innovation has traditionally been centered on the coasts, that's shifting fast. Shobha Parthasarathi and Erandi De Silva, PhD's fireside chat about the story of Forge Biologics and the future of biotech in the Midwest was nothing short of inspiring. It was an honor to be a part of this event. Huge shoutout to Michelle Burbea Hoffmann, Alexandra de Paz, Eleonora Gatta, Ph.D, and the entire CBC team. This will go down as one of the most memorable conferences of 2024. Excited for the next one!?

?? Inspiring 2 days at the Chicago BioCapital Summit 2024 (Chicago Biomedical Consortium)! ?? The summit kicked off with the Women Investors Event, organized in partnership with Qral Ventures, celebrating a powerful community of #women dedicated to creating a more #inclusive biotech ecosystem and uplifting female funders. Special thanks to Dimitra Georganopoulou (Qral Ventures) and Alexandra de Paz (@Chicago Biomedical Consortium) for their visionary efforts in bringing together these incredible women: Kavya Sharman (Phase Capital), ELIZABETH WALDER (Walder Foundation), Michelle (Gould) Pfeifer (J.P. Morgan), Anastasia Budinskaya (NFX), and Dana Watt, PhD (Breakout Ventures). ?? Julia Monfrini Peev moderated on the second day the “Attracting Capital” panel, featuring industry experts Martin Burke (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Stephen Squinto (J.P. Morgan), Dana Watt, PhD (Breakout Ventures), Tim Walbert (former Chairman, President and CEO of Horizon), and Michal Preminger (Johnson & Johnson Innovation). ?? Panelists highlighted the need for “smart money” in biotech funding, combining capital with strategic guidance, as funding activity grows despite liquidity challenges. #Chicago is emerging as a #biotech hub with strong intellectual assets, while the #Midwest’s collaborative culture supports innovative companies in biosynthesis, AI, and quantum. ?? Huge thanks to the CBC team for their leadership: Michelle Burbea Hoffmann, Eleonora Gatta, Ph.D, Alexandra de Paz, Corinna K., and Jessica I. ?? It was fantastic to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new ones, all driven by a shared vision of advancing healthcare. #Chicago #Healthcare #Midwest #CBCSummit2024

Proud to be a part of the latest Biotech Breakfast with Phase Capital! It was fantastic to meet with the founders building Chicago’s biotech community.?The Department of Growth is here to help - happy to chat on positioning, commercialization and scaling of next gen devices and treatments. Huge thanks to Kavya Sharman for leading the charge! And to our partners at Chicago Biomedical Consortium, TeamWorking by TechNexus, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Collaborative Drug Discovery - CDD Vault, Portal Innovations, LLC Vong BioPharma Consultants and Stout Street Capital. #biotech #startups #Chicago #marketing

Proud to be a part of the latest Biotech Breakfast with Phase Capital led by Kavya Sharman! It was fantastic to meet with the founders building Chicago’s biotech community.?The Department of Growth is here to help - happy to chat on positioning, commercialization and scaling of next gen devices and treatments. #biotech #startups #Chicago #marketing

As we approach the BioCapital Summit this week, we want to thank our supporting partners for championing this event and helping us bring attention to the incredible academic innovators across the Midwest that are changing the future of life sciences! BioCentury Inc. Portal Innovations, LLC Phase Capital 1bio Banc of California Your support of the CBC and the Summit helps connect emerging talent with key resources and strengthens our region’s life sciences ecosystem. Together, we’re unlocking new opportunities for innovation, economic impact and healthcare solutions. #CBCSummit2024 #ChicagoBio #MidwestInnovation #AcademicExcellence #LifeSciences

We are heading to Chicago this week for the Chicago Biomedical Consortium BioCapital Summit and the Phase Capital Biotech Breakfast + Coworking Day on Friday! This is honestly a full circle moment, because exactly one year ago, we hosted our first major networking event: VC Day. Pioneered by Stout Street Capital (John Francis, Cindy Ho) and inspired by Darrel Frater ??, we hosted an incredible day of coworking and networking in Nashville. Fast forward one year, and we've integrated our Biotech Breakfast with focused Office Hours with industry experts and a full day of coworking and networking (plus catered lunch). We have over 100 registered and are quickly approaching a waitlist—don't miss this chance to connect with amazing founders, investors, and experts in biotech! I can't thank our sponsors and partners enough for their support: Chicago Biomedical Consortium, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Collaborative Drug Discovery - CDD Vault, TeamWorking by TechNexus, Department of Growth, Stout Street Capital, and Portal Innovations, LLC. Details and registration: https://lu.ma/zuqsn2we

Sharing an entrepreneurial postdoc opportunity at Vanderbilt University! A longtime mentor and former professor, Dr. Todd Giorgio, along with his co-PI, Dr. Jennifer Herington, are seeking two dedicated entrepreneurial postdocs to join their research teams at Vanderbilt University. They’ve recently received a SPARK award of $3.4M through ARPA-H to tackle the critical issue of preterm birth prevention with innovative at-home solutions! As a former student of Dr. Giorgio, I can’t speak highly enough about him, his team, and this unique opportunity. Dr. Giorgio’s lab has spun out impactful venture-backed companies, including PATH EX, Inc. founded by Sinead E. Miller, PhD and BioNanovations Corporation founded by Charleson Bell. This project holds similar potential for meaningful innovation and commercialization. Available Positions: ? Advanced Functional Biomaterials for Reproductive Pharmacology (Dr. Todd Giorgio’s Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University) ? Reproductive Pharmacology (Dr. Jennifer Herington’s Lab, Vanderbilt University Medical Center) If interested, drop a comment or DM me for details or an intro to the team!