Jason Pontin is a Partner at DCVC, where his belief that emerging technologies and new scientific insights can solve urgent challenges and expand human possibilities inspires his investments in Deep Tech and life sciences companies. Among his operational responsibilities at DCVC, he helps portfolio companies tell their stories.
He was the first investor in DCVC-backed Totus Medicines, where he is a founding board member, and in Menten.AI. Before joining DCVC, he was a senior partner and senior advisor at Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge, MA, where he worked with the enterprise’s therapeutics and agriculture companies.
Jason was CEO and editor in chief of MIT Technology Review and editor of Red Herring magazine, the bible of the dot.com boom. At MIT, he founded MIT Solve, the Institute’s open innovation platform, which deploys capital and other resources toward solutions to grand challenges; chaired the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Institute’s global entrepreneurial community; and was senior advisor to MIT’s 16th President, Susan Hockfield.
He has written for a range of publications including a column for the New York Times and articles for many other newspapers and magazines like The Economist, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe and The Believer. He still writes, mostly for WIRED. At TED 2013, he delivered a Talk, “Can technology solve our big problems?” which has been seen 1.6 million times.
Jason was raised in Berkeley and on a farm on the North Coast of California, where his family raised game birds for restaurants in the Bay Area. He was educated in the United Kingdom at Keble College, Oxford University, where he was awarded a B.A. and M.A in humanities fields completely unrelated to his investment interests.
Michael Daniels
HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Michael Daniels was appointed as Head of Product Management in March 2021 and brings over 15 years’ experience of marketing and product management across the biotechnology sector.
His previous roles include Director level positions in Marketing and Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific and Arcis Biotechnology, leadership of the Cell and Molecular Research Tools business segment at GE Healthcare and head of Marketing & Business Development at Promega UK.
Michael holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Protein Biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Newcastle and has also completed numerous professional qualifications and training in marketing, management, and IP law.
Matthew Hayes
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER (Interim CEO)
Matthew Hayes is the Chief Technology Officer and current interim CEO of Evonetix, and was a founder member of the team that created the company in 2015.
Before joining Evonetix, Matthew was Head of Technology for the Global Medtech Division of Cambridge Consultants. He joined Cambridge Consultants in 2001, and was responsible for the leadership of many of their largest and most technically challenging projects.
Matthew specialises in multi-disciplinary system design, medical device development, ASIC design and opto-electronics. He holds a PhD and MEng in Electronic Engineering, both from Loughborough University.
Tim Brears
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Tim Brears was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Evonetix in May 2017. Tim previously served as Chief Executive of a number of bioscience companies, including Xention, a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the discovery and development of ion-channel-modulating drugs for the control of atrial fibrillation, and Gendaq, a company focused on the development of zinc finger proteins for gene regulation. Prior to that, he spent ten years in the US, initially as a long-term fellow of the European Molecular Biology Organisation at Rockefeller University, New York, and subsequently as Director of Licensing at Ciba-Geigy (later Novartis) Agribusiness in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Tim is a graduate of Oxford University and holds a PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University. He also has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and is a Registered US Patent Agent.
Tim currently serves as chair of the Engineering Biology Advisory Committee of the BIA and is a member of the UK’s Engineering Biology Leadership Council.
Tim Brears
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Tim Brears was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Evonetix in May 2017.
Tim previously served as Chief Executive of a number of bioscience companies, including Xention, a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the discovery and development of ion-channel-modulating drugs for the control of atrial fibrillation, and Gendaq, a company focused on the development of zinc finger proteins for gene regulation.
Prior to that, he spent ten years in the US, initially as a long-term fellow of the European Molecular Biology Organisation at Rockefeller University, New York, and subsequently as Director of Licensing at Ciba-Geigy (later Novartis) Agribusiness in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Tim is a graduate of Oxford University and holds a PhD in molecular biology from Cambridge University. He also has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and is a Registered US Patent Agent.
Tim currently serves as chair of the Engineering Biology Advisory Committee of the BIA and is a member of the UK’s Engineering Biology Leadership Council.
Paul Beastall
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Paul Beastall is the Head of Strategy and member of the senior leadership team at Cambridge Consultants. He has experience working in a broad range of roles in start-ups, large corporations, government and consultancy.
Paul specialises in the commercialisation of innovative technology and the impact of technological developments on businesses and society. He works with some of Cambridge Consultants’ largest clients, helping them maximise the value of innovation. He works across a broad range of sectors from telecommunications to consumer products, focusing on the impact of digital platforms to enable new business models.
He holds a masters’ degree in electronic systems engineering from the University of York and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Andrew Briggs
PROFESSOR OF NANOMATERIALS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Professor Andrew Briggs is Professor of Nanomaterials at the University of Oxford, where his research focuses on materials and techniques for quantum information technologies and investigating vibrational states of nanotubes and charge transport through single molecules in graphene nanogaps. In addition to publishing nearly 600 peer-reviewed scientific papers, he is the author of several books that address scientific issues in the context of a broader humanist debate. His interests include understanding the influence of new technologies and how society views their potential impact on human flourishing. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge.
Sir David Klenerman
PROFESSOR OF BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Professor Sir David Klenerman is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, where he also earned his PhD. His research focuses on developing quantitative biophysical methods, applied to biology and biomedicine. Prof Klenerman co-developed next-generation DNA sequencing methods that were subsequently commercialised by Solexa (now Illumina), which he also co-founded. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and The Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and has received numerous awards including a Royal Medal and Interdisciplinary Award of the RSC.
Nick McCooke
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nick McCooke is an experienced and successful bio-entrepreneur, well-known for his pioneering leadership in the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) space. As CEO of Solexa, he developed the aspirational vision of the $1,000 genome. He built and led the team that developed Solexa’s NGS platform and its listing on NASDAQ, which led subsequently to its sale to Illumina, now world leaders in NGS.
Nick has worked in the biotechnology industry for over 30 years, primarily in the areas of NGS and biomarkers. At London-based DNA Electronics, Nick is a key member of the team leading the application of NGS technologies into near-to-patient clinical diagnostics with the LiDia platform. In addition to his non-executive directorship with Evonetix, he is a non-executive director of AIM-listed biotech company Bioventix PLC, chairman of Sydney-based Longas Technologies, chairman of Belgium-based lnc-RNA specialist Biogazelle and a member of the scientific advisory board of venture philanthropy organisation Fondation Fournier-Majoie in Brussels.
He has an MBA from the London Business School.
Hermann Hauser
INVESTOR & BOARD OBSERVER
Hermann Hauser, entrepreneur and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, supported the foundation of Evonetix in 2015, together with Cambridge Consultants.
In 40 year career as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Hermann has helped start a number of technology companies, including Acorn Computers and its spin-out ARM, as well as Cambridge Silicon Radio and next-generation DNA sequencing technology company Solexa, which became the market leader and was later acquired by Illumina.
Hermann was awarded an Honorary CBE for ‘innovative service to the UK enterprise sector’ in 2001. In 2004, he was appointed a member of the Government Council for Science & Technology. In 2012, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his contribution to the translation of science into business, in 2013 a Distinguished Fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, and in 2015 an Honorary Knight Commander (KBE) for services to engineering and industry.
Hermann holds an MA in Physics from Vienna University and a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
Vishal Gulati
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dr. Vishal Gulati is one of the Europe’s leading digital healthcare investors. Vishal is a qualified physician and chairman of the Digital Health Forum. Over the last decade he has championed deals across areas including diagnostics, devices & biotech. He is currently on the boards of Horizon Discovery PLC and EcoEos. His investments include Napo Pharmaceuticals, Glenmark, Renovo, Phagenesis. He has also held board positions at Psynova Neurotech, Bioscale and Enigma Diagnostics. Previously, Vishal worked at Atlas Venture, The Wellcome Trust and Radiant Capital.
Jim Tananbaum
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jim Tananbaum is the founder and chief executive officer of Foresite Capital, a U.S.-focused healthcare investment firm founded in 2011 that has $3 billion in assets under management. Jim assembles the people, ideas and money needed to launch products that save lives and improve healthcare. He is always looking for visionaries: men and women with insights into therapeutics, devices, diagnostics or services that could, with the right support, change the world. During the last three decades Jim has been a thought partner for some of the most impactful and fastest growth companies of their generation including: 10x Genomics (NASDAQ: TXG), Amerigroup (NASDAQ: ANTM), and Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ).
Raquel Sanches-Kuiper
DIRECTOR OF BIOLOGY
Raquel Sanches-Kuiper was appointed Director of Biology of Evonetix in February 2017.
Raquel is an experienced R&D leader with a track-record of taking new ideas from concept phase to commercialised products in the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) space.
Before joining Evonetix, Raquel was at Solexa (then Illumina Inc.) from 2002 as a Protein Engineer and major contributor to its disruptive NGS technology. She then moved to leadership roles of global multidisciplinary projects to support product development and introduction of new products. She also acted as a Consultant for projects in collaboration with Genomics England, Technology Development and Applications, and Customer Support.
Prior to that, Raquel was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, in the area of cancer gene therapy.
Raquel holds a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Auvergne and a MSci in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon.
