SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SR One, a trans-Atlantic venture capital firm investing in life sciences companies, announced today that Chris Chai and Peter Van Vlasselaer, Ph.D. have joined the firm as Venture Partners. Both individuals have strong track records in the formation and evolution of early-stage biotechnology companies, with an emphasis on drug development, fundraising, and operations.
“Chris and Peter bring an extraordinary depth of financial and drug-hunting expertise to our team. As we move forward to build on our newly independent fund and portfolio of emerging life sciences companies, their insight, perspective, and experience will add to the expertise already resident in our trans-Atlantic team,” said Simeon J. George, M.D., SR One Chief Executive Officer.
“Chris and Peter have long-standing relationships with the firm, having held senior management positions in successful SR One portfolio companies. They bring proven track records as well as a demonstrated ability to create highly productive working relationships with scientific founders, fellow management and other key stakeholders,” Dr. George added.
Chris Chai, Venture Partner, Capital Markets
Chris comes to SR One from Principia Biopharma where, as Chief Financial Officer for seven years, he guided the company from an early-stage private venture-backed company to the public markets and, ultimately, through to its acquisition by Sanofi for $3.7 billion in September 2020. SR One was an early Series A investor in Principia, and remained involved at the Board level all the way through to the acquisition. Chris will focus on developing and executing financing strategies for portfolio companies, in particular those advancing from the late-stage private arena towards the public capital markets and beyond. Importantly, his background of over 20 years in executive management at biotech companies and investment banking includes a mix of operating CFO and finance leadership roles at Principia, MAP Pharmaceuticals and CV Therapeutics, as well as at the bulge-bracket bank, J.P. Morgan. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.
Peter Van Vlasselaer, Ph.D., Venture Partner
Peter brings to SR One over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry, including CEO and/or Executive Chairman roles at SR One portfolio companies True North Therapeutics, which he co-founded and was acquired in 2017 by Bioverativ (now part of Sanofi), and iPierian, acquired in 2014 by Bristol Myers Squibb. He will work with SR One to launch new companies as well as to review investment opportunities. Most recently, Peter was the Founder, President, and CEO of ARMO Biosciences, a company he led through to its acquisition by Eli Lilly in 2018 for $1.6 billion, shortly after its IPO. Prior to that, Peter founded and held CEO positions at ARRESTO and AVIDIA, where he led the companies to their acquisition by Gilead and AMGEN, respectively. He has also held executive positions at InterMune and Dendreon. Peter currently serves on the Boards of Amphivena, where he is Executive Chair, Asceneuron (an SR One portfolio company) where he is the Chair, and RGENIX. He has a degree in Zoology and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Division of Rheumatology at the Stanford University Medical School and DNAX Research Institute. He has authored several peer-reviewed scientific publications and book chapters, and he is an inventor on multiple patents.
About SR One
SR One Capital Management is a leading trans-Atlantic biotech venture capital firm that partners with top entrepreneurs, scientists, and investment partners to seek to build elite biotechnology companies. Our mission is to translate ground-breaking technologies into next generation medicines to benefit patients with significant unmet medical needs. The firm in 2020 was spun out of GSK where it was founded in 1985, and has a presence in San Francisco, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and London, UK. For more information, please visit www.srone.com.
