UK – SR One, a trans-Atlantic venture capital firm investing in life sciences companies, added Chris Chai and Peter Van Vlasselaer, Ph.D. to Venture Partner role.
Chris Chai, Venture Partner, Capital MarketsChai 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. Chai 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. Peter Van Vlasselaer, Ph.D., Venture PartnerVan Vlasselaer 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, Van Vlasselaer 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, Van Vlasselaer founded and held CEO positions at ARRESTO and AVIDIA, where he led the companies to their acquisition by Gilead and AMGEN, respectively. Van Vlasselaer 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. Led by Simeon J. George, M.D., SR One Chief Executive Officer, SR One Capital Management is a trans-Atlantic biotech venture capital firm that partners with top entrepreneurs, scientists, and investment partners to seek to build elite biotechnology companies. In 2020, the firm was spun out of GSK where it was founded in 1985, and has a presence in San Francisco, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and London, UK.11/02/2021
