Founder-led Biotech on Tour
SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco, CA
Join Pillar VC and co-hosts for the SF stop of the Founder-led Biotech Tour. This event is a curated evening of networking with founders, PhD students and leaders of the founder-led biotech movement.
San Francisco Co-hosts
Seemay
Chou
Kevin
Parker
Lex
Rovner
Maricel
Saenez
Sri
Kosuri
Josh
Moser
Ivana
Vasic
Nicole
Paulk
Joe Betts
Lacroix
David
Schaffer
Brandon
Wilson
Alfredo
Andere
Johnny
Yu
Trevor
Martin
Ashley
Zehnder
Armand
Cognetta
Nathaniel
Chu
Lada
Nuzhna
Eeshit
Vaishnav
Nicholas Larus Stone
Michael
Becich
AJ
Addae
Brandon
White
Celine
Halioua
Jasmin
Hume
Lachlan
MacKinnon
Raphael
Townshend
Nicolas
Tilmans
San Francisco Co-hosts
Seemay
Chou
Arcadia Science is a hybrid life sciences company that is part-research, part-Start-up Studio. We are developing a biological discovery platform that helps search the Tree-of-Life for commercializable opportunities, which is used by scientist founders in our Studio to initiate translational research directions. Our studio funds and incubates projects that have the potential to become therapeutics spin-out companies.
Lex
Rovner
64x Bio is a series A-stage biotech company originating from Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute. Using novel high throughput genome engineering and screening technologies in a design loop with computational tools, 64x Bio is developing highly optimized cell lines, as well as other tools and technologies for the manufacturing of viral vectors.
Maricel
Saenz
Commodity coffee production is double trouble. It contributes to and suffers from the effects of climate change. So we got to work to protect our favorite ritual and our home planet. Minus produces coffee with less water, less carbon emissions, and shorter supply chains. It’s coffee minus the beans.
Josh
Moser
Plonts is a plant-based dairy company that utilizes traditional fermentation to create products that are delicious, nutritious, and cheaper than their animal-based alternatives
Johnny
Yu
Vevo therapeutics is building the world’s largest single cell atlases and leveraging them for drug development in Oncology. Vevo’s Mosaic platform enables data generation across many patients in a single in vivo system. Combined with AI, the platform enables discovery of novel scaffolds and patient subgroups for precision oncology programs. The platform was developed at UCSF in Hani Goodarzi and Kevan Shokat’s laboratories.
David
Schaffer
QB3 is the University of California’s hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in life science. The institute supports UC researchers and empowers California founders to launch startup companies and partner with industry.
Brandon
Wilson
Range Bio is making proteomics clinically actionable by developing scalable and cost-effective platforms for high-throughput protein quantification. Their innovative technology enables precise and accessible solutions across healthcare, with a vision to revolutionize personalized medicine and early disease detection.
Alfredo
Andere
The goal of The Latch Project is to build and disseminate the data infrastructure of the biocomputing revolution
Michael
Becich
The path towards a cure begins with a sample. Cache DNA is revolutionizing the way molecular biospecimens like DNA/RNA are stored and managed, with a focus on scalability, standardization, and sustainability. Our goal is to empower labs with innovative solutions that protect the integrity of their most precious data.
John
Suliman
ShapeTX is pioneering the field of programmable RNA medicines to repair the genetic causes of diseases. By merging innovations in AI and RNA technology to generate and analyze hundreds of billions of therapeutic possibilities, ShapeTX is developing breakthroughs in RNA editing, next-generation AAVs, and disruptive gene therapy manufacturing.
Ashley
Zehnder
Fauna Bio is a biotechnology company using comparative genomics and data from “extreme mammals” capable of surviving conditions or physiological events that would be lethal to humans to identify drug targets to treat human disease. By comparing gene expression in animal species, Fauna Bio unlocks unique insights that drive innovative approaches to human disease prevention and treatment.
Eeshit
Vaishnav
Sequome designs & decodes sequences for developing therapeutics with our partners, which include: Fortune 500 Pharmaceutical & Technology companies, in addition to leading biotech & life science companies.
Armand
Cognetta
General Proximity is a biotech start-up pioneering the next generation of induced proximity medicines
Nathaniel
Chu
Kevin
Parker
Cartography Biosciences is building a differentiated oncology pipeline of antibody-based therapies designed to target tumors more precisely than existing therapeutics. Cartography’s ATLAS and SUMMIT drug discovery platforms are powered by an industry-leading, fully integrated dataset spanning over a thousand cell types across the healthy body and large-scale profiling of individuals cells from patient tumors.
Lada
Nuzhna
Epi Labs is developing multiplex epigenetic editors for age-related diseases
Nicholas Larus Stone
Sphinx Bio is a life science software startup building the next generation data platform for modern biotechs. Sphinx removes the repetitive, tedious tasks that waste hours of scientist time each week, while automagically building a robust data lakehouse for computational teams.
Brandon
White
Eliminating chemical toxicity by replacing experiments with AI.
Lachlan
MacKinnon
Replay is a genome writing company, which aims to define the future of genomic medicine through reprogramming biology by writing and delivering big DNA. The Company has assembled a toolkit of disruptive platform technologies – including a high payload capacity HSV platform, a hypoimmunogenic platform, and a genome writing platform – to address the scientific challenges currently limiting clinical progress and preventing genomic medicine from realising its full potential.
Raphael
Townshend
Atomic AI is an AI-native drug discovery company harnessing cutting-edge foundation models trained with extensive proprietary RNA-centric data, to understand the physics, functions, and interactions of RNA.
Nicolas
Tilmans
Discovering new medicines by combining ultra throughput biochemistry and machine learning.
Adil
Yusuf
We build AI models to create novel, high performing biomolecules faster. Our AI models simulate the biophysical properties of biomolecules and identify the most promising ones to be tested in the lab.
Egan
Peltan
Stealth Startup
Sam
Rodriques
Minus Coffee gives you that legendary coffee taste and all the morning pick-me-up you crave, while also leaving you proud that you are doing your part to contribute to the planet.
Richard
Yu
Abalone Bio is tackling one of pharma’s toughest challenges—discovering antibody drugs that safely and specifically activate hard-to-target membrane proteins like G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).
Tim
Schnabel
Switch Bioworks, the living fertilizer company, spun out of Stanford University in 2022 and is headquartered in San Carlos, CA. As part of the growing global bioeconomy, Switch Bioworks pledges its mission to improve planet health while also dropping the price of fertilizer at the farm gate.
April
Schleck
Tess
Bevers
Novogaia is accelerating the discovery of natural products from fungi through cutting-edge machine learning and metabolomics. They are building a platform to rapidly screen fungal chemical space, identifying novel bioactive molecules for applications across health and agriculture.
Ashton
Trotman-Grant
Karyo Studios is an entertainment company that explores the future of synthetic biology through game design. Our flagship platform, Project Grow, uses multi-agent environments to simulate and capture the ‘What If…?’ of biotechnology through gameplay.
Ivana
Vasic
The egg retrieval process, which is at the core of IVF, has remained largely unchanged for over 40 years. At Vitra Labs, we are pioneering a new approach to egg retrieval driven by high-throughput, autologous cell fate engineering.
Janine
Sengstack
Junevity is a biotech rewinding complex metabolic disease. Based on 6 years of breakthrough research at UCSF, Junevity’s REWIND platform identifies high-level regulators of metabolic disease with known pharmacological pathways. Junevity is advancing multiple therapeutic programs towards a new era of medicines.
Mammoth Biosciences is a biotechnology company focused on leveraging its proprietary ultracompact CRISPR systems to develop long-term curative therapies, as well as other applications such as decentralized precision diagnostics.
Trevor
Martin
AJ
Addae
SULA LABS is a cosmetic R&D lab that develops and tests formulas and ingredients for darker skin tones & Black owned brands. Current client portfolio includes brands affiliated with Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Credo Beauty, and indie brands.
Jasmin
Hume
Shiru uses AI, bioinformatics, and precision biology to discover and produce high-value ingredients.
Virtual Events
Virtual events are open registration. You’ll need to register for each event separately.
DAY 1
Virtual speed networking
Rapid 2-minute chats with other attendees, fostering quick yet impactful connections from wherever you are. Register
DAY 2
Virtual co-founder match
Dive into curated conversations on the Hopin platform. Discover your next startup collaborator. Register
DAY 3
Virtual speed networking
Rapid 2-minute chats with other attendees, fostering quick yet impactful connections from wherever you are. Register
Want to get involved?
If you have a concept for a virtual event that aligns with our mission, we want to hear from you! Whether it’s a workshop, panel discussion, or a unique interactive session, share your vision with us, and let’s bring it to life together.
Email madelyn@pillar.vc
