The rest of the 100 (in alphabetical order): Anja König, Isabel Probst, executives, UZH Life Sciences Fund
University of Zurich’s Sfr20m ($21m) UZH Life Sciences Fund was set up in 2017 as a joint venture between endowment UZH Foundation and Novartis Venture Fund, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm Novartis.
The two executives responsible for the collaboration are Anja König, global head of the Novartis Venture Fund, and Isabel Probst, project manager fundraising at UZH Foundation. König worked at consultant McKinsey before joining Novartis in 2006 and was promoted to her current role in June 2017.
Probst has worked at UZH Foundation since June 2015 following roles at Credit Suisse Trust and Clariden Leu Trust.
One of the UZH Life Sciences Fund’s first investments was in Zurich skin-graft technology spinout Cutiss in September last year. The fund injected $1m to help accelerate commercialisation efforts.
Under the initial agreement reached by the two organisations, the money raised for the Life Sciences Fund by UZH Foundation will be matched by Novartis Venture Fund up to the level of $10.5m.
