Subscribe
Search
Close this search box.
Subscribe
Search
Close this search box.

Christina Takke

Human-first drug discovery: how start-ups can stay ahead of the game 

Every start-up team ponders the all-important question: how to convince investors to fund their idea? Currently, the fundraising landscape is particularly challenging for most early-stage biotech ventures. A fortunate few are raising exorbitant rounds, allowing them to advance their products through preclinical development, but many others are struggling to find the funding they require. In this article, we share our investor perspective on what can help companies to stand out from the crowd, given recent advancements in drug development.

Lean years for company creation in Europe?

After an exceptional sequence of socio-economic shocks over the past few years, the number of new companies being formed in key European biotech hubs has stalled. Early-stage investors need to roll up their sleeves and help to crank the engine of EU innovation back to life.

Why diversity matters in management teams, and how to achieve it

The biotech industry is suffering from a serious talent shortage, with start-ups in particular having an increasingly hard time filling C-level positions. Yet despite this difficulty, many job searches are failing to look beyond the industry’s stereotypical candidate, throwing their hands up in despair when the typical white middle-aged man can’t be found to fill the role. In broadening the search to include more diverse candidates – including women and people with different ethnic backgrounds – we will not only help to address the talent shortage but also strengthen the start-ups themselves. So how can a company build and maintain a more diverse management team?

Economic Success: infinite growth is only possible in a diverse ecosystem

In recent public discussions on economic progress, people have been asking: is infinite growth really the best way to measure economic success? With a background in biology, having entered the investment world in the year 2000, Christina Takke found this an intriguing question best viewed through the metaphor of life in a test tube versus a real ecosystem.

To fund or not to fund: the psychology of investment decisions

Much has been written about the psychology of decision making and how venture capitalists choose which companies they want to fund. Although due diligence is an important part of the process, first impressions and emotions play a huge role in reaching that stage. Diverse teams are vital to making sure that gut reactions aren’t driving poor investment choices in VC funds.

Can Darwin’s theory explain why we get sick?

While physicians care for their individual patients and are interested in the factors contributing to the individual’s condition, evolutionary biologists investigate the cause of the biological phenomenon, trying to understand for example why a certain disease has developed in a particular species such as our own Homo sapiens. By combining the view of physicians with the view of evolutionary biologists, the field of evolutionary medicine has the potential to improve our understanding of certain diseases and how to prevent them.

Cell therapies: opportunities and challenges

Recent activities in the cell therapy field have prompted many investment funds to pour fresh and increasing capital into this space. In this review, we share some observations and highlight a few of the questions that arise when new modalities cross the bridge from bench to bed.

Potential impact of the corona crisis on the life sciences industry

Over the past few months, every news headline has focused on COVID-19. The industry is accelerating its own in-house research to match the pace of the pandemic. The business development market is wide open, as large and mid-sized pharma companies are interested in partnering with early stage initiatives to advance investigational COVID-19 programs (in addition to pursuing their own in-house activities).

Closing the gender gap in biotech funding: a follow-up study

In this follow-up to a previous VC Views article, V-Bio Ventures takes a look at several questions that were generated by readers. The VC firm carried out a study of the gender composition of investment teams and the impact of these ratios on investment decisions, reflecting on some strategies that might help women with executive ambitions reach their goals.

Closing the gender gap in biotech funding

Companies with a good gender balance consistently outperform those with only men in their management teams. Yet despite this, start-ups with female founders and management team members are consistently underfunded compared to all male companies. Could it be that the gender gap in funding has its roots in the gender disparity in the financing firms themselves?