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Industrial Biotech

Afyren

Arzeda

Avantium

Biosyntia 

Biotalys 

CelluComp

DMC Biotechnologies

DNA Script

Elicit Plant

EnginZyme

GFBiochemicals

Meiogenix

MetGen

Micropep Technologies

Microphyt

Novameat

Prometheus Materials 

Protera

Qorium

Crossover

Synthace

Verley (formerly Bon Vivant)

Joško Bobanović

Sustainability
+ Impact

Our Industrial Biotech Strategy invests in early-stage sustainable companies across the agriculture, chemicals, food and materials sectors.

Michael Krel

Guillaume Baxter

Michael is a Partner in Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Strategy. He joined us in 2013.

His primary focus is on identifying early-stage deals in Europe and North America with applications ranging from chemicals, materials, agriculture, food, feed, and synthetic biology.

The IB Fund’s contribution to sustainability is important to him.

“I have three young kids, and I don’t want to end up 25 years from now with a difficult question about, you know, why didn’t I do anything to solve climate change,” he said. He added that investing in companies that are all part of a movement toward sustainability and lower carbon emissions “is the way for me to address that very personal issue.”

In addition to being a board member of Afyren, Michael is or has been on the Board of Directors of Elicit Plant, Meiogenix, enginzyme, Comet Bio, and EnobraQ. He also served for two years as the CEO of EnobraQ, a Sofinnova Partners Green Seed Fund portfolio company.

He looks for founders with the ability to roll with the punches. “Founders need to have grit, to be able to move mountains and stay resilient when things are not easy,” he says. “Creativity and charisma are important, of course, but resilience is a very key feature.”

Michael came to biotech and venture capital via science and consulting. He finds it satisfying to retain the “positiveness of going into deep science,” yet “still being able to see a lot of different things and have an impact on a business,” helping its executives “craft their strategy and their path forward.”

Before joining Sofinnova, Michael spent six years in industrial biotech start-ups, in senior business development roles. He also worked in a consulting firm advising companies on strategic R&D and organizational issues.

Michael is an engineer who graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Paris X Orsay University.

Guillaume is a Partner in the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Strategy. He joined us in 2017 as a Senior Associate to support our investments in the industrial biotechnology and renewable chemistry sectors.

He started his career in the chemical industry, spending several years with Solvay in Brussels developing disruptive technologies for sustainable energies and advanced materials through partnerships between start-ups, research institutes and in-house R&D teams. Then he joined Solvay Ventures as Investment Manager to work more closely with entrepreneurs.

Guillaume believes the Sofinnova Partners Industrial Biotech team’s scientific expertise is a big factor in its success. "When someone has some synthetic biology technology, and they want to create a company, not many VC investors are able to go deep with them,” he said, adding that people who know the sector would say: “if you want to find a deeptech investor, able to make a strong impact and help you make progress in industrial biotech — Sofinnova is it."

Guillaume holds Master’s degree in Genetics-Immunology (Université Paris Descartes) and in Industrial Biotechnology (Université de Technologie de Compiègne/AgroParisTech). He also holds degrees in Innovation Management (UTC/NEOMA business school) completed by an executive education at Louvain School of Management (Belgium).

Anna is an Associate with the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Strategy. She joined us as an intern in 2020.

Previously she worked as an analyst in the innovation department of the EFKO Group, one of the top three Russian food industry groups, where she covered the FoodTech and AgriTech sectors. Prior to that, she was an analyst in the Seeds Department at Bayer Crop Science CIS.

Initially graduating as a marine biologist specializing in luminous invertebrates, Anna has always valued diversity and sustainability. Her tenacity and curiosity were encouraged by a saying from her professors: “The worm is so long, and life is so short,” which Anna finds applicable to any project. "Great ideas fade away if we don't support them," she said. "So, finding equilibrium by applying the necessary amount of time to the necessary technologies gives beautiful results."

She holds a BSc in Biology from Moscow State University, and an M.Sc. in Biomedical Science from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.

Mariam is an Associate with the Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Strategy. Before she joined us in 2023, she worked with Hive Energy as an Investment Manager.

Mariam's experience in venture capital includes leading investments in circular economy biotech companies and working closely with start-ups in biogas, agriculture and biofermentation.

She also has taken on minor roles in developing green hydrogen and green concrete projects and assisting in the raising of private equity for a biogas facility.

"What motivates me the most is finding that crucial place where necessity and impact meet," Mariam says.

Mariam has a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester, where she created computational models of the absorption, desorption, and relative selectivity of various gases in ionic liquids for the purpose of carbon capture.

During her studies she had the opportunity to work at Lubrizol, synthesizing polymeric hyperdispersant additives for pigments. Shortly after obtaining her degree, she worked as a Management Consultant with Steer.

Gabriela joined Sofinnova Partners as an Analyst on the Industrial Biotech Strategy team in May 2024.

Prior to joining our Industrial Biotech team, she did a placement with our Capital Strategy team, and before that, she was at IFP Energies Nouvelles developing a new biological pathway for acrylate production.

Gabriela joined Sofinnova to make an impact as she is “convinced that to solve the world's most pressing issues such as climate change, we need to find inspiration in nature's complexity.”

Gabriela completed her PhD in Chemical Biology at Imperial College London, where she worked on developing new ways of functionalizing artificial cells through their membranes, to promote cell-to-cell communication. She also has a MRes degree in Systems and Synthetic Biology from Imperial College London, where she worked on building RNA thermometers for controlling gene expression in mammalian cells. Gabriela attained her Bachelor’s degree from the Biotechnology Engineering School (Sup'Biotech).

Close	Fund	AMT
2012	Sofinnova Green Seed Fund	€22.5 million
2017	Sofinnova IB I	€125 million
2021	Sofinnova IB II	€175 million

TheTeam