When Anja König started her PhD in mathematical physics at Cornell University, she hoped that a pencil and a brain was all she'd need to tackle hard science questions. Over two decades on, she has now swapped the pencil for a chequebook and moved into the much more empirical world of life sciences. As Global Head of the Novartis Venture Fund (NVF), she oversees one of the most deep-pocketed and active corporate venture capital (CVC) funds in biopharma. NVF — a financially rather than strategically driven CVC group — has around US$800 million under management and more than 40 companies in its portfolio. König spoke with Asher Mullard about the changing CVC landscape and the role of women within it.
You've been at NVF for more than a decade. How has the CVC landscape changed during this time, and where is it going?
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When I joined NVF, it was really a great period for corporate venturing and investing. In the 2007–2009 downturn, capital was tight and this meant that CVC groups got to go through a renaissance of sorts and figure out how to position themselves as major players in the investment environment. We got great access to deal flow during that time, and this really drove our performance during subsequent years and helped to solidify our role in the investing ecosystem.
But we are very much part of the broader ecosystem, and we cannot act alone. The risks in these portfolios are such that we always want to be very collaborative. This is one of the things I like best about this industry, that it is so collaborative, as it is driven by the inherent technical risk of developing biotech assets. Everybody needs to have a sufficient number of shots on goal in their fund to make sure they have some winners.
As for where it's going, I will quote Yogi Berra, who is supposed to have said “it's tough to make predictions, especially about the future”. But biotech is often a cycle. Now, we are clearly in a bull market. And that is exciting. But while down markets are depressing, they can also create opportunities.
You were promoted to global head of NVF last year. What about your plans for the fund's future?
My vision is really one where the NVF is a force for good, and of course a lot of people working in health care share the same goal. But I think in the NVF we have a unique structural situation that allows us to do that. For one thing, we are large enough, with $800 million under management. We also have an evergreen set-up, which means our fund doesn't have a fixed lifetime. We can get in early, and we can stay with a company. We are long-term investors. We have one of the most sustainable structures in the industry, and I'm confident that when the next downturn happens — and it will happen at some point — we'll still be there.
I also want to focus back on our core strengths. I want to focus the team on what we're good at, and what we've been good at is operating where innovation happens, in the core areas in Boston, Europe and the West Coast. Our focus is also more on really innovative companies. The technical risks are perhaps higher here, but in exchange we can get to products that can really impact patients' outcomes.
I would also say that any time a deal comes along that's a little bit different, that's intrinsically interesting. As risk capitalists, we have to try to anticipate trends. But of course we really don't know the future. And if everybody is getting out of antimicrobials, maybe it's a good time to be in it. Or if everybody is getting out of psychiatry, maybe it's a good time to be in it. Of course this is hard; we don't see an abundance of compelling psychiatry assets, for example. But if you are paying attention, and trying to anticipate the market, you also have to pay more attention to assets that are a little bit outside the box.
What else do you look for in company?
For me personally, the people are the most important thing in a small company. They are the most important factor in a large company as well, but in a small company each individual has tremendous impact. So finding a team like we had at Heptares Therapeutics or Covagen makes all the difference. And I love being part of teams that have open discussions, and those are usually the boards that function the best.
Women are under-represented in both biotech and finance. Several biopharma CVCs have female leads, however, including Carole Nuechterlein at Roche Venture Fund and Katherine Bowdish at Sanofi's Sunrise fund. Are there lessons the biotech and finance sectors can learn from biopharma CVC?
It's hard to say without seeing all the data. But I know that at NVF we are certainly moving in the direction of greater gender diversity. We now have a team that has a lot more female investors than it did before. It's still not a lot. But I think that only around 7% of the investors in the overall VC community are female. If CVC can be a little campfire in the desert, then that would be great. And I would certainly be proud to be part of that.
What we do see since I've taken over is that because it's a big world, if you do a little bit better than the rest of the industry you can become quite magnetic. We have seen more female founders and CEOs approach us than before, and while that could be a glitch in the data or just due to random chance, I love seeing it.
Strength comes from diversity. This is true in terms of building a portfolio, and also in terms of building a team.
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Anja König. Nat Rev Drug Discov 17, 310 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2018.60
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2018.60