Team

Patrik Frei

CEO Ph.D., lic. oec. HSG

Dr. Patrik Frei is founder and CEO of Venture Valuation AG, Switzerland. He started the company in 1999 when he noticed a need for independent valuation services in high growth industries during a collaboration with Novartis Venture Fund, which became his first client. Since then he has been involved in over 450 valuations for investors as well as biotech, pharma and medtech companies. Patrik graduated from the Business University of St. Gallen and completed his Ph.D thesis (”Assessment and valuation of high growth companies”) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL Lausanne. Patrik was a board member and one of the original founders of Ineo, a holding company of the Swiss dental implant VC-backed firm Thommen Medical and also the Chairman of Ophthalmopharma, a Swiss-based biotech ophthalmology company, where he successfully out-licensed a portfolio of 4 products. Furthermore, Patrik was member of the board of Aventron AG (AVEN:Berne), a publicly quoted cleantech company, which raised over USD 160m during his time as board member. Patrik’s articles have been published in a number of scientific journals including “Nature Biotechnology”, “Chimia” and other business publications (“Starting a Business in the Life Sciences: From Idea to Market” and “Building Biotechnology: Starting, Managing, and Understanding Biotechnology Companies”). He has also lectured at Seoul National University, South Korea, EPFL Lausanne, University of St. Gallen and gives regular workshops on valuation.

Jost Renggli

COO & Partner lic. rer. pol. (M.A.), MAS Business IT

Digital driven COO of Venture Valuation and responsible for the operations of Biotechgate and HelloPartnering. Passion for new technologies, start-ups and digital projects. Bridge between IT and business with more than 20 years of experience and two master degrees from Swiss universities. In addition to my job, I love reading, sports, DJ-ing and most of all spending time with my wife and two wonderful kids - preferably in the Swiss mountains.

Susanne E. Acklin

Senior Advisor & VP Life Sciences Ph.D.

Susanne has been an expert advisor with Venture Valuation since its foundation and is integrally involved in company and product valuation and assessment. She has 15 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and her professional background includes executive roles at Axentis Pharma (Chief Operating Officer); Viron Therapeutics (Senior VP Product Development), the University of Western Ontario (Associate Director, Business Development and Technology Transfer); and Eli Lilly and Company (Manager Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Research). Susanne holds a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology/Neuropharmacology from the Biocenter of the University of Basel, Switzerland and completed post-doctoral studies in medical sciences at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Kumlesh Dev

Senior Advisor in Life Sciences Ph.D., MBA

Kumlesh holds a degree in Pharmacology from the University of Glasgow, an MBA from Warwick Business School and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Bristol. He has international and drug development experience working in both academic and pharma sectors including the University of Kyoto, Japan, Novo Nordisk, Denmark, and Novartis Pharma, Switzerland.

Mar Tomás

Senior Advisor in Life Sciences Ph.D., MBA

Mar holds a Biochemistry degree and a PhD in the area of signal transduction from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and a global executive MBA from IESE Business School (Spain). She has broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry where she worked for companies like Roche, Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim in the areas of R&D, Business Analysis, Sales, Marketing and Corporate Strategy.

Elias Neuendorf

Senior Consultant M.Sc.

Elias joined Venture Valuation in 2020 as a Business Analyst specialized in the valuation of high growth companies. He previously worked in the consulting division of IQVIA focused on commercialization and data science projects in the health care industry, with clients including leading pharma companies such as Novartis, AstraZeneca and Merck & Co. Elias holds a B.Sc in Economics from the Humboldt University Berlin and a M.Sc in Economics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Gergely Ivanyi

Senior Consultant Pharm. D.

Gergely joined Venture Valuation in 2020 as a Business Analyst and presently works as a Consultant, managing valuation projects, business research and is responsible for the financial modeling of valuation projects. During his time at Venture Valuation, he has worked with top management of Fortune 500 companies, established biotech firms as well as small innovative companies supporting their fundraising, licensing, and M&A activities. Gergely holds a Pharm.D. degree (Semmelweis University, Budapest) and an M.Sc. degree in Bioentrepreneurship (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm).

Marlene Faul

Online Manager M.A.

Marlene joined Venture Valuation in February 2022 as Online Manager. Based in Ireland, she is responsible for coordinating account management and online marketing tasks as well as supervising Biotechgate data updates. Marlene holds an M.A. in Science and Media Communication from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). Her studies comprised PR and Online Communication in a scientific context. She previously assisted in the internal and external communications of various research organisations and worked in customer support.

Daan Theijse

Business Analyst Intern B.Sc.

Daan joined Venture Valuation in July 2021 as a Business Analyst Intern. With his Bachelor`s degree in Health Sciences and Technology and his prospective Master`s degree in Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich, he acquired a solid knowledge in the field of Life Sciences and Valuation. His focus at Venture Valuation is the development and maintenance of the global business development database Biotechgate. Furthermore, he is involved in the assessment and valuation of high-growth companies in Life Sciences and other High Tech industries as well as market research.

Darren Leneghan

Consultant Life Sciences Ph.D.

Darren holds a PhD in microbiology from Trinity College Dublin, where he also did his BA in microbiology. He spent a three year post-doc in the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford developing vaccines against infectious diseases. He is an experienced team and project leader in both start-up and mid-sized biotech companies in sectors from immunotherapeutics to sustainable biology. He has also co-founded a biotechnology company based in Oxford.

Luka Bekavac

Junior Web Developer B.Sc.

Luka joined Venture Valuation in October 2021 and is currently working as a Junior Web Developer. Luka is studying Business Informatics at the University of Furtwangen in Germany. His main focus at Venture Valuation is working on linking Data in Biotechgate as well as helping out with IT problems. His work in Biotechgate was also the main topic of his Bachelor-Thesis.

Conor Duffy

Junior Online & Marketing Manager BBS (Hons)

Conor joined Venture Valuation in February 2021 as a Junior Online & Marketing Manager. He is based in Ireland and is responsible for coordinating email newsletters, content creation, managing Venture Valuation's social media presences and much more. Conor graduated with an honours degree in Business Studies from TU Dublin and is passionate about digital-driven business and marketing practices.

Alan Jones

Senior Business Development & Account Manager

Alan joined Venture Valuation in 2012. He is responsible for conducting business development for the Biotechgate database which is a global, comprehensive information service encompassing the Life Science industry. Alan has extensive experience in the business development of innovative information services within life sciences and previously worked for many years within the business development team at Pharmalicensing.

Barbara Poyner

Business Development & Account Manager

Barbara joined Venture Valuation in early 2014. She has vast experience in multiple roles for a number of life science companies. Barbara is now a part of the Biotechgate business development team and is also responsible for the company's social media activities.

Pravin Krishnan

BD Director Asia-Pacific BSc (Hons)

Pravin graduated with an honours degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Liverpool. He joined Venture Valuation in 2014 and oversees the Asia-Pacific market. Currently based in Asia, he has worked in Sydney, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Liverpool and London over the last 15 years in various commercial positions. Pravin is experienced at managing multinational clients in emerging markets as well as established regions. Having grown up in Asia he possesses a unique knowledge and understanding of the different cultures in the region combined with experience in a business development capacity in the life science industry. A passionate football fan who enjoys horology, travelling and music.

Nadine Fleming

Business Development & Account Manager

Nadine joined Venture Valuation in 2016 as a Business Development Manager for Biotechgate. She has over ten years’ experience in customer focused and representative roles in both Germany and England. Being fluent in both languages, she will predominantly looking after the German market.

Mariko Hirano

Head of Japan Operations M.Sc., M.A.

Mariko has extensive experience in business development in Japan, the U.S. and Europe; and is the co-founder of a biotechnology company in Tokyo. Her former positions include Head of Japan Operations at ACLARA BioSciences (now Monogram Biosciences) in Mountain View, California; Program Manager at Stanford University’s U.S.-Asia Technology Management Center; and managing position at Rhône-Poulenc Santé (now Sanofi-Aventis) in Japan. Mariko holds a M.S. in Technology Management from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, and a M.A. in French from Sophia University in Tokyo.

Dieter Hammer

Representative Director, Germany M.A.

Dieter has been a valuation expert and advisor with Venture Valuation since 2001 and has many years of professional experience as a consultant in various industries. Next to his analytical experience, he is specialized in moderation and conflict resolution. He is an accredited commercial mediator with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Munich, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, in the area of intellectual property disputes. Dieter holds a master's degree in philosophy from the Jesuit School of Philosophy, Munich.

Ronald E. Layden

Senior Advisor & VP Life Sciences Ph.D.

Ron joined Venture Valuation in 2001 and is mainly involved in company and product valuations and assessment. His previous roles include CEO of a biotechnology company, venture capitalist and co-founder of several businesses; senior manager in the pharmaceutical industry with assignments at Roche, Bayer and Eli Lilly. He also has research and laboratory experience in oil field chemistry, cell biology, molecular biology and genetics. Ron holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

Son U Michael Paik

Representative Director, Asia JD / MBA, (Columbia Law School)

Michael is a Venture Valuation Representative for Asia, based in Seoul. Michael has served as counsel to many US and European start-ups and venture-capital funds while at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Palo Alto) and US investment banks while at Cahill Gordon & Reindel (New York). He is licensed as an attorney in both New York and California. Michael Paik was previously the Senior Vice President of Risk Management at STX Europe, Chief Technology Officer at Seoul National University's R&DB Foundation and Director of Technology Incubation at SNU's College of Engineering. He was General Counsel & Director of the Global Legal Department at STX Corporation, Hankook Tire Company, and the Inje Foundation / Paik Hospitals, where he continues to serve as a Trustee. He has been Counsel to the Korean Venture Capital Association, the Korean Nurses' Association and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority, as well as Samsung Electronics, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, LG Electronics, LG Venture Investments and several other Korean companies. Michael has taught as a Professor at Yonsei University's College of Law, the Judicial Research & Training Institute, and Seoul National University's College of Engineering, and he graduated from Syracuse University (BA, Economics, 1991), Yale University (MBA, 1995) and Columbia University (JD, 1998).

Sonia Thomas

Director VV Data Processing, India M.Sc.

Sonia is Director of VV Data Processing based in Kerala, India and is responsible for the day-to-day information management for the Biotechgate Database. She has over 10 years of experience in Operations, with focus on Quality Management in the ITES industry. Previously, she developed and implemented processes and facilitated resource mobilization for start-up ITES companies. Sonia holds an M.Sc. in Biotechnology and has completed additional training including NQA certification as an ISO 9001:2000 QMS Auditor.

Sarath C.P.

Managing Director VV Data Processing, India M.Sc., MCP

Sarath is the Managing Director of VV Data Processing based in Kerala, India which is responsible for data management for the Biotechgate Database. He has over ten years of experience in System Analysis, Design and Management and played a key role in IT companies like M2 Comsys and Ascentia Technologies. Sarath obtained his Master's Degree in Biotechnology from Mahatma Gandhi University, India and pursued research in Bioinformatics.

Wim Troch

In Memorium 29.05.1965 – 11.07.2020

In memory of our colleague Wim who was always up for some fun to get a smile on our faces with his joking remarks. You will be missed. We offer our sincere condolences to his partner, friends and the Troch family.