Access to smart money a key life science growth driver, Dynamk

Bioprocess executives moving to the financial sector shows a strong desire for continued investment in the life sciences space, says Daniella Kranjac from VC firm Dynamk.

Reinhard Vogt joined venture capital (VC) firm Dynamk Capital as a new general partner and managing director earlier this year, following an illustrious career in bioprocessing.

Bioprocess Insider recently spoke with Vogt about major investment opportunities, but in this follow-up Q&A, Daniella Kranjac, co-founder and managing partner at Dynamk, explains how his expertise strengthens the financial sector.

Image: iStock/TethysImagingLLC

Bioprocess Insider (BPI): How big a deal is it bringing Reinhard Vogt over to Dynamk?

Daniella Kranjac (DK): This was very significant in the life science industry. Reinhard comes to Dynamk Capital with a wealth of industry knowledge, technology deal-side expertise and numerous technology licenses, acquisitions and integrations at one of the industry’s largest players, Sartorius AG.

BPI: What does this mean to investors and portfolio companies?

DK: A winning combination of commercial and operational support derived from Reinhard’s experience with more than a dozen high-profile, accretive deals throughout his time at Sartorius.

Reinhard has a unique talent and proven track record of value creation by targeting companies and technologies that when integrated create a solution aimed at speeding the development and commercialization of therapeutics. The end result is a success story where biotech pioneers get access to the best in class technologies and technology providers realize maximum commercial value.

Daniella Kranjac, managing director of Dynamk Capital

BPI: How common is it for life science execs to move over to VC firms, and what do they bring?

DK: There are countless examples of C-Suite moves from therapeutic innovators to private equity and venture capital in advisory, venture partner or entrepreneur-in-residence roles, however few make the move into a General Partner/Managing Director position and fewer still make the move from life science industrials.

One high profile reference point would be John Dineen, former CEO of GE Healthcare joining Clayton, Dubilier and Rice as operating advisor. Although this was a move to private equity and not venture capital it is definitely notable given Dineen’s prior leadership of GE Healthcare.

This is also relevant in that this is an example of a former CEO whose business was specifically focused on tools, technologies and services, similar to Dynamk Capital’s focus area.

BPI: Does a move into VC/PE deprive the scientific community of life sciences expertise for the sakes of the financial sector?

Not at all, in fact, we believe an argument could be made that it may actually benefit the scientific community.

The demand for life science execs moving in the financial sector is an indicator that there is a strong desire for continued investment in this space. These former life science execs know all the players, competitive landscape, technology and industry trends. Target companies looking to grow can gain access to this commercialization and domain knowledge in addition to capital when working with these PE and VC firms.

Getting access to smart money is a key differentiator for the scientific community to accelerate growth.