Oxford Science Enterprises appoints new partner

Published by

Peter Davison

Oxford Science Enterprises, the independent investment company created to found, fund and build transformational businesses via its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, has appointed Sanne de Jongh as partner, life sciences.

Sanne brings extensive venture capital, early-stage investment and company creation experience to the growing team at OSE and will be responsible for sourcing and structuring new spin-out opportunities from the University of Oxford as well as supporting the firm’s existing life sciences portfolio.

She joins OSE from specialist transatlantic investor Gilde Healthcare where she was an investment manager focused on biotech across a range of development stages, therapeutic areas and modalities.

At Gilde, she also set up the Fellowship program to offer scientists a route from academia into venture capital (VC), as well as to increase diversity in the profession.

Prior to Gilde, Sanne spent three years at Anterra Capital, a transatlantic Food and Ag Tech VC firm, at which she focused on the creation and backing of biotech companies aiming to improve the global food supply chain.

At Anterra, she also held an active role in its expansion into the US and setting up its office in Boston. Sanne began her career at M Ventures, the strategic corporate VC fund of Merck KGaA, focused on healthcare.

Katya Smirnyagina, senior partner (life sciences), Oxford Science Enterprises, said: “I am delighted to welcome Sanne to Oxford Science Enterprises. Sanne has a strong venture capital background with significant experience in, and passion for, the creation and development of early-stage companies with potential to make a difference to human health and wellbeing.

"Her experience and drive make Sanne an excellent fit within our growing team as we continue to identify, scale up and nurture opportunities based on world-class Oxford science.”

Sanne de Jongh added: “I am thrilled to join Oxford Science Enterprises. The prospect of working closely with leading academics and entrepreneurs at the University of Oxford and within the dynamic Oxford ecosystem is incredibly exciting.

"I very much look forward to contributing towards the creation of high-quality companies capable of tackling some of the biggest challenges in life sciences.”

Sanne holds a BSc in Biochemistry from Leiden University with a minor in Neurology, and MSc in Biochemical Engineering from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, graduating with distinction.

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.