12 Sep Droia Ventures welcomes Dr. Rez Halse to the partnership
SEPTEMBER 12, 2023 – Droia Ventures is delighted to announce the appointment of Rez Halse to its partnership. Rez joins Droia from RA Capital, where he served as Partner of RA Ventures and as President of RA’s company creation incubator, leading early-stage investments in newly founded biotech companies.
Rez brings over 20 years of invaluable experience in the life-science industry across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Before RA Capital, Rez was President of MRL Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck, as well as Vice President and Head of Merck’s Pacific Business Development and Licensing hub, where he was responsible for BD activities in the US (West Coast) and Asia Pacific region, after having lead Merck’s BD efforts in Europe. As head of MRL Ventures, he led equity investing in early-stage therapeutics companies and was instrumental to numerous success stories (M&A: Imago, Visterra, Tidal; IPO: Alector, Spero, Translate Bio). Rez previously also held roles at large pharmaceutical and life-science companies in both the UK and the US. At Droia, Rez will be working from Boston in the US on genetic disease and oncology therapeutics investments.
Janwillem Naesens, Managing Partner of Droia Ventures: “Rez joining the partnership brings not only a major reinforcement to our US based team, but also a tremendous amount of complementary expertise and an impressive network to Droia. We had the pleasure of working with Rez on numerous occasions in the past, always admired his passion, creativity and professionalism, and are thrilled to now have him join our team.”
Rez Halse, Partner of Droia Ventures: “Droia is an established company builder and investor, benefiting from a broadly experienced investment and operational team. I appreciate Droia’s handson investment approach, steadfast focus on fundamental value, and the way in which they collaborate with founders, companies and co-investors. I very much look forward to contributing to their mission.”
About Droia Ventures
Droia is a specialist biotech investor with an exclusive focus on therapeutics for oncology and genetic disease. Droia manages over $750 million which it invests globally in newly founded or early-stage drug development companies that apply novel science and innovative technologies to bring promising drugs to patients. With a team of seasoned scientists, entrepreneurs and investment professionals Droia builds great companies to save patient lives.
For more information: +32 2 880 67 30 – info@droiaventures.com – www.droiaventures.com