Managing Partner (based in Montreal) Dr. Birner is responsible for TVM Capital Life Sciences’ overall investment strategy going forward and the fund operations in North America and Europe. Dr. Birner joined TVM Capital in 2000 as an investment manager. He is responsible for numerous active investments in Europe as well as the United States. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Argos Therapeutics Inc. (Durham, North Carolina) and is a member of the Board of Directors of Evotec AG (Hamburg, Germany) and Proteon Therapeutics, Inc (Kansas City, Missouri). Over many years, he was the Chairman/Vice Chairman of Direvo Biotech AG (Cologne, Germany) and Jerini AG (Berlin, Germany) which were acquired in 2008 by Bayer HealthCare AG and Shire Ltd. respectively.
General Partner Corporate Finance and Head of Finance (based in Munich)
Stefan Fischer joined TVM Capital in 2000 and is General Partner Corporate Finance at TVM Capital in Munich. In this role, he concentrates on all Corporate Finance issues involving life science portfolio companies. He is responsible for structuring and coordinating the investment process from a finance, tax and legal perspective; performing financial due diligence and valuation analysis; negotiating term sheets and legal documents; monitoring investments; and providing operational support to portfolio companies. He is member of the supervisory board of Direvo IBT GmbH, Cologne, and also serves as a board observer to Biovertis AG, Vienna.
General Partner (based in Munich)
Dr. Alexandra Goll, who joined TVM Capital in early 1998 has been responsible for more than 20 TVM Capital life science investments. She initiated TVM Capital’s lead investment in Actelion Ltd (Allschwil, Switzerland) and led the firm’s successful investments in Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. sold to Novartis, and Pharmasset Inc. which was sold to Gilead Sciences – TVM Capital acted as a lead investor in both cases. She also initiated and managed the investment in EUSA Pharma Ltd., recently sold to Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc.
General Partner (based in Montreal)
Dr. Lavoie is a General Partner with TVM Life Science Management Inc. She is located in Montreal and is responsible for the investment strategy in Canada and the management of portfolio companies in the US and Canada. Cynthia serves on the boards of Anchor Therapeutics and Kaneq Bioscience. She was previously with VG Partners, a large Canadian private equity firm, where her most recent role was as Partner and head of life sciences. She served on the boards of investee companies Aegera Therapeutics, Cytochroma, Interface Biologics, Trillium Therapeutics and Zelos Therapeutics, among others. During her tenure, Cynthia had a direct role in the sale of VisualSonics, an imaging company, to SonoSite Inc., and Targanta Therapeutics to The Medicines Company.
Prior to joining VG Partners, Cynthia was a marketing strategy consultant with public company Vasogen (acquired by Intellipharmaceutics) and an Investment Program Manager with the Ontario Genomics Institute seeding early stage investments. An accomplished academic, Dr. Lavoie is an active participant on proof of principal granting committees for regional and national commercialization grants. She has ten years of research experience at McGill University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as well as an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.
Managing Partner (based in Montreal)
Dr. Marengere oversees the establishment of the new Canadian operations and the North American investment strategy as well as deal sourcing and execution.
Dr. Marengere joins TVM Capital after more than 15 years of venture capital experience in Canada and the U.S. Most recently, Dr. Marengere was a Managing General Partner with VG Partners where he successfully launched and oversaw the operations and investments of the VG Advanced Life Sciences Fund (VG ALSF).
Venture Partner (based in Munich)
Dr. Peter Neubeck is currently a Chief Business Officer at Aspireo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. As a venture partner at TM Capital, he supports deal origination and the evaluation of new investments, as well as research and support for existing portfolio companies with an emphasis on clinical development stage to commercial stage investments, including virtual asset development type investments (‘Project-Focused-Companies’).
General Partner (based in Munich)
Dr. Axel Polack joined TVM Capital in 2000. As an investment manager he is in charge of investments in project-focused companies as well as traditional venture capital investments. Dr. Polack’s expertise is based upon scientific training in various disciplines, broad understanding of the drug development process (molecular and translational medicine) as well as commercial experience resulting from his strategic and operational responsibilities as a board member as well as a member of management in various startup companies .
Chairman & Managing Partner (based in Munich and Dubai)
Dr. Helmut M. Schühsler serves as Chairman and Managing Partner of the TVM Life Science Venture Capital Practice with offices in Munich and Montreal and as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TVM Capital MENA Ltd., Dubai, UAE.
Since joining TVM Capital in 1990, Dr. Schühsler has been the deal maker on more than 20 direct investments in life science companies in Europe and the U.S. In total he has overseen more than 80 investments in the health market and has built the TVM Capital Life Science practice as an internal start up within the firm to its market position today.
In 2007 and 2008, Dr. Schühsler served as chairman of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA).
Currently he is chairman of healthcare growth companies, ProVita International Medical Center (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and Bourn Hall International (Dubai, India), Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Center (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and Manzil Health Care Services (Abu Dhabi). He also serves as director at SelectX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Boston, MA, USA, Enanata Pharmaceuticals (Watertown, MA, USA), Concert Pharmaceuticals (Lexingtona, MA, USA), the board of Max-Planck Innovation GmbH. In 2009 – 2012 Dr. Schühsler was a member of the Selection Committee for the Technology Pioneers program, the Steering Committee of the Entrepreneurship and Successful Growth Research Program of the World Economic Forum (2009-2012) and the advisory board of Evolvence India Life Science Fund, Hyderabad, India.