Viktor Drvota joins Karolinska Development as its chief investment officer, leaving his role as head of life science at SEB Venture Capital.
Karolinska Development, the VC arm of Karolinska Institute, has hired Viktor Drvota as its chief investment officer.
Drovota comes to Karolinska Development from SEB Venture Capital where he had been head of life science since 2002. Before this he was an investment manager at the firm, taking up that position following his time as a practising cardiologist at Huddinge University Hospital.
Karolinska Development is supported by the European Union through the Technology Transfer Pilot Project and invests in commercially attractive medical innovations.
Speaking on his appointment, Drvota said: “I am very excited to be joining Karolinska Development and will relish the challenge of creating a leading Nordic venture capital company.
“I believe that my expertise and experience is ideally suited to supporting the development of Karolinska Development’s existing portfolio companies, identifying new opportunities from the exceptional innovation in the region, as well as building relationships with international venture capitalists to create companies with potential to address real unmet medical need and generate significant value for shareholders.”
Concurrently, Karolinska Development revealed its deputy chief executive and chief scientific officer Terje Kalland is set to retire at the end of December 2015.
In July 2015, Karolinska Development’s portfolio lost half of its value as new accountancy practices took hold and it divested in Pharmanest, a pain relief firm.
