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Everyone Thinks They’re the Good Guy
Talks about Ethics, Oliver Cromwell and good vs evil
JP
Jason Pontin
General Partner at DCVC
Palo Alto, California
Overview
Jason Pontin is a General Partner at DCVC, where he has invested in and supported companies like ZwitterCo and Kanvas Biosciences. With a background in digital media and editorial, Pontin brings expertise in content strategy and journalism to his role, contributing to the success of startups in sectors like DeepTech and BioTech.
Pontin's career highlights include serving as Board Chair for Kanvas Biosciences and being a Founding Board Member and Initial Investor for Totus Medicines, showcasing his leadership and investment acumen in the tech and biotech industries.
Work Experience
General Partner
2023 - Current
Partner
2021 - 2023
DCVC backs brilliant entrepreneurs applying Deep Tech, from the earliest stage and beyond, to pragmatically and cost-effectively tackle previously unsolvable problems in nearly every industry.
DCVC backs entrepreneurs using deep tech to solve problems and multiply the benefits of capitalism for everyone while reducing its cost.
Board Member
2025
Dayhoff Labs builds foundational AI for chemistry and biochemistry to solve deep challenges in both, ranging from catalysis and green synthesis to ab initio synthetic biology.
Board Chair
2023
Kanvas's novel spatial biology platform enables an unprecedented understanding of host-microbiome interaction and provides an efficient approach to drug discovery for live biological products.
Board Member
2023
Recycleye sells AI robotics and computer vision technologies for innovative waste and materials management.
Board Member
2023
Aquafortus was founded in New Zealand to develop and commercialize a novel and proprietary zero liquid discharge technology that can treat high salinity wastewater at a fraction of the cost of current processes.
Board Member
2022
Relation is pioneering a “Lab-in-the-Loop” that can integrate active learning at every step of drug discovery, from predicting cell states to the validation of new targets.
Board Chair
2022
ZwitterCo's zwitterionic membranes can handle unprecedented levels of oil and grease without irreversible fouling, recovering full performance.
ZwitterCo provides membrane solutions for the treatment of highly-impaired wastewater.
Raised $98,775,000.00 from BHP, Evok Innovations, Blue Horizon Advisors, SiteGround, DCVC, Munich Re Ventures and HG Ventures.
Board Member
2021
Evonetix is reimagining biology by developing a radically different approach to gene synthesis – a highly parallel desktop platform to synthesize DNA at unprecedented accuracy, scale and speed. The company's platform will place DNA synthesis in the hands of every researcher and change how DNA is accessed, made, and used—a new paradigm for gene synthesis.
Founding Board Member, Cofounder, and Initial Investor (through Social Impact Capital)
2019
Applying revolutionary chemical biology technologies to create life-changing covalent therapeutics for untreatable diseases.
Totus Medicines employs uses AI/ML and innovative DNA-encoded covalent library tech to discover small molecule medicines.
Raised $106,000,000.00 from Northpond Ventures, Regents of The University of Minnesota, Camford Capital and DCVC Bio.
Contributing Writer
2018
I write a column twice a month for Wired's IDEAS vertical and contribute occasional features to Wired magazine.
Education
BA, MA (Oxon)
1986 - 1989