Kent Wakeford

Co-Founder + COO / President

2022 - Current

Form Bio provides award winning AI solutions to over 20 of the leading biotech companies that reduce time and cost to develop gene therapies that are safer, more effective, and more manufacturable. Was CEO from founding through October 2024 at which point I stepped into COO role to deal with a short term health issue. As CEO, led recurring revenue growth from zero to over $5M, and signed long term performance partnerships with a value of over $120M. Established a partnership with Google to enable Form Bio's computation solutions as part of the Google Cloud Multiomics suite, led our Series A raise ($40M), and scaled the team to 40+ people. Form Bio is backed by JAZZ Ventures, Builders.vc and USIT.

Member of the Board of Advisors

2025

Co-Founder + Chairman

2023

Breaking aims to rid the planet of plastic waste. The breakthrough technology was discovered by scientists in the George Church lab at Harvard University and the Don Ingber lab at Wyss Institute. Breaking's novel enzymes degrade all forms of plastic waste, with a focus on eliminating micro and nano plastics that find their way into our water and food supplies. I led our $10.5M seed raise, hired the founding leadership team and licensed the core technology from Harvard University. Breaking is backed Builders.vc, Animal Capital, Climate Capital and others.

Co-Founder + COO + Advisor

2021

Co-founder and COO (for first 18 months) of a de-extinction company developing disruptive solutions to restore extinct species and stem the loss of biodiversity. Co-founded with world-renowned geneticist George Church, Ph.D., and in partnership with Harvard University, Colossal is the first to apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction, beginning with the woolly mammoth. Developed the GTM strategy and helped raise $250M in capital. Built an AI-powered multiplex gene-editing technology and computational AI platform that spun out into a new company called Form Bio and took on the role as Co-CEO of the spinout company. Notable investors include Breyer Capital, Draper Associates, Thomas Tull, Tony Robins, Climate Capital, Animal Capital, Jazz Ventures, etc., and is advised by leaders in bioethics, genomics, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and molecular genetics including Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., Alta Charo, J.D., Joe DeSimone, Ph.D., Helen Hobbs, M.D., Michael Hofreiter, Ph.D., Peter Diamandis, and others.

Co-Founder + Board Member

2020

Co-founder of an adtech solution for connected TV that enables D2C and gaming companies to buy, measure and optimize TV ad campaigns with returns comparable (or better than) search and social. Assisted in hiring the initial executive leadership team, including CRO, sales, and finance teams, and sourced major gaming customers that helped drive growth from $0 to $100M+ in media spend in 4 years. Investors include Norwest Ventures, Comcast / NBCU, Hearst Ventures, and IdeaLabs.

Board of Directors [NYSE: SKLZ]

2017

Named #1 Fastest Growing Company in America on the Inc. 5000 list, Skillz connects the world’s 3.2 billion mobile gamers through competition. More than 12 million gamers use Skillz to compete in mobile games across 6,000+ game studios. Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America.

Co-Founder + Vice Chairman

2017 - 2022

Built a leading global esports organization with HQ in South Korea. Developed the GTM strategy, scaled revenues from $0M - $25M annually, raised $75M Series A and Series B, secured franchise rights and oversaw legal and finance. Launched an edtech platform for esports, Gen.G Global Academy, the world’s first fully integrated academic esports program; and the Gen.G Foundation, fostering diversity and inclusion while providing $1M+ in collegiate scholarships. Gen.G was named #6 most valuable esports organizations in the world by Forbes magazine in 2018. Investors include NEA, Canaan, Battery Ventures, Conductive Ventures, and Altos Ventures.

Chief Operating Officer

2011 - 2017

Developed and grew a globally dispersed team with 1,000+ employees in 7 countries overseeing Strategy, Corp Dev, Ops, Marketing, and Legal. Delivered $400M annual revenue & YoY revenue growth of 100%, led the acquisition of 8 game studios with 100x+ ROI and generated over $2B in lifetime revenue from licensing partnerships with Warner Bros, Universal, Lionsgate, Disney, Marvel, and Hasbro, resulting in one of the highest-grossing mobile games of all time. Kabam was acquired by Netmarble for $800M. Investors include: Canaan, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Intel Capital, SK Telecom, Warner Bros, MGM Studios, and Alibaba.

Co-Founder + President [NASDAQ: IAS]

2009 - 2011

Founding executive of the leading ad verification platform. IAS was acquired by Vista Equity for $850M and is publicly listed on NASDAQ [IAS]. Recruited and managed the founding employees, oversaw development and release of IAS's initial ad verification products, partnered with major agencies and brands, and drove consistent month-over-month revenue growth. Investors include: Founder Collective, Atlas Ventures, and WPP.

Senior Vice President

2007 - 2008

Oversaw business development, corporate development, and legal team. Negotiated 200+ relationships with most major media companies, sports leagues, photo sharing platforms and social networks. Drove reach to 330M+ unique visitors per month across 300K websites. AddThis was acquired by Oracle for $200M in 2016. Investors include: NEA, IVP, QED, Revolution, Ron Conway, Steve Case, and Ted Leonsis.