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Nina Kjellson

General Partner at Canaan Partners

Sausalito, California

Overview 

Nina Kjellson is a seasoned professional in venture capital and philanthropy, with a focus on championing health and equity. She currently serves as a General Partner at Canaan Partners and has held various board positions in organizations like the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Nina has made significant investments in companies such as Actio Biosciences and Rondo Therapeutics, showcasing her expertise in supporting innovative ventures in the biotechnology and healthcare sectors.

Work Experience 

  • Partner

    2024 - Current

    Providing angel investment and strategic advice to life science entrepreneurs and organizations with emphasis on business planning, organizational development and fundraising. Leveraging 25+ years of industry experience and deep network to help biotech companies, investors and non-profits advance research and deliver new medicines for patients.

  • General Partner

    2015

    Venture capital investing. New company formation. Partnering with entrepreneurs.

Canaan is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionaries with transformative ideas.

  • Board Member

    2023

Actio Biosciences is a research center that develops drugs for rare diseases.

Raised $55,000,000.00 from Canaan Partners, Euclidean Capital, Droia Ventures, EcoR1 Capital and Deerfield Management.

  • Board Member

    2023

    Proxygen is focused on the discovery and development of molecular glue degraders against targets of unmet medical need across various indications. While advancing its internal programs towards clinical development, the company also maintains strategic partnerships to co-create synergies along the drug development pipeline. With its headquarters and laboratory operations in Vienna, Austria, Proxygen employs talent both locally and remotely all over Europe. Partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck KGaA.

  • Board Member

    2022

    Rondo Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company exploring new frontiers in cancer therapy. Rondo is committed to advancing the field of immuno-oncology, with a focus on treating solid tumors that fail to respond to current therapies. Our solution is to create a new class of bispecific antibodies that safely engage the immune system to initiate and sustain a robust anti-tumor response and overcome the suppressive tumor microenvironment.

Rondo Therapeutics creates novel bispecific antibodies that activate the immune system to fight cancer.

Raised $67,000,000.00 from SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Novo Holdings, Red Tree Venture Capital and Canaan Partners.

  • Board Member

    2020

    A clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company developing TTX-030, a first-in-class anti-CD39 antibody

Trishula Therapeutics is a biotechnology company that focus on developing cancer medicines.

  • Board Member

    2016

Tizona develops next-generation immunotherapies

Raised $370,000,000.00 from Gilead Sciences.

  • Board Member

    2024

Medical science is poised like never before to crack the code to some of humankind’s most vexing health challenges

  • Health Innovators' Fellow

    2018

    The Health Innovators Fellowship’s mission is to develop a community of energized, values-driven leaders committed to finding viable solutions to confront U.S. health care’s problems. The Fellowship offers high-performing professionals a unique experience—the ability to connect with and learn from a diverse group of peers with whom they wouldn’t ordinarily interact while refining their own values and charting a course that empowers them to take action in new ways to improve health and health care in America. Fellows come from a wide variety of industries and sectors, ranging from medicine to venture capital to public health and beyond.

Aspen-HP Digital Equity Accelerator is an accelerator that fuels innovation by investing in not-for-profit organizations and NGOs.

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