ACTIVE SPARRING PARTNERS

TEAM PROFILES

Daniel Koppelkamm

Founder, Managing Partner & Investment Committee Member

Daniel co-founded Convergence Partners in 2018 with the vision to establish a VC firm that actively supports the internationalisation and potential exit of EU HealthTech in the world's largest healthcare markets. He has more than 15 years of High tech venture capital investing - and company building experience, focused on sectors that have a positive impact on planet and society. From 2009 to 2017, Daniel was Investment Partner and Investment Committee Member at Jadeberg Partners, a pioneering VC firm in European Cleantech-investing. Prior, Daniel worked for 7 years at Man Group, one of the world's leading alternative investment management firms, in London, Chicago and Hong Kong, focused on environmental technology investments. Before joining Man Group, Daniel worked at the EU headquarters of Intel Corporation. Daniel holds an MBA and BSc in Business Studies from Bayes Business School, London (formerly Cass Business School) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Daniel loves the outdoors, especially skiing and mountaineering and keeps mentally fit with transcendental meditation.

Raj Airey

Founding Partner & Investment Committee Member

Raj has been in healthcare for 30 years, of which he spent 20 years in MD roles at Pfizer and Baxter in Europe and Asia. He is also a serial entrepreneur, having built and managed 3 high growth businesses. In the last years, Raj has been an active business angel and company builder in the HealthTech space. He is also an Accredited Executive Coach and mentor and member of the expert advisory board of EIT Health, a pan-European public private initiative that fosters innovation with in healthcare with EU, top universities, innovation hubs and large corporates. Raj is a graduate in science from the London University and has received executive education from both Harvard Business School and INSEAD.

Pascal Joncour

Partner, Investment Committee Member

Pascal has been in Healthcare for almost 20 years, of which he spent 12 years in MD roles at Pfizer in Europe, notably participating in the launch of a new global business unit focussed on Integrated Health and “Beyond the Pill” solutions. Following his industry career, he became Managing Partner at Argon Global Healthcare, a leading network of independent full service healthcare communications agencies. As an agency executive he served medical start-ups and scale-ups and already well established clients within the pharmaceutical, med-tech, digital therapeutics and health insurance industries around the world by helping them build their brand and develop their business. He is a passionate entrepreneur, board member and angel investor focussing on driving innovation in Healthcare and Life Sciences. Pascal started his career as a strategy consultant at Roland Berger & Partners. He holds a Master’s Degree from EM Strasbourg Business School and a Diplom Kaufmann Degree from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. He is also a Guest Lecturer at the Master in Marketing Farmaceutico at the University of Pavia.

Nicolas Kiep

Investment Associate

Nicolas brings extensive experience in agricultural technology and product management to Convergence Partners. His expertise spans deal sourcing, screening, due diligence, and investment management, with a proven track record of establishing independent deal sourcing networks and attending key industry conferences. Nicolas oversees the CRM system and deal database while supporting marketing and investor relations efforts, contributing to the firm’s success across the EU and USA. Nicolas holds a Business Management degree from Purdue University and enjoys playing tennis, soccer, basketball, hiking, traveling, and skiing in his free time.

Yannick Ormen

Venture Partner, Switzerland

With 4 years of investment experience in Neuroscience, Yannick brings a well-rounded skill set in industry analysis and investment strategy to the team. Prior to Convergence, Yannick held a position as Healthcare Analyst at AtonRâ Partners, a Swiss asset management firm specialized in long-only thematic equity investments. In this capacity, he conducted in-depth analyses in areas such as MedTech, Digital Health, and Neurosciences, and was instrumental in the development and management of a private equity fund dedicated to advancements in Brain Health. Prior he worked as a Computer Vision & Data Analyst at MindMaze. Yannick holds a MSc degree in Medical Biology from ETH Zurich, with a specialization in Neuroscience. In his freetime Yannick enjoys playing tennis, hiking, travelling, and cooking.

Luigi Espasiano (MD)

Associate

Luigi is supporting our deal-sourcing and due diligence activities in the mental health space. His ambition is to create safe and broad access to psychedelic therapies and build integral models of health care. Luigi worked as a resident Psychiatrist at Geneva University Hospital and then as a resident Anaesthesiologist at the university of Milano. He was as a clinical research fellow at the Imperial College London Psychedelic Research Group where he worked on pioneering neuroimaging-EEG clinical trials on Psilocybin and DMT whose aim was to elucidate the phenomenology of non-ordinary states of consciousness, investigate the mechanisms through which these substances foster personality change and relieve depressive symptoms. Luigi earned his MD (summa cum laude) from the University of Naples.

Dr. Jenny Hao (MD)

Operating Partner

Jenny is supporting the development of our portfolio companies in Biotech, Biopharma and Computational Biology segments. She has over 20 years of experience in global pharma and medical device industries, having held senior positions at Pfizer, Novartis, Vifor and Takeda across the US, EU and China. With her strong expertise in business development, market access, and strategic partnerships, she has completed several cross-border business partnerships and licensing deals. In addition, Jenny has built a broad network with various stakeholders and conducted numerous market research to assess and validate the commercial potential of the assets. Jenny is also an active business angel in healthcare start-ups. She is passionate about helping young companies to grow and succeed. Jenny is a trained as medical doctor, graduated from Capital Medical University in Beijing, China; She received her MBA at Fairleigh Dickinson University and had executive courses at Harvard and other top US universities.

Mikael von Euw

Operating Partner

Mikael is an operational expert that actively supports the scale-up of our portfolio companies. He has 25 years of relevant experience in healthcare management and investment. He is the former Managing Director at Biofourmis, a leading digital therapy platform, and co-founder, board member, COO and CFO of Biovotion (sold to Biofourmis), a medical wearables leader. At Biovotion, he was leading all operational (R&D, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Marketing &] Sales, Regulatory & Quality) and financial (budgeting, accounting, controlling, fund raising, contracting, strategic & business model development, partner negotiations) functions. He was also developing and executing Biovotion's growth strategy. Mikael also orchestrated and executed the sale of the company to Biofourmis. Earlier, Mikael was a co-founder of Sirius Healthcare Partners, a healthcare corporate finance boutique, and an Executive Director at UBS Investment Banking in the field of medical technologies and life science tools.

Ulrich Wallenhorst

Operating Partner

Ulrich is supporting the development of our portfolio companies in MedTech and Digital Health segments. He has held managerial and executive roles with extensive business, product, market and technology expertise in companies of various sizes (500 – 80,000 people), industries (medical, digital, telecom, industry, machinery, automation, etc.) and structures like the German Mittelstand or in large listed US corporations. Thanks to his operational and strategic implementation experience in the top management of corporations and as an advisory board member and mentor, he can effectively support the introduction and evaluation of products, business models, technologies and methods in tech-driven companies. Ulrich is a chairman and board advisor to several PE companies and strategic investors. He graduated with honours in applied physics from University Osnabrück.

Stefan Säuberlich

Venture Partner, Germany

Stefan is supporting our deal-sourcing and management activities in the D-A-CH region. He has more than 13 years investment, M&A and operational experience with SME companies in the German-speaking region. During this time, he supported various buyout and venture capital investors across different sectors. Prior, Stefan worked as a Senior Investment Manager at Jadeberg Partners, a Swiss Hightech VC and Westlake Partners as a Junior Director, a German private equity fund focused on landing and scaling life-science businesses in China. Stefan has a lot of operational experience due to his activities in portfolio companies, among others as assistant to the management for expansion and business development as well as his activities as interim CFO in growth companies e.g. in the mobility and Digital Marketing sector. Other previous employers include Constellation Capital, a Swiss private equity fund that invests in medium-sized business services companies and BDO, one of the leading audit and consulting firms in the world. Stefan holds a degree in Finance and a CPEA from TU Munich.

Dr. Laura Johnson

Venture Partner, Germany

Laura is supporting the landing and scale-up of Convergence' portfolio companies in Germany. She has been working in MedTech innovation for 16 years with senior and executive roles at Siemens Healthcare in the USA and Asia. In the past few years based in Berlin, she has been VP of Clinical Affairs for Protip Medical, an Entrepreneur in Residence for Startup Bootcamp Digital Health, Head of Strategic Partnerships for the Berlin Institute of Health, active mentor to multiple young teams and startups in Berlin and a freelance business and clinical strategist. She is also an expert panel member to EIT Health and active contributor to the Charité Entrepreneur Summit. Laura is a graduate from Leeds Medical School and holds a M.Res. from University College London and a PhD from Kings College London in the application of Augmented Reality in neurosurgery.

Boye Hartmann

Venture Partner, Nordics

Boye is supporting Convergence deal-sourcing and management activities in the Nordics and China. Boye has been an entrepreneur for 30+ years. Being a central person in the startup community (Humbolt, SEA, CBS, FI, PlugNPlay the Alchemist) Boye is spending lots of time in the engine room of the next generation Unicorns. Boye has Co-created 50 + companies and as an Angel invested in a similar number. In the last 10 years, Boye has been involved on the VC side of the table advising VCs, family offices and dealmakers in the industry. Boye Holds a degree from Niels Brock - Copenhagen Business college and sits on a hand full of Boards around the world.

Amer Vohora

Venture Partner, UK

Amer is supporting our deal-sourcing and management activities in UK and Ireland. He is a third-generation family business member and coordinates the holdings through Ikigai Ventures in Switzerland. Amer has a background in finance with Rothschild Bank and a multi-family office in Zurich. He started his career in London advising on private equity and M&A at First Capital and direct investments at First Ventures. Amer studied Manufacturing and Management at Cambridge University and earned a Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Commerce with Japanese from Birmingham University, which included a year on scholarship in Japan. He holds a Diploma in Accounting and Finance (ACCA) and an Investment Management Certificate (IMC) from the CFA Institute. Amer is on the committee of Philanthropy Impact in Zurich and lectures on impact investing at the Anant University, where he has also founded the Ikigai Scholarship to help disadvantaged students.

Gerard Valverde

Venture Partner, Spain

Gerard is supporting Convergence' deal-sourcing and management activities in Spain. Gerard brings over 9 years of professional experience in investments. From 2012 to 2017 he worked in wealth management at Sandman Capital Advisors advising family offices and HNWI. Since 2017 he has been managing a Spanish venture capital investment vehicle, focused on Healthtech, Cleantech and Socialtech. He also managed a Business angels network and participated in 14 single investments, sourcing 700+ deals and analysing more than 80 opportunities. In this capacity he secured a co-investment agreement with the European Investment Fund, increasing funding by 4 times. Gerard has graduated in Business Management from ESADE and Tsinghua University.

Dr. Martin Reimer

Scale-up Partner, Germany

As an expert for technology transfer and innovative environments, Martin heads Medical Valley Solutions GmbH to support Medtech companies in getting access to international markets and to raise venture capital. Medical Valley Solutions GmbH, as the commercial platform of Medical Valley EMN e.V. - Germany's largest and best known medical technology network and designated “German Digital Health Center of Excellence. Since 2021 Martin has been acting as the CEO of H&P Advanced Technology GmbH, one of Medical Valley’s top engineering technology companies that provides engineering services and develops own sophisticated technological innovations especially in the field of high frequency technologies, high voltage generators and high voltage pulse modulators for X-ray applications. Martin Reimer completed his PhD at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, in the field of technology transfer and configuration of technology parks.

Dr. Songia (James) Wen

Scale-up Partner, China

James is the Co-Head of the International Division of the Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen, a strategic China partner of Convergence Partners. James has more than 9 years operational and investment experience in the HealthTech and BioTech sectors. Prior, James worked as a product development manager at Shenzhen Ruiyang Biotechnology and as an investment associate at China Biocapital Corp. Other previous employers include Nanopower (CTO), the renomated Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable (Consultant) and Astra Zeneca (Lab Analyst). James earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hongkong and his BSc in Biochemistry at Imperial College London.

Harish Natarajan

Scale-up Partner, India

Harish is leading our landing, scale-up and cross-border licensing activities in India. He is a seasoned healthcare professional - with over 3 decades of experience in different industries and functions. Has held CEO / General Managerial positions in Healthcare companies, both multinational and Indian, for the last 20 years. His last multi-national position was as Managing Director of Bausch + Lomb for India, Thailand and Indo-China. As the founding CEO of HCL Avitas, he was responsible for driving a large scale primary care initiative in India in collaboration with Johns Hopkins. Post this stint, he founded HxCo - the Healthcare collective, with the intent of rallying the government and payers towards gaps in community based and primary care

Dieter Kondek

Scale-up Partner, USA

Dieter is supporting Convergence' fundraising, deal-sourcing and strategic portfolio activities in the US as a Venture Partner. Dieter brings over 35 years of professional experience in investments, executive management and company founder. From 1980 to 2003 he served in senior executive positions at IBM, Dell, Tech Data, Pivot3, MetaCreations and Linotype-Hell AG. In 2003 he moved to the US from Germany and CoFounded and managed several successful companies and raised about $250m in investments. Three have been acquired, where one was gone public with an IPO, generated a 24x return for the investors.