After a successful start of the 2nd season of Founders & Funders we will hear this week Thursday 4 March (1.15pm – 2.30pm, UK time) from: Dr. Ben Dake, Founding President @ Aerovate Therapeutics, Inc.

Aerovate Therapeutics is a Boston-based biotechnology company founded in 2018 focused on developing drugs that meaningfully improve the lives of patients with rare (cardiopulmonary) disease. Ben conceptualized and secured seed funding to create Aerovate. He built a team of 20+ consultants and FTEs and in 2020 raised $73M in series A funding from top-tier biotech investors to fund the company through an efficacy trial in an orphan indication.

Before Aerovate, Ben was first bitten by the entrepreneur bug as a founding member of an IT venture. Moving on to pursue his scientific interests, he earned degrees in virology and cell biology focused on the human papillomavirus and breast cancer metastasis before becoming a VC at a multi-stage biotech firm helping to establish their venture strategy. Ben looks forward to an engaged discussion around the experience of building out a virtual biotech team from scratch, raising money during a pandemic and how his life experiences contributed to a unique perspective that sparked Aerovate on its journey.

To attend, please email Christiaan de Koning, SBS