Francesco De Rubertis (born 23 January 1970) is a partner at medicxi, a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm with offices in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Jersey and

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, having co-founded the firm in February 2016. Prior to that he was a partner at another venture capital firm,

Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with headquarters in both San Francisco and London. It invests primarily in tech companies. History Index Ventures has its origins in a Switzerland, Swiss bond (finance), bond-trading firm cal ...

, having led the firm's efforts to establish its life sciences practice after joining in 1997.

Early life and education

De Rubertis was born in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He graduated from the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and

Microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

, before earning a Ph.D. in

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

from the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

, where he also met his wife, Sandra Henchoz, who was a fellow student. De Rubertis engaged in

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the st ...

at the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), and later earned the

Chartered Financial Analyst The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financia ...

(CFA) designation.

Career

After his postdoctoral work at MIT, in 1997 De Rubertis moved back to

, where he joined

and helped co-found the firm's

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

practice. In 2009 he moved to

(site of another Index office) where he continues to reside. De Rubertis is responsible for all of Index Ventures’ investments in the life sciences. He has served on the Boards of Directors of many companies, including Addex Therapeutics (), CellZome (acquired by

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

for $120 Million ),

Genmab Genmab A/S is a Danish biotechnology company, founded in February 1999 by Florian Schönharting, at the time managing director of BankInvest Biomedical venture fund. The company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark – internationally, it operates t ...

(), Molecular Partners (), PanGenetics (acquired by

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, in the United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate k ...

), and Parallele Bioscience (acquired by

Affymetrix Affymetrix is now Applied Biosystems, a brand of DNA microarray products sold by Thermo Fisher Scientific that originated with an American biotechnology research and development and manufacturing company of the same name. The Santa Clara, Calif ...

). In 2012 De Rubertis spearheaded the launch of Index Ventures’ $200 Million life sciences fund in partnership with

(GSK) and

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

(J&J), to invest in early-stage biotechnology companies. De Rubertis is the author of several publications in international scientific journals. In 2010 De Rubertis was named by ''BioWorld'' as one of 28 "movers and shakers" predicted to shape the biotechnology industry over the next two decades. In October 2012 De Rubertis was named by ''

Xconomy Xconomy was a media company providing news on business, life sciences, and technology{{cite web , title=Company Overview of Xconomy, Inc. , url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=36215051 , publisher=Bloomberg ...

'' as one of 40 of “Young and Proven” biotech venture capitalists. De Rubertis is a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the University of Geneva. In February 2016 De Rubertis launches an independent venture capital firm Medicxi (formerly Index Ventures Life Sciences) and announces the closing of Medicxi Ventures 1 (MV1) a €210m fund including GSK and Johnson & Johnson Innovation. Medicxi is managed by four Partners Francesco de Rubertis, Kevin Johnson, David Grainger and Michèle Ollier all of whom previously led the Life Sciences practice at Index Ventures. On November 30, 2017 De Rubertis was named in the Bloomberg Top 50 most influential people of 2017. He was selected as one of 10 nominees in the Tech (& Science) category along with

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

(Tesla, SpaceX), Masayoshi Son (

SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a m ...

) and Martin Lau (

Tencent Holdings Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is ...

). The Bloomberg Top 50 consists of 5 categories Tech (& Science), Business, Politics, Finance and Entertainment. De Rubertis's reputation for halving the time it takes for a return on biotech investments has Silicon Valley eager to get in on a $300 million fund he's raised for late-stage startups.

References

External links

medicxi website

Index Ventures website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Rubertis, Francesco 1970 births Living people Venture capitalists Italian businesspeople University of Pavia alumni University of Geneva alumni Italian molecular biologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty CFA charterholders