Michael Krel

Michael is a Partner in Sofinnova Industrial Biotech Strategy. He joined us in 2013.

His primary focus is on identifying early-stage deals in Europe and North America with applications ranging from chemicals, materials, agriculture, food, feed, and synthetic biology.

The IB Fund’s contribution to sustainability is important to him.

“I have three young kids, and I don’t want to end up 25 years from now with a difficult question about, you know, why didn’t I do anything to solve climate change,” he said. He added that investing in companies that are all part of a movement toward sustainability and lower carbon emissions “is the way for me to address that very personal issue.”

In addition to being a board member of Afyren, Michael is or has been on the Board of Directors of Elicit Plant, Meiogenix, enginzyme, Comet Bio, and EnobraQ. He also served for two years as the CEO of EnobraQ, a Sofinnova Partners Green Seed Fund portfolio company.

He looks for founders with the ability to roll with the punches. “Founders need to have grit, to be able to move mountains and stay resilient when things are not easy,” he says. “Creativity and charisma are important, of course, but resilience is a very key feature.”

Michael came to biotech and venture capital via science and consulting. He finds it satisfying to retain the “positiveness of going into deep science,” yet “still being able to see a lot of different things and have an impact on a business,” helping its executives “craft their strategy and their path forward.”

Before joining Sofinnova, Michael spent six years in industrial biotech start-ups, in senior business development roles. He also worked in a consulting firm advising companies on strategic R&D and organizational issues.

Michael is an engineer who graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and holds a PhD in organic chemistry from Paris X Orsay University.