The Codon Capital Team

Karl D. Handelsman, Founder & Managing Partner

Karl D. Handelsman is the founder and Managing Partner, Codon Capital, and a key contributor and builder in the US biotech innovation ecosystem. Through his network and leadership, he drives Codon Capital to intensely focus on the best biotech targets for investments. The key criteria are the team, the technology, and the investment syndicate. Karl is looking for what he calls “an unfair technology advantage, a team uniquely qualified around that technology opportunity, and multiple routes to success.” Without knowing the technology and the team, he notes, the what if should look "impossible" to the outside world.

The key: find something disruptive, and be confident that technical success will generate a great return on invested capital, and as importantly, make the stock options valuable for those doing the work. Repeat entrepreneurs who can build even bolder startups are the limiting resource, and Karl considers it a privilege to work with them as an investor.

Karl's disciplined approach includes coaching at various incubators and teaching healthcare entrepreneurs, e.g., NSF I-Corps Biotech at the National institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Stanford, UCSF, and Imperial College London. He was a personal sponsor of SynBioBeta 1.0, and consulting advisor for Stanford SPARK, University of California Catalyst program, and the California Life Sciences Institute FAST program. He is a member of Life Science Angels. Karl has developed this process to build a better VC, and to support better entrepreneurship in biotech.

Karl received advanced degrees in business from MIT Sloan School of Business (MBA) and in science from Harvard Medical School (MS/Genetics). He has an undergraduate degree from Boston University (Trustee Scholar) in Biology. Prior to venture investing, he worked in Business Development (Tularik and Millenium). In May 2013, he founded Codon Capital after 14 years as a managing director at a major venture fund. He is currently a Senior Advisor at Roche Venture Fund.

More: Handelsman's Linked In

Mitchell Mutz, Partner

Mitchell Mutz, PhD, is an accomplished biotech serial entrepreneur, venture investor, and inventor. Prior to joining Codon, Mitchell was Senior Investment Director at the Roche Venture Fund, a $500M Swiss corporate venture fund which invests for financial return. His portfolio included Enliven Therapeutics, Fabric Genomics, Good Therapeutics, Jasper Therapeutics, Kumquat Biosciences, lino Biotechnology, Pandion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PAND), Purigen Biosystems, Stratos Genomics (acquired by Roche) and BlueLight Therapeutics. He also collaborated on three new company spinouts from Roche which attracted over $50M in external venture investment. Before that he served as a venture partner at Codon Capital.

Previously, Mitchell was a co-founder, president, chief scientific officer, and board member of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotherapeutics company and Stanford University spinout. Mitchell led the company's R&D efforts, team building, as well as financing and in-licensing strategy and helped grow the company from early preclinical discovery to the clinical stage. Amplyx has attracted over $140M in venture financing as well as over $11M in non-dilutive funding from the NIH. Amplyx had a successful Phase 2 clinical trial readout in July 2020 and plans to commence Phase 3 studies in 2021.

Mitchell was also on the founding team and the Principal Scientist of Labcyte, a tools company that he helped grow from a garage-based start-up to profitability. Mitchell was responsible for discovering and and developing biotechnology applications for Labcyte's novel acoustic drop ejection technology. Labcyte employs over 250 people worldwide, attracted $85M in venture financing, and was acquired by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences for $308M.

Mitchell earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Rochester, a diploma in orchestral studies from the University of London, and a B.A. in chemistry with high honors from Oberlin College. He also spent one year studying towards a PhD in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology at Harvard University with Karl Handelsman. Mitchell is also an inventor on 36 issued patents.

More: Mutz's LinkedIn

Codon - \Kō-dän\ the genetic code of three consecutive nucleotides that specifies a particular amino acid in a protein or starts or stops protein synthesis. First use: 1963.

Capital – a store of useful assets or advantages.

“The value creation should be obvious. There are alot of investments that are attractive when you evaluate them on a spreadsheet, but if you need a spreadsheet to know an investment is a value it's not for Codon Capital.
- Karl D.Handelsman, Codon Capital