Meet the founders helping founders

Vishal’s training in medicine and biomedical sciences gives him unique insight to spot which emerging technology platforms may have the potential of transforming healthcare, making him one of the early investors in successive emerging platforms such as genomics, computational biology and the convergence of imaging and machine learning.

At Recode, Vishal’s investments include Sensible Biotechnologies (novel mRNA therapeutics), Nanograb (precision gene targeting), Probably Genetic (rare disease diagnosis), Lab Genius (in-silico antibody engineering) and Waypoint Bio (spatial imaging for immuno-oncology). Some of his earlier investments include Evonetix (semiconductor platform for gene synthesis), Chemify (chemical code for drug discovery), Infinitopes (cancer vaccines), Clue (reproductive health),Ieso Digital Health (mental health, LLMs), Quit Genius (Pelego) (abuse and addiction), Zoe (microbiome), Kheiron (ML,medical imaging),Arctoris (robotics), Turbine (computational biology), Relation Therapeutics (ML/drug discovery)

Vishal’s direct investment experience includes over 15 years spent at leading venture capital firms, DFJ-Esprit (Molten Ventures), Atlas Venture and Oxford Science Enterprises. Vishal has since been invited to serve as independent chair/member of investment committees of other healthcare funds, including KHP Ventures, Cancer Research (UK) Seed Fund and University of Cambridge seed fund.

Vishal’s access and influence is expanded further by his advisory roles at the Francis Crick Institute, Reuben College, University of Oxford,British Heart Foundation, and RAND Corporation (Europe)

Vishal trained as a physician in India and continued his postgraduate training and research at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and Imperial College where he also held visiting faculty position from 2003 to 2008. He is a recipient of several academic awards including two Medical Research Council fellowships, the prestigious UNESCO MCBN Fellowship and the Rhodes Scholarship.

After BlueTalon, Armen was an early Partner at DCVC, the first venture capital firm with an AI-centric thesis. At DCVC, he played a leadership role in the investment of the first companies applying AI to healthcare and the life sciences. Some of Armen’s board responsibilities included: Board Chairman at Caption Health [acquired by GE HealthCare]; and Board Director at Proprio. In addition to these responsibilities, Armen led or co-led investment in AbCellera [NASD: ABCL], Recursion [NASD: RXRX], and Healthmode [NASD:MNMD].

Armen holds an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. His history with data and healthcare goes back to college, during which he co-authored a paper on the use of autoregressive moving average analysis (ARMA) to characterize baroreflex gain in a 1996 issue of the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulation. Originally from Racine, Wisconsin, Armen’s perspective as a venture capitalist is influenced as a first generation college graduate.

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group/Optum, Jeff was a member of the Executive Committee of the Walgreens Boots Alliance where he served as President of Pharma and Global Market Access. Jeff also led Walgreens specialty pharmacy business with over $10 billion in revenue and 5,800 employees.Before joining Walgreens, Jeff was senior vice president of global market access for Merck & Company, Inc.

Jeff began his career as a health care attorney for the international law firm Proskauer Rose LLP in New York Jeff is currently the CEO of Real Endpoints, a leader in providing insights, support and tools to strengthen access to pharmaceutical innovation for an evolving healthcare landscape with a concentrated focus on value based arrangements, patient services and market access support for pharmaceutical manufacturers and payors.

Jeff serves on the board of directors of several publicly traded healthcare companies including Lundbeck A/S, and Zealand Pharmaceuticals and previously served on the boards of Esperion Therapeutics, Uniphar and Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Berkowitz also serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Life Science Leader and Pharmaceutical Commerce magazines.

Prior to this, Nicola served as Minister for Innovation in the Department for Health and Social Care under two Prime Ministers. She led on Life Sciences, NHS Data and Digital Transformation, and Global Health Security.

Prior to this, Nicola served as Minister for Innovation in UK’s Department for Health and Social Care under two British Prime Ministers. She led on Life Sciences, NHS Data and Digital Transformation, and Global Health Security.
Entering Parliament in 2010, she was the first female MP for Oxford, and was elected by MPs of all parties as Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. She remains one of the youngest committee Chairs in British history and the only woman to have chaired the Commons Science & Technology Committee.

Entering Parliament in 2010, she was the first female MP for Oxford, and was elected by MPs of all parties as Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. She remains one of the youngest committee Chairs in British history and the only woman to have chaired the Commons Science & Technology Committee.

In addition to his role as equity partner at Recode, Tim is also a Board Chair of Ophirex, Board Member of Carmot Theraputics and a member of the Advisory Panel of Cambridge Innovation Capital. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FFPM), and a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG).

While in the In the Department of Health he was the Government sponsor for NICE, the Healthcare Commission and the National Patient Safety Agency. He has served on several boards including NHS England. He is currently Chair of the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. He has been ranked as the most influential clinician in the NHS by the Health Services Journal and named as one of Britain’s 500 most influential people in the Sunday Times. He was knighted for services to medicine in 2003.

Prior to that, Lloyd was the CFO of two venture capital firms – focused on technology and/or life science investments.  Previously, Lloyd was the CFO or controller of several hedge funds, as well as the controller of a large multi-strategy alternative asset platform.  Lloyd began his career at BDO, where he left as a financial services audit manager.

Since 2020, Lloyd has been consulting for numerous established and start-up venture capital funds by providing strategic guidance, setting up and maintaining books and records, writing policies, assisting with service provider selections and relationships, and coordinating compliance responsibilities.

Lloyd received a BA in Accounting and Economics from Queens College.  He is a CPA and a CFA.

Before pursuing his Ph.D., Oscar completed his M.A. at the Francis Crick Institute, exploring the functional role of the SMC5/6 complex in the TopoIIa dependent arrest at G2 to support the development of novel oncological therapies harnessing the principle of synthetic lethality. He studied for his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Oxford University.