James Demetriades

Jim Demetriades is the Founder and CEO of Kairos Ventures, a Beverly Hills–based venture capital firm he launched in 2015. Kairos partners with universities and scientists to identify leading scientific discoveries and commercialize them, backing physical- and life-sciences startups in their infancy — often as soon as they leave the academic labs where they were incubated. As of 2025 the firm had invested in roughly 51 portfolio companies, including one unicorn.

Before Kairos, Demetriades was a software entrepreneur. In 1989 he founded SeeBeyond Technology Corp., which he built into one of the world's largest self-funded enterprise-integration software companies, with more than 1,600 employees across some 35 countries and customers ranging from Fortune 500 firms to large hospital systems. He took SeeBeyond public and sold it to Sun Microsystems (now part of Oracle) in 2005 for roughly $386–400 million in an all-cash deal. He has described himself as an early-stage tech investor and entrepreneur since 1985, and his earlier ventures also include the real-estate firm Multiversal and the children's internet-education company Inspero.net.

Demetriades earned a Bachelor of Science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 1985, double-majoring in computer science and economics with minors in mathematics and business/marketing. He sits on multiple technology-company boards and is a board member of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation, reflecting a stated personal interest in science that "improves lives" and "restores a sense of hope."

• Commercializing university science: Kairos invests in "ideas, patents and businesses from top universities and scientists," supporting researchers in moving technologies "from the lab to the boardroom."
• Earliest stages: Concentrated in seed and Series A, frequently as the first institutional money into a lab spinout; the firm will lead rounds and provide follow-on capital across the company's life.
• Twin sector pillars: Life sciences (therapeutics, drug discovery, ag-bio) and physical sciences / high tech (advanced materials, energy, plasma, hardware) — the team includes dedicated principals for "Physical Sciences Investments" and "Life Sciences" investing.
• Operator-led conviction: The firm is run by entrepreneurs "who have built, managed and sold companies," and leans on that operating experience to back deep-tech founders others find too early or too technical.
• In his words: "The discoveries Kairos is bringing to life will not only improve lives, but also, ultimately, help restore a sense of hope."