Jonathan Tobin

Jonathan Tobin is a Partner in the London office of Brandon Capital, one of the largest life-science venture funds spanning the UK and Australia, which he joined in 2021. He is a scientist-turned-investor: he holds a first-class degree in Biology from the University of Oxford, a PhD in Molecular Medicine from University College London (UCL), and an MBA (with Distinction) from Imperial College London. Before moving into investing, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Cancer Research UK working on cancer cell signalling, with publications in *Nature Genetics* and the *New England Journal of Medicine*.

He began his venture career at Imperial Innovations / Touchstone Innovations (later part of LifeArc), where he spent roughly five years as a Principal in the Healthcare Ventures team, evaluating early-stage drug-discovery projects and helping establish spin-outs including Inivata (later acquired for ~$415m). He then joined Arix Bioscience, the London-listed biotech investment company, where he rose from Investment Director to Managing Director (promoted April 2020), building the investment team and portfolio and taking board roles at companies such as Artios Pharma and VelosBio — the latter acquired by Merck for $2.75bn.

Since joining Brandon Capital in 2021 he has led and chaired several of its European deals. He currently sits on the boards of Pheon Therapeutics, Myricx Bio, AstronautX, Salvina, Catalym and Cincera. In 2023 he stepped in as Executive Director of Myricx Bio to support a strategic pivot. Beyond investing, he is an investor-in-residence at Cancer Research Horizons, a member of the KHAN drug-discovery fund investment advisory committee, and a Trustee of the Autism Centre for Excellence.

• Backs founders over technology. His stated philosophy: "Focus early-stage investment on the best entrepreneurs and founders rather than purely focusing on the science or technology."
• Deep-expertise founders. He looks for passionate scientists with "encyclopaedic knowledge" and genuine domain mastery — "Master the literature of the field you are working in and develop that expertise."
• Values-driven. Prizes authenticity, credibility, trustworthiness, and a commitment to sustainable, stakeholder-focused businesses; favours leaders who decide swiftly, mentor generously, and adapt flexibly.
• Founder autonomy. Advocates giving founders room to run and avoiding micromanagement.
• Quality over quantity, and lean in early. Prefers concentrated early-stage bets and is willing to scale companies before assets are fully de-risked.
• Sector focus: therapeutics and diagnostics, with strong exposure to oncology and novel modalities (e.g. antibody-drug conjugates), consistent with his molecular-medicine and cancer-biology roots.