Sivan Weitzman

Sivan Rosen Weitzman is the Chief Financial Officer of RiverVest Venture Partners, a St. Louis–based life sciences venture capital firm, a role she assumed in January 2019. Hers was a newly created position: RiverVest co-founder Jay Schmelter noted at the time that "as our assets under management have grown, from $342 million to $753 million in less than two years, it's time to further enhance our financial infrastructure." She oversees the firm's financial operations across its funds, portfolio-company investments, and management company. The hire followed RiverVest's December 2018 close of its oversubscribed $184.4 million Venture Fund IV.

Before RiverVest, Weitzman spent 13 years as CFO of Halman Aldubi Investment House Ltd., a publicly traded firm on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that manages primarily pension-fund assets and invests across stocks, bonds, real estate and other vehicles in Israel and Europe. During her tenure, the firm's assets under management grew from $250 million to $14 billion; she managed the finance team and cash positions, played a central role in the firm's M&A transactions, and led the finance function for its IPOs.

Earlier in her career, Weitzman spent four years as an audit and assurance senior manager at Deloitte in Tel Aviv. She holds a B.A. in Accounting and Management from The College of Management (Israel).

Weitzman moved to St. Louis in October 2017 when her husband, Guy Weitzman, relocated his IoT startup, Atomation, to the city. She connected with RiverVest through the St. Louis Mosaic Project, a networking organization that links newcomers to the region with local mentors and businesses. On joining, she said she was "thrilled to be in a position where I can play a role in building its start-up innovation eco-system."

*Note: Weitzman is RiverVest's CFO — she leads financial operations rather than sourcing or leading deals. The points below describe the firm's strategy she supports.*

• RiverVest describes itself as "a leading venture capital firm building life science companies to address significant unmet medical needs."
• Sector focus is exclusive to life sciences — biopharmaceuticals and medical devices — with therapeutic areas spanning oncology (including CAR-T therapies), endocrinology, gastroenterology, and rare/neurodegenerative diseases.
• The firm invests across stages, from seed (via its Archer Seed Fund) through Series A/B and later-stage development, and takes a hands-on, company-building approach.
• RiverVest has raised eight funds since 2000 with aggregate AUM exceeding $1.6 billion; its most recent flagship, Venture Fund V, closed at $275 million in March 2021.