In today’s episode of If Not Now Wen, we’re excited to talk with special guest Rima Chakrabarti. Rima is a partner at KdT Ventures, the standard for early-stage frontier science investing, where she partners with scientific founders engineering the world at the molecular level.

Rima studied biology and neuroscience at Brown University and earned her MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. While in medical school, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) research fellow in the lab of Dr. Helen Hobbs, where she created bio-tools for measuring lipid activity in the body. She attended the University of Pennsylvania for her clinical residency in neurology, after which she jumped to the Fannin Innovation Studio, a human-health focused venture creation firm in Houston, TX, where she directed the development of a portfolio of preclinical assets, three of which are now in clinical trials.

Since joining KdT in 2020, Rima’s investments to date span the fields of material science, cell immunotherapy, cancer metabolism, and surgical robotics. She currently sits on the boards of Dimension Inx, Cypris Materials, and Modulus Therapeutics.

Rima is truly an inspiring example and model for technical founders who are on a path and looking for a way to change the world, and she is doing amazing things on this planet. I know you are going to love this episode as much as I do and get so many amazing takeaways.

We talk about:

🔹 Discovering a passion for building with biology and exploring the “why” of disease

🔹 Uncovering the steps for the commercialization process in the biotech space

🔹 What you need to know about the investor/founder partnership

🔹 Determining if Venture Capital funding is right for your biotech company

🔹 What to focus on in your pitch to get a seed investor excited to partner with you

Rima has such a love for technology, innovation, and creating an impact which is truly making the world a better place. Tune in to the full episode to hear more of her inspiring story.