Wellington Partners promotes Johannes Fischer and Varun Gupta to Partner

November 06, 2023

Munich, Germany - Wellington Partners, a leading European venture capital firm investing in early- and growth-stage life science companies, today announced the promotion of Dr. Johannes Fischer and Dr. Varun Gupta to Partner, effective immediately.

Johannes joined Wellington in 2020 supporting the firm’s existing medical device and digital health portfolio. For the past years, he has been the driving force behind Wellington’s renewed strategy in digital health and increasing activity in the cross-sections of traditional healthcare and medical research. He has been instrumental to the investments and ongoing management of several portfolio companies including Sidekick Health, aignostics, MMI and nyra health. Johannes began his professional career as consultant at the life sciences practice of L.E.K. Consulting, where he managed and executed numerous market access, performance enhancement and M&A projects for life science companies. He holds an MSc in Biochemistry, a PhD in Biotechnology and a Medical Doctorate from Technical University, Munich.

Varun has been an integral part of Wellington’s investment team since 2018. He has taken a leading role in defining the firm’s early-stage investment strategy in biotech and has spearheaded the active deal sourcing in the DACH region. Over the past few years, Varun has led the investments in and supported several biopharma portfolio companies, including Dunad Therapeutics, Seamless Therapeutics, Confo Therapeutics, STipe Therapeutics and MinervaX. Prior to joining Wellington, Varun interned at Ysios Capital in Barcelona and assisted the investment team at Forbion in Amsterdam/Naarden. He was awarded a PhD with summa cum laude in Neuroscience from the Free University of Berlin and holds an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona.

Regina Hodits, Managing Partner of Wellington Partners, commented: “We are grateful for Johannes and Varun’s significant contribution during the past years. Their efforts have been critical in expanding our investment activities to new areas like targeted protein degradation and digital care and rehabilitation, which we believe will significantly impact patients’ lives in the future. Their profiles have proven to perfectly complement the investment efforts at Wellington Partners.”

Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner of Wellington Partners, commented: “Since joining Wellington, Johannes and Varun have rapidly developed to become valuable members of our Life Sciences focused team and internationally recognized investment professionals in our industry. We congratulate them on the well-deserved promotion to Partner.”

“We are confident of their significant abilities to identify highly potent and differentiated life science companies and their capabilities to develop these into profitable exits for the investing funds”, added Karl Naegler, Managing Partner of Wellington Partners.

About Wellington Partners

Wellington Partners is a leading European venture capital firm investing in the most promising early- and growth stage life science companies in the fields of biotechnology, therapeutics, medical technology, diagnostics and digital health. With funds totalling more than €1.2 billion, thereof €590 million committed to life sciences, Wellington Partners has been actively supporting world class private companies translating true innovation into successful businesses with exceptional growth. To date, Wellington Partners has invested in 58 innovative life science companies, including 4SC (FSE: VSC), Actelion (acquired by J&J), Carisma Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CARM), Definiens (acquired by AZ), immatics (Nasdaq: IMTX), invendo (acquired by Ambu), MTM Laboratories (acquired by Roche/Ventana), Onward Medical (Euronext: ONWD), Oxford Immunotec (acquired by PerkinElmer), Rigontec (acquired by MSD), Symetis (acquired by Boston Scientific), and Themis (acquired by MSD).

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Contact details

Wellington Partners
Dr. Regina Hodits, Managing Partner
Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner
Dr. Karl Naegler, Managing Partner
Dr. Johannes Fischer, Partner
Dr. Varun Gupta, Partner

Via Karina Schuster

+49 (0) 89 219941-20

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Dr. Regina Lutz / Kaja Skorka

+49 (0) 89 210228-25