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Karolina Zapadka, PhD MBA
Life Science Investor I Cambridge I London
Karolina Zapadka is a Senior Investment Manager at Parkwalk Advisors, specializing in life sciences and healthcare investments.1 She has nearly a decade of experience in building and investing in life sciences and healthcare companies, particularly within the Cambridge Cluster.1
Professional Background
Karolina's career highlights include:
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Co-founding a life sciences startup accelerator: In 2018, she established and successfully delivered Cambridge's first life sciences startup accelerator, which developed a portfolio of 20 early-stage ventures.1
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Scientific expertise: She began her career as a scientist at a leading biopharmaceutical company, where she worked on delivering products to clinics.1
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Academic achievements: Karolina holds a PhD in biophysics from the University of Cambridge, focusing on diabetes and neurosciences. She also completed postdoctoral work in drug development at AstraZeneca.1
Investment Experience
At Parkwalk Advisors, Karolina leverages her scientific background and industry experience to:
- Identify promising investment opportunities in the life sciences and healthcare sectors
- Support early-stage ventures in securing pre-seed and seed investments
- Contribute to building and scaling innovative companies in these fields1
Recent Activities
Karolina has been actively involved in various industry events and initiatives:
- In January 2024, she joined a team of advisors, bringing over a decade of experience in investing and building life sciences companies.2
- She has participated in discussions about early-stage funding and entrepreneurship in the life sciences sector.3
Karolina Zapadka's unique combination of scientific expertise, entrepreneurial experience, and investment acumen makes her a valuable asset in the life sciences and healthcare investment landscape.
Highlights
Returning to Babraham Research Campus 📍 always brings nostalgia, especially seeing the old The Babraham Institute building where I was based before joining Parkwalk Advisors.
📅 In 2018, I founded Accelera@Babraham, the first life sciences accelerator in the #CambridgeCluster, with an incredible team. I’m still in touch with almost 20 portfolio companies—alumni and support networks are so important! Qkine ENHANC3D GENOMICS Antiverse VisusNano Ltd OPPILOTECH LTD Concr Mosaic TX Kalium Health CC Bio CREASALLIS Neobe Therapeutics Shift Bioscience MFX
📢 This June, Accelera@Babraham welcomed promising startups like #Athernal, #Enstic, #Ephyra, #TheNewPlateletCompany, #OvartiX, and #UPloidBiotechnologyLtd. It's rewarding to reconnect with new #startups beginning their journey. The Cambridge ecosystem is fantastic for refining entrepreneurial ideas alongside KOLs, and mentors.
🚀 Best wishes to all in the acceleration program for their final pitches and securing funding. Have fun and enjoy the journey! 🎉 🙂
👏 Special thanks to Jenny Hirst for organizing and facilitating this event, and to all the program supporters for their invaluable contributions to these entrepreneurs' journeys forward Anne Horgan (nee Nguyen) Mike Murphy Amanda Wooding Kristina Kordova
More here: https://lnkd.in/e245k9Yx
Irina Babina Matthew Cummings David Corcoran Catherine Elton Marko Hyvönen Stefan Schoenfelder Joanna Gould Darren Pitt Philip Alexander Ajay Mistry Tanya Hutter, PhD Tom Collings Matthew Griffiths Mariya Chhatriwala Daniel Ives PhD Antoine Espinet Pedro Correa de Sampaio Ola (Aleksandra) Wlodek
#InvestInInnovation #Science
After a very productive first two quarters of the year, it's time to relax a bit.
Yesterday, my colleagues Moray Wright, Anne Dobrée, and I attended the Cambridge Angels Summer Party! It was fantastic to catch up with portfolio companies, serial entrepreneurs, business angels, and local venture capitalists. This event is a great way to connect with everyone we've collaborated with on various transactions to support the #CambridgeCluster, an ecosystem of top academics, Nobel Prize laureates, scientists, innovators, start-ups, and scale-ups 🚀 Once again, the event was hosted in the beautiful surroundings of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge 📍 Not everyone knows that the College was founded in 1596 under the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex, wife of Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, and named after its foundress. Thanks to everyone who attended and to the organizers (Emmi Nicholl) for putting together such an excellent garden party 🎉 🎈
Barbara Domayne-Hayman Michelle Tempest David Ford Barnaby Perks Peter McPartland Irina Babina Ana Avaliani Dr Ghina M. Halabi Hannah Sore Tom Weaver George Neville-Jones 🌄
Parkwalk Advisors Cambridge Enterprise Ventures
