Team Spotlight: Introducing Caleb Bell

“Right now is probably the best time in history to be in the life sciences entrepreneurial ecosystem”

Please join us in giving a very warm welcome to Caleb Bell. Caleb joined Prime Movers Lab earlier this month as a Partner focusing on life sciences. I’ve known Caleb for 6 years from Stanford-StartX and early in 2020 the entire Prime Movers Lab team got to know him “in action”. He advised on our investment in Covaxx, a multitope peptide vaccine in clinical trials for Covid-19

Previously, together with his brother Dan, Caleb founded Bell Biosystems, Inc. a synthetic biology company developing enabling tools for tracking and controlling cell therapies, where he served as CEO from inception to early 2017. Under his leadership, Bell Bio received ~$14mm in financing from luminary investors, millions in grant funding from NIH and Breakout Labs, and garnered international recognition, including identification by the White House in 2014 as a “breakthrough life science technologies.” In addition to being an experienced entrepreneur, he has served on the boards of multiple startups and trade associations, and advised a number of life science angel, venture and private equity funds. Most recently he was a Venture Partner with Beyond Next Ventures, a Tokyo based deep tech venture fund.

Caleb received a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from Stanford University. He is an inventor on more than 20 patents, author of over 25 peer-reviewed publications and text books. He is on the Board of Directors of CLSI, the California Life Sciences Institute. Caleb splits time between the Bay Area and Boston. He has an 8 year old French bulldog named Lola (she is somewhat of an Internet celebrity, see photo #2 in this article!).

Suzanne: Take us through your journey of going from Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist!

Caleb: I’ve been an entrepreneur most of my life starting my first two businesses (a restaurant and a deli) a year after graduating from high school. These were not “venture companies” and pretty quickly failed. So I decided to go to college at the same time I started a third company that turned out pretty well. But in school I fell in love with biochemistry and handed the company over to some of my partners to pursue a PhD. The plan then was to go into academia but the entrepreneurial bug bit me again and with my brother and PhD advisor we formed Bell Biosystems. While there, I started to volunteer with some accelerators to help other entrepreneurs as I’d been helped by the various ones that Bell Bio went through. I also started doing a little with some investors doing due diligence and helping their portfolio companies. I found both of these really rewarding and exciting. So after hiring in my CEO replacement it was sort of a natural transition to do more of this. It is incredibly fulfilling to help founders advance their visions, so here I am.

Suzanne: You got to know us (Prime Movers Lab) during our deep diligence on Covaxx in early 2020. How would you describe the Prime Movers Lab diligence process?

Caleb: The process is pretty amazing. The depth and speed that PML uses to come to a decision is unparalleled. Have been on the other side of the table for some many years, this is a great service to founders. I credit this to the deep technical backgrounds of the Partners and the massive network of luminary Advisors that PML has.

Suzanne: I know your scientific interests include synthetic biology, biological magnetism, cell therapy and leveraging biologic systems to solve complex problems that improve human health and the environment. How do these things interrelate?

Caleb: I think that right now is probably the best time in history to be in the life sciences entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are at this kind of ‘perfect storm place’ where innovations and capacity in areas like genetics, understandings of diseases, advent of new modalities like cell, gene and digital therapies, synthetic biology and computer science are colliding. With these and the amazing entrepreneurs leveraging them we are going to see a massive transformation of society.

Suzanne question: I asked Amy this question too and loved hearing her answer. Can you share something that may sound a bit outrageous but you think will happen in neuroscience in the next 10 years?

Caleb: While there have been some really amazing clinical successes in neuroscience, there still remains a lot of patients and their families with no or suboptimal options. Given how complex the brain is this is understandable. Long ago, some patients were treated with lobotomies and today some treatments are essentially chemical lobotomies. Within this decade, I think we are really going to see some transformational treatments using stem cells, digital therapeutics and virtual reality.

Suzanne question: What are some of the things you enjoy (I am going to say it is okay to use pre-pandemic examples here!)?

Caleb: Perhaps a throwback to my cheffing days, but I really enjoy cooking and sharing food with friends and loved ones.

Suzanne question: If founders want to share what they are working on with you, what is the best way for them to get in touch?

Caleb: These days we have so many channels, but I think I am a little old school and phone or email is easiest. That or just come up and say hi…..with a mask on until we get past this pandemic!

Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in seed-stage companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and agriculture.

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