Stoic Welcomes Safaa Nasrallah
Meet the newest addition to the Stoic investment team
With a diverse background spanning start-ups and venture building across Europe, Safaa is eager to leverage her expertise to drive advancements and innovation in healthcare. Her journey, fuelled by her passion for transforming patient lives and a commitment to commercialise and support early stage technologies has led her to Stoic Venture Capital.
Get to know Safaa through this Q&A:
1) What drew you to transition into venture capital?
During my higher education years, and as I took on my first jobs, I had not envisioned a career in venture capital, making my journey far from straightforward. From early on, I always had an interest in life science and healthcare with aspirations of eventually pursuing a career in the medical sector. Personal circumstances took me to Europe, and I found myself working in multiple start-ups across the region, Norway, UK, and Netherlands. Collectively, these experiences sparked my interest in the power of commercialising research and technologies. Considering the transformative potential of such start-ups in improving patient lives, I transitioned from working with startups on solving specific problems, to a venture builder at NLC. The broad reach of such an organisation, inspired me to pursue an opportunity in Venture capital and support start-ups as they navigate different challenges to bring their innovations to market.
2) Why did you decide to join Stoic Venture Capital?
Having worked with early-stage healtech start-ups, I gained a deep understanding of the challenges such companies encounter, irrespective of their potential impact. Early-stage start-ups in the life science sector, in particular, are considered high risk investments and find it harder to secure capital. This is due to their anticipated larger funding requirements and longer timelines to reach market. As a passionate advocate for innovation in healthcare and improving patient care, joining Stoic Venture Capital, who are actively working to bridge the gap in early-stage investing presented an amazing opportunity.
3) How do you plan on leveraging your previous experiences at Stoic?
I believe my scientific background will help me better understand the potential of innovative technologies, their development pathways, and the associated inherent risks. I am eager to apply my knowledge and continue to learn whilst engaging with a breadth of investment opportunities daily.
Through my previous positions, I had the opportunity of working closely with founders on an operational level, seeing firsthand the challenges they face daily. This, I believe, has better positioned me to offer meaningful support as they navigate the complexities of bringing their innovations to market.
4) Which sector of healthcare fascinates you the most and why?
The biotech industry is currently seeing some exciting developments. The sector holds the promise of delivering lifesaving disruptive technologies, in often unchartered territories, while tackling the challenge of expanding existing markets or creating new ones. The timelines are long, and companies can be capital intensive. It is definitely a high risk/high reward space. I believe the current advancements we are seeing in this sector, from the integration of AI into drug discovery to the emerging next generation therapies paving the way for precision medicine, will have a major impact on healthcare and life sciences changing the way we detect, prevent and cure disease.
Thanks, Safaa!
To get in touch with Safaa, reach out via LinkedIn.
For more information about Stoic VC, please visit our website.
Disclaimer
Stoic Venture Capital is a licensed venture capital fund manager (Stoic Venture Capital ILP) under the Venture Capital Act. The fund remains under the guidance and authority of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services.
