State of the Venture Capital Financing Market (Day 1 of 2)

Colin Walsh from Goldman Sachs Alternatives - Colin Walsh, PhD is a Managing Director and Senior Investor on the Life Sciences Investing team within Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Prior to joining the firm, Colin was a Partner at Qiming Venture Partners USA. He has more than ten years of experience working as an investor and operator in early-stage life sciences companies. Colin earned dual BS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a PhD from the UC Berkeley-UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering. Zach Collins from MBC Capital - Zach Collins, PhD is a Partner in Mission BioCapital’s San Francisco office.  He focuses on investments in early-stage biopharmaceutical companies and launching early-stage company operations in collaboration with entrepreneurs at times through interim executive roles. He holds board roles at Cavalry Biosciences, Nuvig Therapeutics, Jupiter Bioventures, and additional early-stage portfolio companies. Zach served on the board of SiteOne Therapeutics through its 2025 acquisition by Eli Lilly for up to $1B.  At MBC Biolabs, Zach supports startups as an Entrepreneur Success Partner. His training is in molecular biology & genetics. While at Harvard Medical School, Zach co-authored work that was recognized by Science as 2018’s Breakthrough of the Year. Zach holds a Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University and a B.S. in Biology from George Washington University. Alexis Ji from Primer Ventures - Dr. Alexis Ji is the Founder and Managing Partner of Primer Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in innovative therapeutics and life science tools. She brings more than two decades of experience across biotechnology research and venture capital, with a focus on identifying breakthrough technologies and partnering with entrepreneurs to accelerate company building. Before founding Primer Ventures in 2023, Alexis was a Partner at Illumina Ventures for six years, where she played pivotal roles in fundraising, investment strategy, and portfolio management. Earlier in her venture capital career, she held investment roles at ARCH Venture Partners and WuXi Healthcare Ventures, where she invested broadly across therapeutics and medtech.  Her investments include industry-leading companies she backed early, such as Twist Bioscience (Nasdaq: TWST) and Juno Therapeutics (acquired by Celgene), as well as more recent investments such as Curio Bioscience (acquired by Takara Bio) and BlossomHill Therapeutics (Nasdaq: BLSM). Alexis began her career in biotechnology R&D, holding scientific roles at Merck, Roche, and Life Technologies across drug discovery, translational research, and molecular diagnostics. This combination of scientific and investment experience shapes her approach to evaluating emerging technologies and translating scientific advances into commercial opportunities. Alexis holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.