IndieBio NY launched in 2020 thanks to a five-year, $25M grant from New York State’s Empire State Development. The mission was to bring the startup savvy of SOSV’s IndieBio startup development program, first established in San Francisco, to the life sciences ecosystem in New York. Not long after our start, COVID struck, necessitating much improvisation in how we worked with founders and delaying the development of our 25,000 sq. ft. office, event and lab space near Penn Station. 

When I think back on those really difficult days, it’s incredible to realize that five years later we have 80 IndieBio NY alums and they have raised more than $180 million, including $47 million from SOSV. That’s on par with the early years at IndieBio SF, not that we’re competing! And true to our mission to encourage more life science startups in New York, 32% of the founders are from NY, 24% joined us from overseas, and 44% landed here from elsewhere in the U.S. 

Our program is more popular than ever and our alumni ranks are growing fast, as is the workload for the New York team. For the past year, we’ve been hunting for a second SOSV general partner to join me at IndieBio NY, and I am happy to report that the search is complete.

“At GE Ventures and Columbia University’s research labs, she guided “science” out of the lab and into the market, investing and building businesses from seed to growth stage in deep tech…”

What we see in Deborah is 20 years of investing experience that is fantastically well-suited to our work here at SOSV and the IndieBio NY program. At GE Ventures and Columbia University’s research labs, she guided “science” out of the lab and into the market, investing and building businesses from seed to growth stage in deep tech, healthcare, industrial, energy, consumer, and digital solutions for a decade. Her prior experience in operations and consulting for industrial companies at GE, Celarix.com, and Andersen has made her an invaluable partner to founders.  

For the past nine years, Deborah has helped build Touchdown Ventures (now Cerity Partners Ventures after a merger with Cerity Partners), into a multi-sector, multi-stage corporate venture capital firm that has managed over 25 venture programs in 5 sectors, including ag & food, the built world, healthcare, industrial, and IT & media. Deborah co-founded the healthcare sector practice and 5 corporate venture programs, and has worked with 12 corporations on 15 funds. Her experience in corporate venture is very welcome at SOSV, where a rapidly growing contingent of corporate investors invest in our portfolio companies’ series seed and A rounds.

Deborah earned her MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from NYU’s Stern School of Business and her BS and BA from Lehigh University, where she was an Iacocca and Trustee Scholar. She has since served as a Lehigh trustee and founding advisor to the nationally-ranked Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation and as an Exec-In-Residence at Columbia Technology Ventures. 

Deborah is from the Northeast and is an enthusiastic traveler. She has visited over 60 countries, 40 states and, in a former life, lived in Tokyo. She has worked with corporations, NGOs, and governments in 25 countries. One of her superpowers, which SOSV will embrace with open arms, is a superb record negotiating difficult partnerships and investments around the globe. 

Please join us in welcoming Deborah Zajac as the tenth general partner at SOSV.