“You did great in there, I was impressed” - this was the comment that I offered as Vanni and I walked out of a meeting with an entrepreneur who had just pitched an interesting deal structure. Vanni had been all of two weeks into the VC job and I was genuinely struck by the sense of leadership and natural charisma that this 26 year old Imperial College biologist had displayed during the conduct of one of his first business meetings ever. Instead of smiling and capitalising on my positive comment, as any newly hired team member would have done with such an early gesture of praise, he looked at me and rebutted “Yes, but that is irrelevant, we will need to see if they agree to the deal…”. I was indeed impressed: this throwaway remark undoubtedly underpinned a true sense and understanding of leadership - a natural and full alignment (even replacement) of his personal goals with the firm’s goals. Since then, this hardwired mindset and overriding commitment to the firm’s goals have absolutely been the dominant traits of this natural born leader and venture capitalist. That was 2012 and we had just discovered Vanni in London through Jan Hammer (a partner at Index Ventures and a friend of his family). Six years and many investments later, working especially with the guidance of Michele Ollièr, and after his first portfolio company exits, we are thrilled to announce that Vanni is becoming a partner of Medicxi and a key pillar of the future growth of the firm for many years to come. By the way, we never did the deal with that entrepreneur....
And then we have Jon Edwards. Everyone in the biotech world seems to know Jon (or has a story about Jon!) – extremely smart, hardworking and a loveable character. The rare type of person whose business relationships always seem to transcend into longstanding personal friendships. That said, Jon must be the only guy I know that managed to get himself mugged in Geneva - an easy to live in, residential, safe and family-orientated city. Jon, who was hired in the Geneva office in 2014, therefore decided to move to London (Hackney – where I hear people get mugged or punched almost daily) as a ‘safer’ place for him to live than Geneva. An MIT graduate with several years’ experience in pharmaceutical consulting, we met Jon through Ryan Snow, who back then was working with us at Index Ventures. He moved from the US to join us and, from the outset, it felt more like a homecoming for Vanni and the rest of the team. It was immediately apparent that Jon had the numbers, the skill and the personality to make it to the very top in this industry. Working hand in hand with Kevin Johnson, who has been absolutely instrumental in making Jon what he is today: a popular and trusted partner to all of the entrepreneurs that he decides to back. His dealmaking skills and strategic mindset are hugely appreciated by the CEOs that he backs. And this resonates all the more so because these traits are combined in such a genuine and universally liked member of our team. Like Kevin. Actually, Jon is a younger Kevin (much younger...by the way...).
Jon and Vanni are partners. They were together part of the founding team of Medicxi, they are becoming Partners of the firm today.
