Dr. Omri Amirav-Drory

Omri Amirav-Drory, Ph.D. is General Partner at NFX, a venture firm focused on pre-seed and seed-stage startups. He is the Founding Partner at Tech.Bio and Founder and CEO of Renewal Bio. He is a scientist and an operator who has founded, scaled, and invested in some of today’s most important techbio companies.

As a seed investor, Omri’s approach is to invest in visionaries. He invests in transforming founders into elite leaders. He helps with funding and helps them get it right. He helps raise the next round and continues to help from there as an Advisor and Board Member.

Omri is a Board Member at Radar Therapeutics, TwoStep Therapeutics, ZipBio, Centivax, Talus Bio, Mana.bio, La Jolla Labs, PANGEA Therapeutics, Pepper Bio, Nanocarry Therapeutics, Eleven Therapeutics, EdiTy Therapeutics, and Light Bio.

He is also an Advisor at Immunai since 2020 and at Mammoth Biosciences since 2016. Immunai is reprogramming the Immune System to Improve Health.

Mammoth Biosciences is a biotechnology company using ultracompact CRISPR systems to develop long-term curative therapies, as well as other applications such as decentralized precision diagnostics. Founded by CRISPR pioneer and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, the company’s ultra-compact proteins are designed to enable in vivo gene editing in difficult-to-reach tissues utilizing both nuclease applications and new editing modalities beyond double-stranded breaks, including base editing, gene writing, and epigenetic editing.

In 2015, Omri became Mentor at IndieBio, working with the venture capital fund Synthetic Biology Accelerator. They back deep tech ventures for a healthy people and planet.

Omri has also been a member of 8400 The Health Network since 2020. This Network is advancing Israel as a HealthTech powerhouse through a globally connected HealthTech Network.

Between 2011 and 2016, Omri was the Founder and CEO of Genome Compiler Corp (GCC). The company was built on the idea that biology is information technology. Just like any other information technology, like computers, genetic engineers also need tools to design, debug, and compile their code — a genome compiler. This computer-aided design and collaboration platform for the synthetic biology industry allows scientists in the biotechnology, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries to design, debug, and compile biological code, to develop better bio-based products faster.

He led the company to a successful acquisition by Twist Bioscience, a next-generation DNA synthesis company valued at ~$2.5 billion. Omri stayed at Twist for almost three years after the acquisition as the Head of Corporate Development, until 2018.

After leaving Twist, Omri became the Founding Partner at Tech.Bio where he invested and advised in companies like Mammoth Biosciences, Immunai, C2i Genomics, and more.

Previously, Omri was an Advisor at Loop Genomics for more than 7 years. He was also a Board Member at Armada Biosystems, Wild Biotech, resistanceBio, and Gilboa Therapeutics.

Omri earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Tel Aviv University in 2007. He did his postdoctoral work at Stanford University of Medicine from 2007 to 2011 in Axel Brunger’s lab. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Tel Aviv University in 2003. He also graduated from Singularity University in 2011.

Watch Solve for X: Omri Amirav-Drory on synthetic life toolkits and Omri Amirav-Drory — Genome Compiler. Watch Omri Amirav-Drory: General Partner at NFX, What I Wish I Knew as a Scientist-Founder with Omri Amirav-Drory, and Omri Amirav Drory | Renewing Human Health @ LBF + Longevity Workshop 2024.

Listen to Talking Biotech with NFX Bio General Partner.

Read Radar Therapeutics Inc.. (5/23/24). “Press Release: Radar Therapeutics Raises $13.4M in Seed Funding to Develop Smart Programmable Medicines Using Molecular RNA Sensors”. Berkeley, CA. Read Here’s the Crack Team of Super-Geniuses Google Invited to Hash Out the World’s Top Problems.

Read Why Great Bioplatforms Will Always Win and How to Start Your Own VC Fund.

Visit his LinkedIn profile, ResearchGate profile, and his Crunchbase page. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.