# Anja König

> Anja König is a Series A investor at Novartis Venture Fund backing Biotechnology and Medical. See 13 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Novartis Venture Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/novartis-venture-fund)
- Location: Basel, Switzerland
- Total investments: 13
- Last investment: Jul 2019
- Lead investor: 15%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anja-k%C3%B6nig-8738a06/

Anja König is a Series A investor at Novartis Venture Fund in Basel focused on Biotechnology and Medical. Dr. Anja König is a Managing Director in Basel, Switzerland.She is active in Switzerland and Europe and also responsible for expanding the fund’s presence to Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Novartis she was an Associate Partner at McKinsey and Company, a global consultancy, where she worked with companies in health care in the US, Europe andEmerging Markets. Anja König is a scientist by training and holds a PhD in physics from Cornell University. Anja serves on the boards of Bicycle, Covagen, Heptares, F2G and Nabriva and works with Destiny, Neomics, Oxagen, PharmAbcine, Polyphor and Qurient Therapeutics.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 5 | 38% |
| Medical | 3 | 23% |
| Health Care | 3 | 23% |
| Pharmaceutical | 3 | 23% |
| Biopharma | 2 | 15% |

8 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 3 | 23% |
| Series B | 3 | 23% |
| Funding Round | 3 | 23% |
| Seed | 1 | 8% |
| Series C | 1 | 8% |

6 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 23% |
| Austria | 1 | 8% |
| Finland | 1 | 8% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Forendo Pharma | Forendo Pharma is a developer of novel drugs intended for the treatment of urological and other endocrinological diseases. The company's drugs are competent in tissue-specific hormone mechanisms for the treatment of broader gynecological conditions and Fispemifene, a novel SERM, enabling medical companies to improve the treatment of maleurological conditions and giving new opportunities to unmet needs in women's and men's health. | $5.5M |  | Jul 18, 2019 |  |
| Forendo Pharma | Forendo Pharma is a developer of novel drugs intended for the treatment of urological and other endocrinological diseases. The company's drugs are competent in tissue-specific hormone mechanisms for the treatment of broader gynecological conditions and Fispemifene, a novel SERM, enabling medical companies to improve the treatment of maleurological conditions and giving new opportunities to unmet needs in women's and men's health. | $4.2M |  | Sep 05, 2018 |  |
| Bicycle Therapeutics | Bicycle Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of medicines which are referred to as Bicycles. The Bicycles are synthetic short peptides constrained to form two loops which stabilize their structural geometry. Its initial internal programs are focused on oncology indications with high unmet medical need.The company's product candidate, BT1718, is a Bicycle Toxin Conjugate, or BTC. |  | Series B | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| F2G | F2G is advancing its own patented compounds and technologies which will lead to the development of novel agents to treat serious fungal disease. The Company was founded on its proprietary genomics technology (MycoBank®) that identifies essential gene targets in fungi. Having received initial funding in 2002 the company then rapidly diversifiedinto chemistry-driven discovery. They have also assembled an experienced development capacity. |  | Private Equity | Jun 20, 2016 |  |
| Nabriva Therapeutics | Nabriva Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the commercialization and development of innovative anti-infective agents to treat serious infections. Nabriva Therapeutics received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for XENLETA® (lefamulin injection, lefamulin tablets), the first systemic pleuromutilin antibiotic forcommunity-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP). Nabriva Therapeutics is also developing CONTEPO™ (fosfomycin) for injection, a potential first-in-class epoxide antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including acute pyelonephritis. Nabriva entered into an exclusive agreement with subsidiaries of Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA to market, sell and distribute SIVEXTRO® (tedizolid phosphate) in the United States and certain of its territories. | $120M | Series B | Apr 07, 2015 |  |
| Forendo Pharma | Forendo Pharma is a developer of novel drugs intended for the treatment of urological and other endocrinological diseases. The company's drugs are competent in tissue-specific hormone mechanisms for the treatment of broader gynecological conditions and Fispemifene, a novel SERM, enabling medical companies to improve the treatment of maleurological conditions and giving new opportunities to unmet needs in women's and men's health. | $13.2M | Series A | Oct 22, 2014 |  |
| Bicycle Therapeutics | Bicycle Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of medicines which are referred to as Bicycles. The Bicycles are synthetic short peptides constrained to form two loops which stabilize their structural geometry. Its initial internal programs are focused on oncology indications with high unmet medical need.The company's product candidate, BT1718, is a Bicycle Toxin Conjugate, or BTC. |  | Series A | Oct 14, 2014 |  |
| Covagen | Covagen develops bispecific FynomAbs by fusing its human Fynomer binding proteins to antibodies, resulting in therapeutics with novel modes of action and enhanced efficacy in the treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancer. The ability to fuse Fynomers to multiple sites on an antibody allows Covagen to create FynomAbs with tailored architecturesto maximize efficacy.Their goal is to access novel biology for each product candidate. Covagen’s lead FynomAb COVA322 is being developed for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.In October 2012 Covagen entered into a strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe / TRL for the development of bispecific FynomAbs against target pairs selected by Mitsubishi Tanabe / TRL.Covagen was founded in 2007 as a spin-off company from ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). A strong syndicate of investors supports Covagen’s drug development programs including Novartis Venture Fund, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, Gimv, Seroba Kernel Life Sciences, Ventech, Ascent Biomedical Venture Management, MP Healthcare Venture Management, and Baxter Ventures. | $68.7M | Series B | Dec 09, 2013 |  |
| Bicycle Therapeutics | Bicycle Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of medicines which are referred to as Bicycles. The Bicycles are synthetic short peptides constrained to form two loops which stabilize their structural geometry. Its initial internal programs are focused on oncology indications with high unmet medical need.The company's product candidate, BT1718, is a Bicycle Toxin Conjugate, or BTC. |  |  | Dec 10, 2012 |  |
| F2G | F2G is advancing its own patented compounds and technologies which will lead to the development of novel agents to treat serious fungal disease. The Company was founded on its proprietary genomics technology (MycoBank®) that identifies essential gene targets in fungi. Having received initial funding in 2002 the company then rapidly diversifiedinto chemistry-driven discovery. They have also assembled an experienced development capacity. | $30M |  | Sep 05, 2012 |  |

10 of 13 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Astellas Venture Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/astellas-venture-management) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [M Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/merckventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [SR One](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sr-one) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Sunstone Life Science Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sunstone-capital-life-science) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Advent Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/advent-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Atlas Venture](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/atlas-venture) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Novartis Venture Fund

VC Fund · Basel, Switzerland

Novartis Venture Fund's primary focus is on the development of novel therapeutics and platforms. They balance the therapeutic focus with investments in medical devices, diagnostics, or drug delivery systems. In their investments, they look for unmet needs and clinical impact, novel proprietary science, an understanding of mechanism, managementand board experience, and capital efficiency in the program.Novartis Venture Fund prefers to have their initial investment at the early stage to build the company and follow with additional investment in pace with the company's progress. Their approach involves larger focused investments, with anticipation of total investments up to USD 30 to 50 million per company over its life, but it can be as little as 100,000 USD to get started. They plan to increase their activities to lead or co-lead deals further and remain open to participating in larger syndicates.

5 contacts available at Novartis Venture Fund.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Aaron Nelson | Principal & Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/aaron-nelson |
| Anja König | Global Head Novartis Venture Fund | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dr-anja-knig |
| Bart Dzikowski | Managing Director, Head of Transactions & Legal | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bart-dzikowski |
| Florent Gros | Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/florent-gros |
| Florent Gros | Managing Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/florent-gros-4c33 |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund
- [General Catalyst](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/general-catalyst-partners) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Anja König invest in?

Anja König invests primarily in Biotechnology, Medical and Health Care startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 13 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Anja König last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Anja König closed in Jul 2019. Shizune tracks 13 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co