Erica Whittaker
Head of UCB Ventures @ UCB Ventures
Erica Whittaker is a Series A investor at UCB Ventures focused on Biotechnology and Health Care. Erica is Vice President & Head of UCB Ventures. She began her career at UCB in 2010 as VP Strategy & Partnering, NewMedicines (drug discovery through clinical proof of concept), where she developed and led the UCB-Harvard Research Alliance. In 2012, she became a member of an internal strategy team that shaped UCB's Patient ValueStrategy that is being implemented today.As Head of Market Access EMEA 2013-2017, Erica was instrumental in developing regional patient access and pricing strategies, working with affiliates to drive local execution. During her tenure, Erica was the Chair of the Healthcare Systems Working Group of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Association (EFPIA).Prior to joining UCB, Erica spent 10 years as a top-ranked biotechnology equity analyst for Merrill Lynch in London, where she conducted financial, valuation and commercial analyses for publicly listed European biotechnology and mid-cap pharmaceutical companies.Erica attended Brown University (Rhode Island, USA) where she received her BA degrees in Biology and in Comparative Literature. She traveled to the UK on a Marshall Scholarship and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh, followed by an MBA from Heriot-Watt University Business School in Edinburgh.
- Total investments:
- 9
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 33%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Erica Whittaker invests in
Stages Erica Whittaker invests in
Countries Erica Whittaker invests in
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
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| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
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Investment Focus
Industry
- Biotechnology 5 (56%)
- Health Care 3 (33%)
- Therapeutics 3 (33%)
- Medical 2 (22%)
- Life Science 2 (22%)
Stage
- Series A 3 (33%)
- Seed 1 (11%)
- Series B 1 (11%)
- Series E 1 (11%)
- Series F 1 (11%)
Country
- United States 3 (33%)
- Spain 1 (11%)
- Belgium 1 (11%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Splice Bio is a gene therapy company based on technology developed in the Muir Lab at Princeton University. The company is developing novel gene therapies based on its proprietary intein platform technology to treat patients that suffer from incurable genetic diseases. The company’s platform has the potential to address two existing limitations ofadeno-associated viruses (AAVs), both by increasing the size of the cargo gene that can be delivered and by expanding the range of tissues that can be targeted. | $135M / Series B / Jun 11, 2025 | ||
| Neurona Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company that was founded by four neuroscientists and stem cell pioneers at The University of California, San Francisco. They are focused on the discovery and development of cell-based therapies to treat intractable neurological disease. Its initial aim is to generate therapeuticcompositions of a specific type of nerve cell (or neuron) for targeted delivery into the injured nervous system. Based on nearly two decades of research, they believe that particular subpopulations of neurons have the unique ability to integrate and repair dysregulated neural circuits. Its talented team of scientists, scientific advisors, and board directors is working to accelerate breakthrough treatments for patients with significant unmet medical needs. | $102M / Series F / Apr 03, 2025 | ||
| Neurona Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company that was founded by four neuroscientists and stem cell pioneers at The University of California, San Francisco. They are focused on the discovery and development of cell-based therapies to treat intractable neurological disease. Its initial aim is to generate therapeuticcompositions of a specific type of nerve cell (or neuron) for targeted delivery into the injured nervous system. Based on nearly two decades of research, they believe that particular subpopulations of neurons have the unique ability to integrate and repair dysregulated neural circuits. Its talented team of scientists, scientific advisors, and board directors is working to accelerate breakthrough treatments for patients with significant unmet medical needs. | $120M / Series E / Feb 08, 2024 | ||
| Splice Bio is a gene therapy company based on technology developed in the Muir Lab at Princeton University. The company is developing novel gene therapies based on its proprietary intein platform technology to treat patients that suffer from incurable genetic diseases. The company’s platform has the potential to address two existing limitations ofadeno-associated viruses (AAVs), both by increasing the size of the cargo gene that can be delivered and by expanding the range of tissues that can be targeted. | $56.9M / Series A / Feb 16, 2022 | ||
| Neurona Therapeutics is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company that was founded by four neuroscientists and stem cell pioneers at The University of California, San Francisco. They are focused on the discovery and development of cell-based therapies to treat intractable neurological disease. Its initial aim is to generate therapeuticcompositions of a specific type of nerve cell (or neuron) for targeted delivery into the injured nervous system. Based on nearly two decades of research, they believe that particular subpopulations of neurons have the unique ability to integrate and repair dysregulated neural circuits. Its talented team of scientists, scientific advisors, and board directors is working to accelerate breakthrough treatments for patients with significant unmet medical needs. | $41.5M / Venture - Series Unknown / Jun 22, 2021 | ||
| ExeVir Bio is a Belgium-based company that develops single-domain antibody-based therapies that help patients ward off viral infections. The company is harnessing a llama-derived antibody technology platform to generate robust antiviral therapies providing broad protection against coronaviruses. They using a highly innovative and clinicallyvalidated VHH technology to develop treatments for viral infections that may pose a significant global threat. ExeVir Bio develops a rapid response platform for antivirals. This platform technology enables an agile response to new health threats thanks to its short throughput time to generate drug candidates. The resulting protein-based therapeutics are sufficiently stable and easy to produce at a reasonable cost to enable true global access.ExeVir Bio was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Zwijnaarde, Belgium. | $49.2M / Series A / Jul 28, 2020 | ||
| Rinri Therapeutics is a provider of private biotechnology services intended to develop advanced regenerative stem cell-based therapies for the treatment of hearing loss. The company's stem cell technology replaces damaged or dead sensory cells of the inner ear, enabling doctors to restore hearing of patients. | $1.8M / Seed / May 20, 2019 | ||
| StrideBio is a gene therapy company focused on developing genetic medicines with curative potential for patients with devastating conditions. It leverages its proprietary structure-inspired adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector engineering platform to create unique and differentiated vectors that improve upon naturally occurring AAV serotypes toovercome current limitations of first-generation gene therapies. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. | $15.7M / Series A / Jun 13, 2018 | ||
| See all 9 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About UCB Ventures
UCB Ventures is a €150 million strategic corporate venture fund
UCB Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Alicia Iruzun Lafitte
Partner
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Emmanuel Lacroix
Partner
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Delphine Hajaji
Partner
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Erica Whittaker
Head of UCB Ventures
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Joshua Sands
Principal
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FAQ
What does Erica Whittaker invest in?
Erica Whittaker invests primarily in Biotechnology, Health Care and Therapeutics startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 9 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Erica Whittaker?
Public channels for Erica Whittaker include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Erica Whittaker last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Erica Whittaker closed in Jun 2025. Shizune tracks 9 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 Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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