# Karen Wagner

> Karen Wagner is a Series A investor at Ysios Capital backing Biotechnology and Medical. See 4 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Ysios Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ysios-capital)
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: May 2021
- Lead investor: 50%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-wagner-1233802

Karen Wagner is a Series A investor at Ysios Capital focused on Biotechnology and Medical. Karen provides support to Ysios, particularly for identifying and evaluating investment opportunities.Karen serves on board of Cardoz.In addition to her role at Ysios, Karen works with several biotechnology companies as an independent consultant in business development and licensing.Prior to joining Ysios, Karen was a Global Alliance Director forF. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland, where, in Roche’s Global Research Function, she was responsible for securing numerous critical technologies for drug discovery as well as compounds for treatment of oncological and viral diseases. Among other transactions, Karen was project leader for the Alnylam-Roche collaboration announced in July 2007, valued at over $1 billion and one of Allicense’s Key Deals of the year. She joined Roche from GLYCART, where she had worked together with Ysios colleague Joël Jean-Mairet. At GLYCART, Karen was responsible for business development, negotiating key in- and outlicensing agreements and contributing to the sale of the company to Roche in 2005. From 2001 to 2004, Karen was a Business Development Director for Ingenium Pharmaceuticals in Munich. Before that, she worked as a consultant and was a member of McKinsey & Company’s Global Healthcare Practice.Karen holds a master’s degree in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Cell Biology, both from the University of Konstanz, Germany.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 3 | 75% |
| Medical | 1 | 25% |
| Health Care | 1 | 25% |
| Life Science | 1 | 25% |
| Pharmaceutical | 1 | 25% |

6 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 1 | 25% |
| Series B | 1 | 25% |
| Series C | 1 | 25% |
| Series D | 1 | 25% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Denmark | 2 | 50% |
| United States | 1 | 25% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cytoki Pharma | Cytoki Pharma is a biotechnology company that specializes in developing novel medicines for diseases with a significant unmet medical need with a focus on serious diseases caused by epithelial injury. | $45M | Series A | May 04, 2021 |  |
| Galecto | Galecto develops small molecules for the treatment of severe diseases, including fibrosis and cancer. The company lead product candidate, GB0139, is an inhaled inhibitor of galectin-3. GB0139 is being developed for the treatment of severe fibrotic lung diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, in which there is high unmet medicalneed. Galecto was founded in 2011, builds on more than 10 years of research centering on the role of galectin-3 and LOXL-2, and the use of modulators of these proteins to treat fibrosis-related diseases and cancer. Combined with a strong patent estate, these assets give Galecto a unique therapeutic platform. | $64M | Series D | Sep 25, 2020 |  |
| Galecto | Galecto develops small molecules for the treatment of severe diseases, including fibrosis and cancer. The company lead product candidate, GB0139, is an inhaled inhibitor of galectin-3. GB0139 is being developed for the treatment of severe fibrotic lung diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, in which there is high unmet medicalneed. Galecto was founded in 2011, builds on more than 10 years of research centering on the role of galectin-3 and LOXL-2, and the use of modulators of these proteins to treat fibrosis-related diseases and cancer. Combined with a strong patent estate, these assets give Galecto a unique therapeutic platform. | $83.8M | Series C | Oct 26, 2018 |  |
| KALA BIO | Kala Pharmaceuticals is developing novel treatments for diseases that affect mucosal tissues. The company's proprietary mucus penetrating particle technology dramatically improves drug distribution and pharmacokinetics by uniformly coating the mucosal surface with biocompatible, drug-loaded particles. Kala's formulations achieve high,sustained local drug concentrations with reduced systemic exposure and are delivered in a patient-friendly format. The company's research efforts have demonstrated successful in vivo proof-of-concept in mucosal organs such as the respiratory tract, eye, and cervicovaginal tract, enabling diverse product opportunities that target significant clinical unmet need. Kala is focused on advancing an internal pipeline of products through human proof-of-concept while establishing R&D collaborations with select partners to improve products in their pipelines. | $22.5M | Series B | Apr 23, 2014 |  |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [OrbiMed](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/orbimed-advisors) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Seventure Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/seventure-partners) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Bristol-Myers Squibb](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bristol-myers-squibb) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [HBM Healthcare Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hbm-healthcare-investments-ag) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Maverick Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/maverick-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Sunstone Life Science Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sunstone-capital-life-science) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## About Ysios Capital

VC Fund · San Sebastian, Spain

Ysios Capital is a leading Spanish independent venture capital firm that provides private equity financing to early and mid-stage life science companies that develop disruptive therapeutic products and platform technologies. Founded in 2008, Ysios Capital manages c.a. €350 M through three dedicated funds in life sciences and is led by a team ofprofessionals experienced in building biotech companies.

5 contacts available at Ysios Capital.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cristina Garmendia | Founding Partner and Member of the Board | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cristina-garmendia |
| Claudia D’Augusta | Venture Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/claudia-daugusta-2 |
| Guillem Laporta | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/guillem-laporta |
| Joel Mairet | Managing Partner and Co - Founder | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/joel-jean-mairet |
| Karen Wagner | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/karen-wagner |

## 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 Karen Wagner invest in?

Karen Wagner invests primarily in Biotechnology, Medical and Health Care startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Denmark. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Karen Wagner last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Karen Wagner closed in May 2021. Shizune tracks 4 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.

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