Genoa Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Genoa Ventures is a San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm investing "where biology and technology converge." Founded in 2018 by Jenny Rooke, PhD, the firm backs entrepreneurs building category-defying companies at the intersection of life sciences and technology, work that often falls outside the mandate of traditional biotech-only or tech-only funds. The firm's name is drawn from Rooke's passion for sailing: a genoa sail increases a boat's performance and stability, which the firm takes as a metaphor for how it wants to support founders navigating the turbulence of company-building. Genoa organizes its engagement with portfolio companies around a four-part framework: Converge, Focus, Launch, Empower.
Sector Focus
Genoa's stated focus areas are research tools, molecular diagnostics and clinical assessment tools, human genomics, synthetic biology, and industrial and agricultural biology (Agri/Food Bio). Representative portfolio themes include cell-free DNA diagnostics, wireless EEG monitoring, multi-omic analysis platforms, breeding technologies for food and industrial applications, animal health, and materials/chemistry spun out of biological research. The firm explicitly targets technologies that blur the line between traditional biotech therapeutics and broader biology-enabled technology and data companies.
Stage Focus
Genoa is an early-stage investor, concentrating on Seed and Series A rounds. It typically aims to be a company's first institutional check, with select opportunistic follow-on participation in later rounds (e.g., its Series B follow-on in Aqtual).
Check Size
Genoa writes first checks of roughly $1M-$2M at seed and $2M-$5M for Series A rounds.
Lead Tendency
Genoa positions itself as writing "first checks" for its portfolio, consistent with a lead investor at seed and Series A, though it also participates alongside other leads in some rounds (e.g., its follow-on role in Aqtual's 2025 Series B, which was led by new investors Bold Capital and Bold Longevity Growth Fund).
Recent Activity
Genoa has been actively deploying capital across 2025-2026:
- November 2025: Led the seed round for Hermes Biosciences (extracellular vesicle isolation for precision medicine), with participation from Paladin Capital Group and Vertical Venture Partners.
- July 2025: Participated as an existing investor in Aqtual's $31M Series B (cell-free DNA precision-medicine platform), alongside Manta Ray Ventures and Yu Galaxy.
- October 2025: Named to Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors List for the fifth consecutive year.
- October 2024: Promoted Landon Merrill from Principal to Partner, expanding the investing partner bench alongside Jenny Rooke and Vikram Chaudhery.
- July 2022: Closed an oversubscribed $84M Fund II, nearly tripling Fund I (2018), continuing the early-stage, small-check strategy across research tools, diagnostics, Agri/Food Bio, and industrial bio.
Genoa also runs an active content and visibility program, including a recurring Bloomberg Radio segment with Jenny Rooke (multiple appearances through 2025-2026) and a periodic "BioConvergence" newsletter/report series.
Portfolio Highlights
Genoa's active portfolio (as listed on its site) includes Aqtual, Attune Neuro, Bond Pets, Brainbox, BrightSpec, Codetta Bio, Epitel, Fellow, Hermes Biosciences, InterVenn, Meiogenix, New Culture, Redux Bio, SimBioSys, Tropic, and Zwitterco. Notable prior exits associated with the firm's investing track record include Zymergen (IPO), Caribou Biosciences (IPO), Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton Dickinson), Intabio (acquired by Danaher/SCIEX), and Topaz Therapeutics (acquired by Sanofi).
Team
- Jenny Rooke, PhD - Managing Director & Founder. Founded Genoa in 2018 after building the investing function at the Gates Foundation and starting her venture career as a Kauffman Fellow at Fidelity Biosciences in 2006. Physics degree from Georgia Tech; PhD in genetics from Yale. Serves on the Jackson Laboratory Board of Trustees.
- Vikram Chaudhery, PhD - Partner. Former Head of Life Sciences at Lam Research and leader of the Life Sciences Tools practice at McKinsey & Co. PhD in electrical engineering and biological systems engineering, University of Illinois.
- Landon Merrill - Partner (promoted from Principal, October 2024). Prior experience at 10x Genomics (GemCode assay development/launch), GlaxoSmithKline, New England Biolabs, and Harvard Partners Center for Personalized Genomic Medicine.
- William Hyun, PhD - Venture Partner. 25+ years in life science and technology; formerly directed one of the largest academic cytometry/genomics core facilities at UC San Francisco; joint appointments at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
- Gina Sawyer - Executive Operations Manager. Oversees firm operations, events, and contract negotiation; previously at the U.S. Census Bureau and Advanced by Design LLC.
Decision Process
Genoa operates as a small investing partnership (Managing Director plus two investing Partners, supported by a Venture Partner), rather than a solo-GP or large investment-committee structure.
Founder Preferences
Genoa looks for technical, science-driven founders building "category-defying" companies that combine biology and technology, particularly teams whose work does not fit cleanly into either a pure biotech-therapeutics or a pure software investment thesis.
Geographic Focus
Headquartered in San Francisco, CA; the firm does not publicly state a hard geographic restriction, and its portfolio is drawn primarily from US life-science hubs.