Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi

Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi (AJ) oversees venture programmes at Pioneer Group, which brings together life science domain expertise, seasoned executive talent, venture capital, and lab infrastructure to help founders fund and scale breakthrough life sciences startups. He leads a team that has supported over 100 companies in raising over £350m in funding to date. This track record has led to strategic partnerships with universities, public funding agencies, and large corporates. AJ sits on funding panels for several UK national grant awarding bodies. These include the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) i4i Connect programme, the InnovateUK Biomedical Catalyst Industry-led R&D award as well as Co-Chair of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare award panel. AJ was previously Head of Sequencing Services at Desktop Genetics, a venture-backed biotech startup, enabling the development of novel cell and gene therapies. Desktop Genetics was backed by several investors including Illumina Inc and was acquired in 2018. AJ holds a PhD in Clinical Medicine from Trinity College Dublin.