CUTalks: Tim Brears, Evonetix

This week on CUTalks we are talking to Tim Brears, CEO of Evonetix. Evonetix is a synthetic biology company developing a desktop platform for scalable, high-fidelity and rapid gene synthesis. Tim holds a PhD from Cambridge University and has an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Tim recently led a $30M Series B round. Tim introduced synthetic biology and its immense potential in the industry. He also shared about some strategies that his company used in order to differentiate themselves from the larger players. Tim also talked about his experience raising fund from a different continent i.e. the US, while growing the company in Cambridge, UK. Lastly, Tim gave some career advice for PhD students who might want to work outside of academia. The podcast was produced by Carl Homer, Cambridge TV. Jump to the following topics: Background - 1:10 Introduction to synthetic biology - 5:08 Value proposition in light of competition with larger players - 7:10 Importance of partnership - 10:08 Managing Series B funding round - 12:00 Advice for founders who want to raise funds - 15:00 On starting a life science venture - 21:00 Career advice for PhD students - 23:50 Future of synthetic biology - 25:00 ............................................................................. CUTalks by CUTEC is a leading podcast series for aspiring tech innovators, aiming to shed light on typical and not so typical journeys in entrepreneurship.You can find the episodes here: www.cutec.io/cutalks. Follow on your favourite podcast channel for the latest episodes. The hosts of the podcast are Shreya Singhal (Medical student with a background in Engineering, interested in biotech) and Thomas Bohné (Founder & Head of the Cyber-Human Lab at the University of Cambridge), and our producer is Carl Homer from Cambridge TV.