Nina Kjellson

Nina Kjellson has been a General Partner at Canaan since 2015 and invests in biopharma and digital health start-ups that serve high unmet needs. She has 20 years of experience funding, growing and transacting early-stage companies. Current Canaan investments include Intrepida, Pact Pharma, Tizona, Tyra and Vineti. She also serves on the board of WellTok and previously served on the boards of Labrys (acquired by Teva), Cidara (CDTX), Trius (TSX, acquired by Cubist), Eiger (EIGR), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck) and co-sponsored investments into Paratek (PRTK), Tesaro (TSRO, acquired by GSK) and Aspreva (ASPV, acquired by Galenia), along with numerous other ventures during her tenure at InterWest Partners. As a leader of Canaan’s Women of Venture program, Nina is a vocal advocate for female entrepreneurs and investors. She serves as an advisor to Springboard Life Sciences, Nina Capital (no relation), The Gates Foundation and serves on the boards of Essential Access Health, Girl Effect and the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center. Nina is a 2018 Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow. Prior to InterWest and Canaan, Nina worked at Bay City Capital, Oracle Partners and the Kaiser Family Foundation. She holds a BA in human biology from Stanford University. Nina is an avid reader, is active in nature, runs, skis and loves to travel the world.