Novatio Ventures

Novatio targets early-stage life science companies, specifically seed, startup, and spin-off opportunities across therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics. The firm focuses on innovations originating in Canada, the US, China, and South Korea, deploying direct capital and operational resources to advance preclinical or early clinical assets toward value inflection.

Novatio embeds partners into portfolio companies as interim executives rather than solely relying on board-level oversight. Founders Peng Fu and Ben Walker hold active officer roles inside 3io Therapeutics, and the firm routinely structures spin-off entities, provides interim management, and leads licensing negotiations itself — effectively operating as a commercialization partner alongside seed capital.

Founder and General Partner Peng Fu leads investment decisions, supported by Managing Partner Christopher Kim and Partners Sandy Der and Ben Walker. The team’s combined experience spans royalty monetization, big pharma corporate development, academic research, and cross-border Asia–US biotech fund management.

Novatio makes direct seed investments and advises on fundraising strategy. The firm has co-invested alongside Hikma Ventures, indicating a willingness to syndicate with corporate venture arms, but there is no public record of the firm making fund-of-fund commitments.

Peng Fu serves as CEO of Conscience, a Canadian non-profit that enables drug discovery where market incentives are insufficient. While Conscience and Novatio are separate entities, Fu’s dual role connects Novatio to a network of academic and early-stage research programs that may generate investable translational opportunities.

The firm does not maintain a philanthropic foundation. However, Founder Peng Fu’s operational leadership of the drug-discovery non-profit Conscience creates a parallel organizational relationship distinct from Novatio’s investment activities.

Novatio operates from offices in Toronto, Cambridge (Massachusetts), and Hong Kong. The firm explicitly pursues innovations sourced from Canada, the US, China, and South Korea, with Mandarin fluency across several partners facilitating direct engagement in Chinese-language deal environments.