Chris Leiter is the founder and general partner of Atria Ventures, which he launched in 2023 after more than a decade at the frontiers of technology and science. He previously led seed investing at dRx Capital, a multi-stage venture fund backed by industry leaders Novartis and Qualcomm, and earlier founded a clinical-trial data company based in London, Guardtime Health. He started his life sciences career in corporate finance working across biotechs, medical device companies and big pharma on M&A, business development and licensing transactions. 

• Investing heavily at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology at the pre-seed and seed stages. A clear example is hosting a live public demo of the ESM3 protein model and discussing predictions that major pharmaceutical companies will soon spend tens of billions annually on artificial intelligence for drug development.
• Prioritizing distribution and customer discovery for early-stage deeptech biology companies. Startups in this space often completely miss the mark on how to get their product to market, so demonstrating a deep understanding of customer needs rather than just the core science is highly valued during a pitch.
• Tracking novel drug discovery origins and the expanding use cases for GLP-1 medications. Specific interests include early data suggesting these weight loss drugs might rehabilitate natural killer cells to fight cancer, as well as highlighting how many approved medications originate from non-human systems like plants and lizard venom.
• Exploring decentralized science and the role of biotech DAOs in research and development. Believes institutional buy-in is a growing trend, specifically pointing to traditional pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer investing in VitaDAO as a signal that the broader industry will continue backing these decentralized funding models.
• Valuing resilience, exceptional optimism, and the ability to learn from early failures. Believes that going through fast failures is an underrated superpower for builders, and expects founders to have a deeply ingrained, undeniable reason for why they are compelled to build their specific company.