Venture capital firms have been busy this year closing new funds. Many have also recently been bolstering their teams.
This week, the Boston-area VC firms .406 Ventures, Engine Ventures and Pillar VC hired or promoted partners, building out their teams as they close out 2023.
On Thursday, Pillar VC brought on John Casey as a venture partner. Casey is a three-time founder behind Senda Biosciences (now Sail Biomedicines), Inari Agriculture and Kintai Therapeutics. Casey also previously worked at Flagship Pioneering.
Pillar said Casey will work as a venture partner to found new biotechnology companies.
The Boston VC firm also announced its move into a new 23,000-square-foot space in Back Bay this week. The space includes over 100 desks as well as event and training space for hands-on workshops.
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Another Boston VC firm, .406 Ventures, also named a new venture partner this week. The early-stage venture capital firm focused on healthcare and enterprise technology added Trip Hofer to its team.
Hofer is also taking on the role of CEO of Redox, a .406 portfolio company. He plans to work with .406’s healthcare investment team to advise portfolio companies and identify and evaluate investment opportunities. Previously Hofer was chief executive of Optum Behavioral Health Solutions, a division of Optum. He joined Optum after it bought AbleTo, a .406 portfolio company that he led.
Engine Ventures also promoted Michael Kearney from partner to general partner this week. Engine Ventures is known for investing in early-stage, tough tech founders. Kearney joined the VC firm in 2018 and was previously executive director of the MIT Roosevelt Project, which studied energy transition pathways. Kearney was also once the first employee at clean-tech startup Ambri. Just this week the battery technology company moved forward with its previously disclosed plans to lay off over 100 workers.
At Engine Ventures, Kearney focuses on climate, advanced computing and human health sectors and serves as a board member for portfolio companies VEIR, Mantel, Osmoses and Copernic.
Kearney also co-founded Blueprint, by The Engine, a program that works with graduate students, postdocs, research scientists and faculty members to explore commercial opportunities. Engine Ventures said more than 450 teams have been through the program.
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