AAA Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars Awards 2016: Bill Burkoth

Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars Awards 2016: Bill Burkoth

Bill Burkoth, an executive director with Pfizer Venture Investments (PVI), has helped the corporate venture capital (CVC) unit of the US-listed drugs company score a lot of goals.

PVI makes equity investments for financial returns in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer. Burkoth has been with the group since its inception in 2004.

He said: “I was attracted to Pfizer Ventures because of the broad strategic and global remit of the company on improving health, the tremendous network of scientific and technical expertise in-house, the strength of the Pfizer brand, and the massive balance sheet.”

Burkoth, a soccer player until work and family life “consumed” his time, noted his successes as including investments in Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, later acquired by Eli Lilly, Clovis Oncology, which floated on the Nasdaq stock market, DVS Sciences, later acquired by Fluidigm, HandyLab, later acquired by Becton Dickinson, and the recent initial public offering of Novocure, where he is also on the board.

Burkoth is also on the boards of Biodesy, G-Con Manufacturing, NeuMoDx Molecular, and RefleXion Medical.

He is a board observer of Epic Sciences, HD Biosciences, M2S, and Nodality and a member of the investment committee of the Investment Fund for Health in Africa and BBI Financial Gestão de Recursos in Brazil.

Having originally worked as an analyst at venture capital firm Bay City Capital, Burkoth recognises the disparity in compensation between the investor communities, where corporate venturers are often paid less bonus or performance fees than independent peers. “If we want the CVC industry to be stronger, I think we need to solve the compensation challenge vis-à-vis traditional venture funds.”

Partly, the challenge comes from having these successes recognised by the parent company. He said: “As an externally facing group that spends lots of time meeting with other VCs and entrepreneurs, one of our biggest challenges has been building our brand internally within Pfizer.”

Still, Burkoth’s main ambition remains focused on helping the entrepreneurs and world: “My main professional ambition is to continue to build great companies that are solving important problems in healthcare.”

It is a game he seems to be winning.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *