Local biotech exec joins Dutch VC firm that plans to open first U.S. office in Boston

Local biotech exec joins Dutch VC firm that plans to open first U.S. office in Boston

Local biotech exec joins Dutch VC firm that plans to open first U.S. office in Boston

By Hannah Green

The former CEO of Dyne Therapeutics Inc. has joined Forbion as the life sciences venture capital firm announced plans to expand its U.S. presence by opening a Boston office.

Josh Brumm, formerly of Dyne and a newly named general partner at Forbion, said the Boston office “really does have a chance to impact the Boston community.” This is Forbion’s first U.S. office.

“It’s a really important investment for Boston and I think for the ecosystem here what Forbion has done historically and what we’ll continue to do,” Brumm said. His former company, Dyne, was among those funded by Forbion.

Forbion is a Netherlands-based firm that manages over $3 billion across multiple funds. Last year, Forbion announced it brought in $1.5 billion with two new funds: One a venture fund for biotech companies, and the second a growth fund for later-stage biopharma companies.

The firm has historically made about 30% of its investments in U.S.-based companies, Brumm said. 

Brumm said the growth in Boston is a “strengthening, further supporting our previous investments that we’ve made, particularly in the U.S.” He also plans to support companies from outside the U.S. with expansion efforts here. 

One of Forbion’s co-founders, Martien van Osch, is already based in Boston. Brumm said with the new office, Forbion will be building out an initial team of four to five people. Brumm declined to share where the new office will be located, but said it’s in “the heart of Boston.”

From CEO to investor

Brumm told the Business Journal he’s wanted to be an investor for a long time, even though that’s not how he’s spent most of his career. 

After leaving Wall Street earlier in his career, he took a role at Proteolix where he met Jean George, who invested in the company and is now a general partner of Lightstone Ventures.

George advised Brumm that if he wanted to be an investor, the best thing he could do was to gain operating experience. Brumm took that advice to heart and held roles at six different life sciences companies, most recently at Dyne, a Waltham-based muscle disease company. 

Although Brumm was technically in operating roles, he’s come to see parallels to investing in his prior work. 

“As an operator, you are an investor in picking the companies that you think have the best chance of success,” Brumm said.

Brumm got to know Forbion after the firm invested in Dyne’s Series A round. 

“I got to see the Forbion family, the Forbion culture. I got to experience the way they uniquely supported Dyne,” Brumm said. 

When Brumm announced plans to leave Dyne back in March, he said he was looking to get into healthcare investing. 

“I mentioned that in my original press release, and Forbion and I had a conversation. And it’s just a really good fit of culture,” Brumm said. 

At Forbion, he plans to continue his focus on rare diseases and areas of high unmet need where treatments don’t already exist.

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