Zach Jonasson

Dr. Jonasson completed a PhD (neuroscience) in the CBB program at Harvard University. At Harvard, he was as a Sackler Scholar, was awarded several research grants, led a mutli-institution research collaboration. In addition to his doctoral studies, Zach co-taught Market Research at Harvard Business School (HBS) and co-authored two studies of applied real options and risk analysis with Professor David Shimko. Zach also holds an AM in Statistics from Harvard and a BS from the SFS Honors Program at Georgetown University, where he was a Rhodes Scholarship Finalist.

Dr. Zach Jonasson has over 20 years of experience in start-up investments as well as in start-up executive, R&D, and business development operating roles. Zach is a co-founder and General Partner of Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP), a venture capital firm focusing on advanced materials innovation. The firm has offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, MA, and Singapore. Zach is a co-founder of PVP with Kauffman Fellows classmate Dr. John Chen, as well as with Dr. David Soane, Dr. Nobi Kambe, and Dr. Frank Levinson. 

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In addition to his investment and board roles at PVP, Dr. Jonasson serves on the Commercialization Council for Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), on the Advisory Board for the Oregon Innovation Cluster (OIC), and is actively involved with the Kauffman Fellows Program. 

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Previously, Zach was a General Partner and Kauffman Fellow at Seaflower Ventures, where he built a successful track record sourcing and leading investments in advanced materials startups focused on life science applications. Prior investments include Serenex (acquired); BioVlave; MetaWorks (acquired), where he played a successful turnaround role leading to the company's acquisition; and Valeritas, where he reorganizing the company. 

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Zach was the co-founder and VP Business Development of Crop Enhancement, a startup developing a chemistry platform for agrochemical formulation. Earlier in his career, while still a doctoral student, Zach was part of the initial five-person team at RCM (acquired), where he designed process optimization instrumentation for major chemicals and energy companies, including Eastman Chemical, Shell, and Sempra.

Zach served his fellowship under mentor Jim Sherblom at Seaflower Ventures in Waltham, MA as a member of Class 10.