Ignacio Martinez joined Flagship Pioneering in early 2013 to lead the sustainability activities of the firm. He also focuses on entrepreneurial activities in life sciences more broadly, with a special interest in food, nutrition, and human health. Mr. Martinez is the co-founder, founding CEO, and Chairman of Senda Biosciences, co-founder and founding CEO of Montai Health, co-founder, founding CEO, and Chairman of CiBO Technologies, Inari Agriculture and Invaio Sciences, and founding director at Indigo Agriculture. Mr. Martinez was also a member of the board of directors of Novomer, which was acquired by Danimer Scientific (DNMR) in 2021.
Prior to joining Flagship, Mr. Martinez was a founding member and managing director of Syngenta Ventures, where he was directly involved in corporate strategy and led multiple venture capital investments in agribusiness, biotechnology, and sustainability companies in Europe, North America, and Latin America. Mr. Martinez served on the board of directors of Biognosys AG (Switzerland), Population Genetics (England), BoMill AB (Sweden), and Agrinos AS (Norway) among others. He also played a key role in Syngenta’s external corporate venture capital activities managing Syngenta’s relationship as a limited partner with Life Science Partners (LSP) BioVentures, a $100 million agribusiness fund, and Gilde European Food and Agribusiness, a €90 million fund.
Prior to Syngenta, Mr. Martinez was the founding CFO of Progenika Group, where he oversaw the corporate financial strategy, the launch of new companies and spinoffs, and the expansion of the group to the U.S. and Latin American markets before the company was acquired by Grifols (NASDAQ: GFRS), the world’s largest supplier of blood plasma products. Earlier, Mr. Martinez spent several years working for Najeti Ventures Fund, investing in software and biotech companies in Europe.
He holds an International MBA from Instituto de Empresa in Spain and WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany, and a BS in Economics and Business Administration from Deusto University in Spain.
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