Marianne Mertens

Marianne is a scientist turned investor, with more than ten years of experience in the life science industry spanning venture investing, strategy consulting and research. She is responsible for Apollo’s investment and company building activities. Prior to joining the Apollo team, Marianne was a Principal with Wellington Partners, a pan-European Venture Capital firm investing in early- and growth-stage Life Science companies. In this role she led Wellington’s investments in Confo Therapeutics and Imcheck Therapeutics, and supported portfolio companies across different stages of development. Before Wellington Marianne was an Investment Manager in the Life Science Team of High-Tech Gründerfonds where she managed a portfolio of seven companies and concluded the initial investments in Cardior Pharmaceuticals and Verovaccines. She represented the fund on the Boards of preOmics and coramaze technologies. Earlier in her career Marianne worked as a management consultant and supported pharmaceutical and medtech companies relative to strategy, portfolio and business unit development. Marianne obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree with distinction in Biotechnology from the RWTH Aachen University and The Scripps Research Institute, and conducted her PhD and Postdoc research focusing on the molecular imaging of cardiac regenerative medicines. Her research has been honored with several awards and published in high-ranking journals.