Srinivas AKKARAJU

About Srinivas AKKARAJU

Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju is a seasoned life sciences investor and corporate leader, currently best known for his role at Inventiva as an independent board member. He has served on Inventiva’s Board of Directors since December 2024, following the company’s structured financing process aimed at supporting its clinical development program and pre-commercial activities. His appointment reflects a governance profile built around capital allocation, biotech strategy, and long-term value creation. He is the Founder and Managing General Partner of Samsara BioCapital, a biotechnology investment firm he launched in 2016 after more than two decades in life sciences investing and operations. Before founding Samsara, he was a General Partner at Sofinnova Ventures, a Managing Director at New Leaf Venture Partners, and a Managing Director at Panorama Capital, which he helped co-found. Earlier in his career, he worked at J.P. Morgan Partners and began in business and corporate development at Genentech, giving him hands-on exposure to portfolio building, strategic partnering, and biopharma execution. Dr. Akkaraju is widely recognized for bridging scientific depth with investment discipline. He has served, or serves, on the boards of several public and private biotechnology companies, including Scholar Rock, Mineralys Therapeutics, vTv Therapeutics, and Syros Pharmaceuticals, and has previously sat on boards such as Seattle Genetics, Principia Biopharma, Chinook Therapeutics, and Intercept Pharmaceuticals. This board-level experience has given him strong insight into clinical development, regulatory strategy, capital markets, and shareholder governance across multiple stages of biotech maturation. Academically, he holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, as well as undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Computer Science from Rice University. That combination of scientific training and investment expertise is especially valuable in biotechnology, where understanding clinical evidence, regulatory risk, and financing needs is essential. At Inventiva, his profile supports board oversight focused on strategic discipline, scientific credibility, and sustainable shareholder value creation.