TechCrunch was proud to host HAX at Early Stage in Boston on April 25, 2024. Here’s an overview of their breakout session.
There’s no tougher, early stage startup category than hard tech, and no one knows that better than SOSV’s HAX team, which has backed more than 300 startups with capital and intensive design, scientific advancement and commercial engineering over the past 12 years. In this session, Duncan Turner, SOSV GP and HAX Managing Director, and Dr. Susan Schofer, HAX Chief Science Officer, discussed the hard tech / physical sciences ecosystem today, how HAX’s full-stack technical team turns unique IP from research into commercial reality, and what hard tech investing categories excite the HAX team. Duncan and Susan also provided an update on HAX’s new, 35,000 sq foot office in Newark, NJ, where 30 startups are currently at work.
SPEAKERS
Susan Schofer, SOSV Partner and HAX Chief Science Officer, HAX
Susan was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities, where she worked to develop catalyst systems for artificial photosynthesis. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech and an Sc.B. in chemistry from Brown.
Duncan Turner, SOSV General Partner and Managing Director of HAX
Duncan is a General Partner at SOSV, and the Managing Director of HAX, the world’s first and largest VC-backed program for hard tech. He has invested in over 100 hard tech companies and serves on multiple boards in the climate, industrial and healthcare sectors. Duncan has an extensive entrepreneurial background and deep experience fundraising and growing businesses across the globe. He has taken numerous technologies to market in various industries. Before joining SOSV, he led design and engineering strategy projects for Fortune 500 companies at the global innovation firm IDEO. Duncan obtained his Master’s from the Royal College of Art & Imperial College. His design and engineering work has won multiple awards and is included in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art. He has a deep passion for new technologies and engineering breakthroughs that can benefit our planet.
Sabriya Stukes, SOSV Partner and IndieBio Chief Science Officer, SOSV
Sabriya is a Partner at SOSV and Chief Scientific Officer for IndieBio NY. Prior to joining, she was Operations Director for Stellate Therapeutics, a biotech company developing microbiome-derived therapeutics to treat neurodegenerative diseases. After earning her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she was the founding Associate Director for the Master’s in Translational Medicine (MTM) program at The City College of New York, NYC’s first and only graduate degree that educates and trains scientists and engineers in the hands-on process of medical technology commercialization and healthcare innovation. A microbiologist, educator, and science communicator, her expertise is in working with individuals to identify unmet community needs, design sustainable clinical solutions, think critically about the world around them, and craft compelling scientific narratives. She also has worked for over a decade in fostering equitable and inclusive environments in the STEM disciplines and thinks deeply about how we can build sustainable healthcare solutions that work for all and not just some.
