Karolina Zapadka

Karolina has nearly a decade of experience in building life sciences and healthcare companies within the Cambridge Cluster. She played a pivotal role in securing pre-seed and seed investment from a stellar syndicate of investors. In 2018 she co-founded and successfully delivered the first life sciences startup accelerator with a portfolio of 20 early-stage ventures in Cambridge. She started her career as a scientist at a leading biopharmaceutical company delivering a portfolio of products to clinics. Karolina completed a PhD in biophysics (diabetes & neurosciences) from the University of Cambridge and carried out a drug development postdoc work at AstraZeneca.

Karolina joined Parkwalk Advisors’ investment team in 2021. She has over a decade of experience building life sciences and healthcare companies within the Cambridge Cluster. Karolina played a pivotal role in securing pre-seed, seed, and Series A investments from a stellar syndicate of investors. In 2018 she co-founded and successfully delivered the first life sciences startup accelerator in Cambridge with a portfolio of 20 companies that have raised over £68m. She started her career as a scientist at a leading biopharmaceutical company delivering a portfolio of products to clinics. Karolina completed a PhD in biophysics (diabetes & neurosciences) from the University of Cambridge and carried out a drug development postdoc work at MedImmune/AstraZeneca.

Parkwalk Advisors is one of the UK’s leading growth fund managers, backing world-changing technologies emerging from UK universities and research institutions. Our unique asset class backs high-potential, hard science technology companies from a range of sectors, including life sciences, AI, big data, materials, medtech and much more.