# Ajay Kshatriya

> Ajay Kshatriya is the CEO and co-founder of Aizen Therapeutics, a San Diego biotech that spun out of Caltech to build 'Mirror Peptides' - drugs made entirely of D-amino acids, the mirror image of the proteins nature uses. The company launched from stealth in November 2024 with $13M and a generative-AI platform called DaX. Before Aizen, Ajay founded and ran Biota, an environmental genomics company acquired by Novozymes in 2021 after creating roughly $400M in economic value and saving 1.2 billion gallons of water for industrial clients. A UC Berkeley and Stanford-trained chemical engineer who began his career at Genentech and learned company-building as a seed investor at XSeed Capital, he now also invests in Caltech science startups as a partner at Wilson Hill Ventures.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-Founder at Aizen Therapeutics
- **Organizations:** Aizen Therapeutics, Wilson Hill Ventures, Biota Technology, Genentech, XSeed Capital
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, M.S. in Engineering, Stanford University, MBA, Berkeley-Haas School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Biota Technology to a Novozymes acquisition in 2021, Scaled Biota from university microbiome research to a commercial business creating ~$400M in economic value, Biota's platform saved 1.2 billion gallons of water for 20+ industrial companies

## Career timeline

- **early career** — Held product operations roles at Genentech, including two early-stage oncology product core teams
- **pre-2013** — Associate/investor at XSeed Capital, a $100M seed fund spun out of Mohr Davidow Ventures that formed companies from science
- **2013** — Co-founded Biota Technology (environmental genomics) with Joel Moxley and Rob Knight
- **2021** — Biota acquired by Novozymes after creating ~$400M in economic value and saving 1.2B gallons of water
- **2024** — Co-founded and became CEO of Aizen Therapeutics; company emerged from stealth in November with $13M
- **2024-present** — Partner at Wilson Hill Ventures, investing in Caltech science-based startups

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Biota Technology to a Novozymes acquisition in 2021
- Scaled Biota from university microbiome research to a commercial business creating ~$400M in economic value
- Biota's platform saved 1.2 billion gallons of water for 20+ industrial companies
- Launched Aizen Therapeutics from stealth in 2024 with $13M led by Madrona, Wilson Hill, and Cercano
- Pioneered Mirror Peptides as a new drug class via the DaX (D-amino acid eXplorer) AI platform

## Latest updates

- **2024-11** — Aizen Therapeutics emerged from stealth with $13M in funding to advance its DaX platform and Mirror Peptides drug class.

## Links

- Website: https://aizentx.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/getresults

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ajay-kshatriya
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25