# Jason Pontin

> Jason Pontin is a General Partner at DCVC (Data Collective Venture Capital) in Palo Alto, where he leads communications and originates investments in early-stage computational biology and chemistry startups. A former journalist who spent 13 years transforming MIT Technology Review into a digital-first powerhouse and three years as Senior Partner at Flagship Pioneering, Pontin brings rare storytelling and scientific fluency to deep tech investing. He co-founded Totus Medicines, a chemical biology company targeting brain cancer, and sits on boards of companies working on DNA synthesis, AI-driven drug discovery, water purification, and lab automation.

- **Role:** General Partner at DCVC
- **Organizations:** DCVC, Totus Medicines, Strateos, Relation Therapeutics, Aquafortus Technologies, Evonetix, Kanvas Biosciences, Dayhoff Labs, Recycleye, Menten AI, Equilibrio
- **From:** London, England
- **Nationality:** British-American
- **Education:** Secondary Education, Harrow School, B.A. and M.A. in Humanities, Keble College, Oxford University
- **Known for:** Transformed MIT Technology Review into a digital-first publication during a 13-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Founded MIT Solve in 2015, MIT's open innovation platform deploying capital toward grand challenges, Delivered TED Talk with over 1.6 million views: 'Can Technology Solve Our Big Problems?'

## Career timeline

- **1967** — Born in London, England, to a British father and South African mother
- **1989** — Graduated from Keble College, Oxford with B.A. in Humanities
- **1996** — Became Editor of Red Herring Magazine, covering the dot-com technology boom
- **2002** — Red Herring collapses with dot-com bust; founded The Acumen Journal of Life Sciences
- **2004** — Hired as Editor of MIT Technology Review in July
- **2005** — Named Publisher of MIT Technology Review; becomes Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
- **2012** — Renamed the organization MIT Technology Review and relaunched it as a digital-first company
- **2013** — Delivered TED Talk 'Can Technology Solve Our Big Problems?' - viewed over 1.6 million times
- **2015** — Founded MIT Solve, MIT's open innovation platform
- **2017** — Departed MIT Technology Review after 13 years as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
- **2018** — Joined Flagship Pioneering as Senior Partner and Chief Editor; brother-in-law Joe Heaps Nelson died from glioblastoma
- **2020** — Co-founded Totus Medicines with Neil Dhawan, focused on brain cancer drug discovery
- **2021** — Joined DCVC as General Partner

## Achievements

- Transformed MIT Technology Review into a digital-first publication during a 13-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
- Founded MIT Solve in 2015, MIT's open innovation platform deploying capital toward grand challenges
- Delivered TED Talk with over 1.6 million views: 'Can Technology Solve Our Big Problems?'
- Co-founded Totus Medicines, a chemical biology company that can screen billions of small molecules against thousands of cellular targets in a single experiment
- Chair of Strateos, advancing lab automation and remote-access laboratory technology
- Board member of Relation Therapeutics, which secured a collaboration with Novartis worth up to $1.7 billion and a $108M deal with GSK
- Chaired MIT Enterprise Forum, MIT's global entrepreneurial community
- Served as Senior Advisor to MIT's 16th President Susan Hockfield
- Helped build one of the first daily news websites in publishing at Red Herring in the late 1990s

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — DCVC raised a new fund; Pontin continues as General Partner leading communications and computational biology investments
- **2024-06** — Relation Therapeutics, a DCVC portfolio company where Pontin is a board member, announced a collaboration with Novartis worth up to $1.7 billion
- **2024-03** — Co-authored DCVC Deep Tech Opportunities Report on guiding principles of deep tech investing
- **2024-01** — Active on Bluesky social platform in addition to X/Twitter, commenting on technology, science, and culture

## Links

- Website: https://www.jasonpontin.com/
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonpontin
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jason_pontin
- YouTube: https://www.ted.com/talks/jason_pontin_can_technology_solve_our_big_problems
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jasonpontin.bsky.social

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jason-pontin
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-18