# Shankar Ramaswamy

> Shankar Ramaswamy is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Kriya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company building one-time gene therapies for common, highly prevalent chronic diseases rather than only rare ones. A physician by training who started his career evaluating drug candidates at Roivant Sciences and helping launch Axovant's record biotech IPO, he founded Kriya in 2019 and has since raised more than $600 million to vertically integrate gene therapy design, computational biology and in-house GMP manufacturing.

- **Role:** Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO at Kriya Therapeutics
- **Organizations:** Kriya Therapeutics, Roivant Sciences, Axovant Sciences
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Medical Degree (MD), Brown University, B.A. in Economics, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and scaled Kriya Therapeutics, raising more than $600M (cumulatively ~$1.19B), Helped execute Axovant Sciences' 2015 IPO, then the largest biotech IPO at over $360M, Triangle Business Journal Life Sciences CEO of the Year (2022)

## Career timeline

- **2014** — Joined the early foundational team at Roivant Sciences, evaluating pipeline candidates
- **2015** — Led corporate development at Axovant Sciences; helped execute its IPO raising over $360 million, the largest biotech IPO at the time
- **2019** — Co-founded Kriya Therapeutics with Roger Jeffs as CEO and chairman
- **2021** — Kriya raised an $80.5M Series A and later a $270M Series C to expand gene therapy beyond rare disease
- **2022** — Named Triangle Business Journal Life Sciences CEO of the Year
- **2023** — Named one of the Pharma Voice 100 Trailblazers
- **2025** — Kriya extended financing with a Series D, bringing total funding to roughly $1.19 billion

## Achievements

- Co-founded and scaled Kriya Therapeutics, raising more than $600M (cumulatively ~$1.19B)
- Helped execute Axovant Sciences' 2015 IPO, then the largest biotech IPO at over $360M
- Triangle Business Journal Life Sciences CEO of the Year (2022)
- Pharma Voice 100 Trailblazer (2023)
- Built a vertically integrated gene therapy company with in-house GMP manufacturing

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Kriya closed a Series D financing round, with cumulative funding reaching roughly $1.19 billion
- **2024-07** — Kriya advanced gene therapy programs in geographic atrophy and thyroid eye disease

## Links

- Website: https://kriyatherapeutics.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shankar-ramaswamy-m-d-8334959
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kriyatx

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/shankar-ramaswamy
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-05