Barbara Domayne-Hayman’s career journey is nothing short of inspiring. With a foundation in chemistry from Oxford, she transitioned from lab research to global marketing roles in agrochemicals before discovering her true passion: building and scaling biotech businesses. Now an angel investor, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Francis Crick Institute, and Chair of KQ Labs, Barbara shares how her scientific background, commercial acumen, and love for entrepreneurship have shaped her success in life sciences and health tech. In this interview, she reflects on her path, the importance of people in startup success, and the unique opportunities offered by the Cambridge Angels community.
Can you give a bit of background about yourself?
My initial training was in chemistry at Oxford. But after my doctorate I decided that I was not suited to a career in lab based research, and decided to go into marketing – albeit with a company focused on life sciences. I worked for 11 years at ICI / Zeneca / AstraZeneca in the Agrochemicals division, working internationally in sales and marketing and business strategy, including building the business in Central and Eastern Europe and as Marketing Director in France. I realised that Agrochemicals was entering a period of consolidation and cost cutting, and since I enjoyed building and growing businesses, it was time to leave.
An early mid-life crisis followed, while I figured out what to do next - and during my time at London Business School on the Sloan Fellowship programme, I stumbled on the world of entrepreneurship where in a ‘lightbulb moment’, I realised I could use my scientific background, my commercial experience and build businesses, which is what I love doing, if went into biotech. I have spent the last 20 years+ working in range of biotech companies - therapeutics and platform focused. For the last ten years I have been doing a ‘portfolio career’ – still having an operational role as Chief Business Officer of a biotech company, Autifony Therapeutics, while also working as Entrepreneur-in-residence at the Francis Crick Institute, where I co-founded and now chair KQ Labs, a leading accelerator for data driven health start-ups – we select ten companies per year from across the UK and now have an alumni portfolio of 60 companies, with Cohort #7 about to kick off! I have also been involved with Cambridge Enterprise Ventures as a member of their investment committee for many years, and on LifeArc Ventures investment committee.
How long have you been angel investing? What made you apply to join Cambridge Angels and what do you think makes it different?
I started angel investing when I became Chair of Puridify, a UCL spin-out, back in 2014, and I was very fortunate that this company, which had a brilliant pair of founders, was acquired by GE (now Cytiva) in 2017. I became increasingly interested in these early stage opportunities as I saw them through my role on the Cambridge Enterprise Seed Fund investment committee, and dipped my toes into EIS investments through ParkWalk funds. When I was asked if I would like to join CA in 2019, I jumped at the opportunity, even though living in London and having a very busy portfolio career, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get involved as much as I would like. In fact, during the pandemic, the activities and opportunities for engagement online were very creatively organised (some of which continue online today). and I felt increasingly part of the CA community.
Can you give a couple of examples of Cambridge Angels deals you've invested in that you're currently excited about?
The first investment I led for CA was into MFX (previously Microfluidx), a very exciting company which is accelerating development and manufacture for cell and gene therapies - manufacturability is a major obstacle for these treatments. Another company is Spirea, on whose board I represent CA investors. Spirea is in the super-hot area of antibody drug conjugates, and their next generation linker technology will expand the potential for ADCs, also into areas beyond cancer.
Do you have any sector focus and if you do, why?
Yes, I am very much focused on life sciences and health tech, my areas of personal expertise and the vast majority of my investments are in those areas. However, I have been seduced into investing into one music tech company (music being my other great passion) and also one space tech!
How do you tend to get involved with your investments?
I try to provide as much support as I can with introductions to relevant experts in the sector, or investors for the next funding round, or major pharma corporates where I have a strong network.
What have you learnt about being an Angel investor since you've started?
The knowledge in the CA community is incredible – if one person asks a question, within a couple of hours, there are multiple insightful and supportive answers and comments, and often a fascinating email discussion ensues. CA members are generally very willing to share their experiences, both positive ones and less so. It’s a fantastic network with such depth of experience.
What is an investment exit that you are most proud of?
The investment exit I am most proud of is still Puridify, where I met the founders before they had even incorporated the company. I joined their board as soon as the first serious investment came in, and I was Chair until the acquisition by GE (now Cytiva). But that success was all down to the amazing co-founders, their focus and determination to execute well. It’s always about the people!
