Title: Managing partner, Refactor Capital
Age: 36
Zal Bilimoria may be one of the most qualified operators in Silicon Valley. The Wharton School graduate spent 10 years building features and products at Microsoft, Google, Netflix, and LinkedIn, before joining top venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.
As a partner who helped launch the firm's Bio Fund, one of the first specialized funds to emerge from Andreessen, Bilimoria sourced deals at the intersection of biology and engineering. He doubled down on his investment thesis with the creation of a new firm, called Refactor Capital, which backs founders solving "fundamental human problems."
"Marc Andreessen said in 2011 that 'software is eating the world.' We believe 'biology is eating the world'; as in, literally everything around us is being re-thought and re-engineered using biology instead of pure chemistry," Bilimoria told Business Insider.
He said he's most excited about the "tremendous" opportunity for biotech to transform consumer and industrial applications outside healthcare â spanning the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and "the ingredients in almost every physical product we touch."
Among Refractor's investments are PathAI, an AI platform that aids doctors with cancer diagnostics and treatments, and Checkerspot, which uses fatty acids from algae to create outdoor recreation products like moisture-wicking fabrics and other materials.