Mariska Helweg-Larsen

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MARISKA HELWEG-LARSEN

I love my job. I get to be right at the forefront of innovation. Every day I get to see yet more amazing technologies that can change the world. I get a real buzz off these amazing ideas and the passion of the founders behind them. Then I come in as the friendly critic. Asking key questions like who are your customers, how will you get to market, what is the regulatory environment, what is your IP, how will you finance this, do you have the network in place? All key questions to make it a success, and surprisingly often something that hasn’t been worked out yet. Then we sit down and work out the answers. Writing a grant application it is not just writing down the story, it is bringing clarity to the business and how to make it a success. And then sell that to the audience. Whether that is for a medical fund, a general UK grant, or a defense-focused grant. Or even a VC! I have raised over £10m on innovations from soil carbon monitoring, precision nematode application, human pathogen and infection detection technologies, cancer therapeutics, autonomous tractors, and a new education platform. Work-life balance is important, and when I am not at work I love going for bike rides. I volunteer at our city farm, taking care of the 70+ chickens and getting stuck in with tree pruning and other farm jobs when I can.