Mitchell Mutz

About Mitchell Mutz

Mitchell Mutz, PhD, is an accomplished venture investor, biotech serial entrepreneur, and inventor. He is the Senior Principal at Samsara BioCapital. Mitchell focuses on investment opportunities in therapeutics. Prior to joining Samsara, Mitchell was the Entrepreneur Partner at Vivo Capital, a global venture firm with $6B under management. Mitchell was formerly Senior Investment Director at the Roche Venture Fund, a $750M Swiss corporate venture fund which invests for financial return. Deals sourced/led have included Pandion Therapeutics (acquired by Merck), Enliven Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ELVN), Good Therapeutics (acquired by Roche), Jasper Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JSPR), Kumquat Biosciences, lino Biotechnology (acquired by Miltenyi Biotech), Stratos Genomics (acquired by Roche), Fabric Genomics (acquired by GeneDx), Nimble Therapeutics (acquired by Abbvie), Scale Biosciences (acquired by 10X Genomics), and Purigen Biosciences (acquired by Bionano Genomics).Previously, Mitchell was a co-founder, president, chief scientific officer, and board member of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotherapeutics company and Stanford University spinout. Mitchell led the company\'s R&D efforts, team building, as well as financing and in-licensing strategy and helped grow the company from early preclinical discovery to the clinical stage. Amplyx attracted over $140M in venture financing as well as over $11M in non-dilutive funding from the NIH. Amplyx was acquired by Pfizer in April 2021 and the therapeutic candidate is currently in a pivotal P3 trial.Mitchell was also on the founding team and the Principal Scientist of Labcyte, a tools company that he helped grow from a garage-based start-up to profitability. Mitchell was responsible for discovering and and developing biotechnology applications for Labcyte\'s novel acoustic drop ejection technology. Labcyte employs over 250 people worldwide, attracted more than $85M in venture financing, and was acquired by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences for over $300M.Mitchell earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Rochester, a diploma in orchestral studies from the University of London, and a B.A. in chemistry with high honors from Oberlin College. He also spent one year studying towards a PhD in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology at Harvard University. Mitchell is also an inventor on 38 issued patents.

Experience

1. Senior Principal

   Samsara Biocapital

   Jul 2025 — Present · Palo Alto, CA, US

Education

• Harvard University

  Cell Biology

  1985 — 1986

• Goldsmiths, University of London

  MA, Music Performance

  1987 — 1988

• Oberlin College

  Bachelors, Chemistry

  1981 — 1985

• University of Rochester

  PhD, Chemistry

  1992 — 1997