About ViAqua
ViAqua Therapeutics was established in September 2014 to address the growing need for effective, affordable health management of diseases in aquaculture. To date, ViAqua has received investments from The Trendlines Group, Nutreco, VisVires New Protein, S2G Ventures, Thai Union, and the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, with support from the Israel Innovation Authority.
Achievements
Q4 2021: Name Chris Beattie, Ph.D., as an active director
Q2 2021: Add S2G Ventures as financial investors and Thai Union as strategic investors
2021: Prove the stability of the product in industrial feed production process; developed an innovative, cost-effective, scalable production process and successfully reached pilot scale
2019: Prepare for high-volume manufacturing and improved product efficacy
Q3 2018: Sign joint development agreement with Skretting SA (Nutreco’s aquaculture division) for first product, including distribution and marketing by Skretting
Q3 2018: Receive investment from Nutreco and VisVires New Protein
Q1 2018: Proof-of-concept for oral delivery of first product
ViAqua’s co-founders have Ph.D.s in molecular biology and marine biology, respectively. The Company’s management bring a broad range of business development, technology development, management, and industrial biotech experience.
Shai Ufaz, Ph.D.
CEO & Co-Founder | Molecular biology
Shai Ufaz is a molecular biologist with over 18 years of experience in biotechnology, including 10 years in leading positions in Israel’s biotech industry.
Shai founded ViAqua Therapeutics in 2014 together with Shai Einbinder, to address the challenges of disease in aquaculture. He has led the development of the ViAqua Therapeutics oral delivery platform and the company’s IP from the start.
Prior to founding ViAqua, Shai served as an R&D Project Manager at Protalix Biotherapeutics and at TransAlgae. Shai received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the Tel Aviv University and conducted Postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
Shai Einbinder, Ph.D.
Co-Founder | Marine biology
Marine biologist; experience in product development, management; VP Development & Projects, TransAlgae; CEO, Aurora-V; PhD, marine biology.
Limor Dori Alon, MSc, MBA
VP Business Development
19 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, with end‐to-end Product Portfolio Management experience, including R&D, regulatory affairs, commercial operations, new product launches, and business development. Limor has achieved numerous out-licensing and in-licensing deals of generic pharmaceutical products and brings proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and complex activities in International Markets including US, EU, Japan, South Korea, and Latin America.
Ori Koshet, MSc
Operations Manager | Formulation
Experienced microbiologist with a BSc in marine biotechnology and a MSc in Biotechnology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ori joined ViAqua in 2017 and has since gained growing responsibility for the company’s Operation Department. He has taken an active role in developing ViAqua’s biotechnology-based oral delivery platform for targeted administration of RNA-based solutions, including the downstream process development and the formulation of ViAqua’s platform.
Rita Kanteev, PhD
Director of R&D | Chemistry
A professional biochemistry researcher with a PhD in chemistry and post-doc protein engineering experience. Prior to joining ViAqua, Rita was a researcher at Protalix R&D, focusing on LC-MS of proteins. Rita joined ViAqua in 2019 and has since taken a leading role in the growth of the R&D Department, including the development of the analytical methods and the fermentation process of ViAqua’s biotechnology-based oral delivery platform.
Chris Beattie, Ph.D.
Active Director of ViAqua Therapeutics | Chief Scientific Officer for AquaBounty "Champion of Innovation"
Chris has over 30 years' experience in the Global Aquaculture industry, combining a strong scientific background with extensive commercial experience across the fields of nutrition, health, technology, and genetics. Chris has held senior executive roles including Global Head of Aquaculture at Merck Animal Health, General Manager for Skretting North America and Regional Business Director of AKVA group North America and Australasia. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer for AquaBounty Technologies where he leads R&D, Regulatory and Compliance functions.