Adrien Cohen, 
Founding Managing Director, SCI Ventures

Abstract
SCI Ventures – A Mission-Driven Venture Fund Accelerating Therapies in SCI
SCI Ventures is the first philanthropic, evergreen venture fund dedicated to translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world treatments for spinal cord injury.

Co-founded by leading institutions - including the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Wings for Life, Shepherd Center, Spinal Research and Promobilia - SCI Ventures bridges the early-stage funding gap that has long hindered the translation of promising neuroscience into clinical impact.

Structured as an evergreen fund, SCI Ventures reinvests 100% of its returns into the next generation of startups. Its goal is to activate a sustainable investment market for SCI, leveraging its scientific and clinical networks to catalyze innovation and attract further private capital to the field.

In just 18 months of operations, SCI Ventures has:

  • Raised over $32 million from mission-aligned families and foundations.
  • Built a portfolio of 8 pioneering biotech & neurotech companies, moved 3 to the clinic.
  • Attracted over $30 million in additional external capital toward SCI-focused innovation.

Select portfolio highlights include EG427 - a targeted gene therapy for bladder dysfunction, Augmental – a tongue-based, hands-free trackpad to control computers and phones and regain autonomy, and Healx AI – leveraging AI to uncover and rapidly bring to the clinic repurposed regenerative drugs in chronic SCI.  

Bio
Adrien Cohen is a tech entrepreneur and investor based in the UK. He has co-founded two companies that became unicorns: Tractable AI, one of the world’s largest computer vision companies, and Lazada, the leading e-commerce player in South East Asia acquired by Alibaba for $3bn. When Adrien’s brother Fabrice sustained a spinal cord injury 4 years ago, Adrien went on a journey to understand how to best help. He saw cutting-edge research in labs—but no clear path to bring it to patients. That personal journey sparked SCI Ventures – the first venture philanthropic fund that Adrien currently leads as Founding Managing Director. 
SCI Ventures was initiated by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and has garnered the support of leading institutions around the world that co-founded the initiative: Shepherd Center, Wings for Life, Spinal Research and Promobilia. Adrien graduated with a Master’s degree in Business from HEC Paris and from Tsinghua University in Beijing, and has been named by the FT as one of the UK’s top
100 entrepreneurs.