Brigitte Smith

Brigitte Smith, founder and Managing Director of GBS Venture Partners Ltd, has fifteen years experience in venture capital, business strategy and start-up company operations. Brigitte Smith has been investing and managing investments for GBS' $400million of life science specialized venture capital funds for the last nine years. GBS is Australasia'a leading life science venture capital group. The GBS team has completed more than 30 medical device and life science investments over the last eight years. Brigitte Smith is on the board of GBS portfolio companies, Applied Physiology Pty Ltd, Cortical Pty Ltd, Dynamic Hearing Pty Ltd, Kalobios Inc, Neuromonics Pty Ltd, Proacta Therapeutics Inc., Tivamed Inc. Prior to founding GBSBrigitte Smith worked in the US and Australia in operating roles with early stage technology based companies, and at Bain & Company as a strategic management consultant. Ms Brigitte Smith has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Honours) from the University of Melbourne, a Master of Business Administration (Honours) from the Harvard Business School and a Master of International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, both in Boston, USA. Ms Brigitte Smith is also an adjunct lecturer in Entrepreneurial Finance at the Melbourne Business School.

GBS Venture Partners Ltd

GBS Venture Partners is a leading life science venture capital group resulting from a November 2002 management buyout of Rothschild Bioscience Managers Limited from NM Rothschild & Sons (Aust) Ltd. GBS invests in and adds value to unlisted high growth companies involved in innovative technologies such as human therapeutics and diagnostics, animal therapeutics and diagnostics, medical devices, health information technology, agribusiness and food and environmental technology. GBS invests at the seed, start-up or early expansion stage of company development. The company manages four funds The Australian Bioscience Trust - a $42.5 million fund raised in October 1998 under the Australian Federal Government's Innovation Investment Fund (IIF) program; GBS Bioventures II - a $64.5 million fund raised in July 2001; The Genesis Fund - a $30 million fund raised in October 2002 under the Australian Federal Government's Pre-Seed Fund (PSF) program; GBSBioventures III a $150 million fund raised in April 2005. It uses these and other funds under management to make a significant commitment to building life science based companies based on Australasian technology. The GBS team has been investing in Australasia since 1996 and played founding roles in companies with a combined market capitalization of more than $1 billion.