Building the intelligence layer between AI opportunity and implementation.
Cellvara is being built by AI engineers and a biotech scientist — applied AI, product development and venture building on one side, real laboratory R&D on the other.
Chirag Natesh Vijay
Co-Founder & CEO · Technology, Strategy & Fundraising
AI engineer and entrepreneur focused on building applied AI systems and translating emerging AI capabilities into products that solve real operational problems.
Chirag Natesh Vijay
- AI Engineer at Hilti
- Applied AI and machine learning experience at Bosch
- M.Sc. Computer Science, University of Passau
- M.Sc. International Entrepreneurship, Digitalization & Sustainability, HNU
- Experience across LLMs, RAG, agentic AI and applied machine learning
- Data science researcher for three years, patent holder and three-time hackathon winner
- Leads technology, strategy and fundraising
Pavel Slobodianskii
Co-Founder & CPO · Product & User Experience
AI engineer focused on designing and implementing applied AI systems, with experience across LLMs, RAG and intelligent software systems.
Pavel Slobodianskii
- AI and RPA experience at Infineon and Denso
- M.Sc. Computer Science, University of Passau
- M.Sc. Management & Technology, TUM
- Experience in LLMs, RAG and applied AI systems
- TUM Entrepreneurial Masterclass graduate with Cellvara
- Leads product and user experience
To be revealed
Co-Founder & CSO · Scientific Strategy & Biotech Validation
Biotechnologist with a doctorate and industry R&D experience, holding every Cellvara recommendation against how experiments actually run in the lab. She is still in stealth; her name will be announced once that changes.
To be revealed
- Ph.D. Biotechnology, TUM
- M.Sc. Molecular Biology, University of Ulm
- Biotech R&D experience at TUM and QIAGEN
- Leads scientific strategy, biotech validation and domain expertise
- Published synthetic-biotech researcher and inventor in genome engineering
Backed by ecosystem support
Guided by people who have built and backed startups before.
Cellvara is mentored by startup advisors from the Munich and Neu-Ulm ecosystems — university entrepreneurship centres, incubators and the Bavarian biotech cluster.
Enrico A. Richter
Mentor · TUM
Start-up consultant helping TUM founding teams turn research into ventures.
Enrico A. Richter
- Start-up consultant in the Entrepreneurship team at TUM ForTe, the Office for Research and Innovation
- Advises TUM founding teams, with a focus on ChemSPACE and aerospace ventures
- Co-founder of cirqus, a platform that helps incubators and accelerators run their programmes
- M.Sc. Management & Technology, TUM
Dr. Heiko Ott
Mentor · BioM
Life-science business developer advising Munich biotech and medtech start-ups.
Dr. Heiko Ott
- MedTech Director at Helmholtz Munich
- Former Director of Business Development at Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn
- Background in company formation and venture funding for biopharma, diagnostics and medtech start-ups
- Ph.D. Developmental Neurobiology, University of Konstanz
Michael Junger
Mentor · HNU
Guides HNU founders through start-up advisory, funding and transfer.
Michael Junger
- Project development, transfer and cooperations at Hochschule Neu-Ulm
- Start-up advisory, private funding and contract research
- Contact for founders through HNU Founders SPACE, the university incubator
- Founder of ShareWays, a social-entrepreneurship project for inclusive mobility
Adam Kalouš
Mentor · SCE Incubator
Supports early-stage teams at the Munich University of Applied Sciences incubator.
Adam Kalouš
- Start-up Support at the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE), Munich University of Applied Sciences
- Accompanied Start-Up League teams for several years
- Supervised EXIST funding applications
- Managed the SCE start-up incubator