QUÉBEC CITY, Sept. 9, 2026 /CNW/ -- Linearis Ventures is pleased to welcome Karimah Es Sabar as a strategic life sciences and venture capital advisor, joining the firm's roster of world-renowned strategic collaborators.
A highly recognized life sciences leader with broad international experience, Karimah has built a career spanning multiple life science segments including the biopharmaceutical industry, startups, not-for-profit organizations, and venture capital investment. Over decades, she has nurtured and built high-impact teams and organizations, providing leadership in marketing, business development, and public-private partnerships. Throughout her career, she has raised over $1.5B USD for private and public global biosciences enterprises, including 32 companies and 5 unicorns. Karimah previously served as CEO at Quark Venture, a firm focused on transformative bioscience investments, and she was general partner at the Global Health Sciences Fund where she still co-leads the investment committee.
"Throughout my career, whether raising capital for biosciences enterprises or building the national infrastructure for drug commercialization in Canada, the constant has been backing the teams and technologies that can genuinely change patient outcomes. The Linearis model of pairing a venture fund with its omics lab is exactly the kind of structural innovation the life sciences sector needs. I am looking forward to helping this amazing team build on this scaffold." said Karimah Es Sabar.
Earlier, Karimah joined the Centre for Drug Research and Development, as President and CEO, where she built a broad network of national and international partnerships and secured more than $180M CAD in new funding, leading to multiple commercial transactions and spin-out companies. She has also led the re-engineering of BC Biotech into LifeSciences BC, held executive roles at Sanofi Pasteur leading its International Division, and co-founded two biopharma distribution companies.
"Given our mutual interest and the work we are already doing together to bring impact to life sciences, it was natural to combine her impressive VC track record and life sciences passion with our AI expertise to further drive innovation for the benefit of patients," said Alexandre Le Bouthillier, General Partner at Linearis Ventures.
Karimah currently serves on several boards, including Capricor Therapeutics, Canary Medical, and St. Paul's Foundation. She is a former Chair of TRIUMF Innovations, GlycoNet, and the Health/Biosciences Economic Strategy Table.
Her leadership has been widely recognized, including being named a Member of the Order of British Columbia and a recipient of Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award. This track record of leadership reinforces the credibility and network she brings to Linearis as it expands its life sciences investment platform.
About Linearis
Linearis, with its tandem Ventures Fund and Laboratory, is pioneering and supporting discoveries to prevent, detect, and cure diseases through direct investments in innovative AI-powered life sciences companies. To learn more about Linearis, visit www.linearis.com
SOURCE Linearis
Media Contact: Manon Boisclair MS, MBA, ICD.D, [email protected]
Share this article