Origin Therapeutics Announces Leadership Team

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Origin Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (the “Company” or “Origin Therapeutics”), an actively managed investment issuer focused on making equity investments in private, psychedelics-related companies in a variety of industry verticals, is pleased to announce its leadership team.

Origin Therapeutics was created to provide retail investors with the opportunity to participate in the significant growth potential that private companies in the sector have before they would typically go public. This is a key part of the companies’ growth that may otherwise be inaccessible to retail investors.

“Origin Therapeutics has carefully built a leadership team with a crucial mix of financial and business acumen,” said Origin Therapeutics CEO, Alexander Somjen. “Our investment mandate is to focus on companies with exemplary teams and exponential growth profiles. We intend to actively manage our investments through board representation and/or advisory roles with the goal of increasing their success and their ability to achieve higher valuations.”

The Executive Team:

Alexander Somjen (CEO): Mr. Somjen has extensive experience serving as an officer and director of publicly listed and privately held companies across a broad range of sectors including technology, healthcare and cannabis. Most recently, Mr. Somjen served as President of a publicly traded, California-based multi-state cannabis company and CEO of a publicly traded global investment company. Prior to that, he spent over a decade in capital markets at a large financial institution working in both investment banking and sales and trading related capacities. Mr. Somjen holds an MBA from IE Business School.

Kelvin Lee (CFO): Mr. Lee has over 15 years of extensive financial management experience with publicly traded companies. He is formerly CFO of Freeman Gold Corp. and prior, had progressively senior roles from Corporate Controller, VP Finance and Administration to Chief Financial Officer, for a TSXV listed gold producer with $400 million in revenue over nine years. His responsibilities included development and execution of financial strategy and operations, including regulatory reporting, financial planning and analysis, treasury, tax and audit. He also held prior Controller positions in the mining industry with various publicly traded companies including Prodigy Gold Inc. that was acquired for $340 million. Mr. Lee is currently CFO and Director of MegaWatt Lithium and Battery Metals Corp.; and CFO and Director of Karam Minerals Inc.; and CFO of Mantaro Silver Corp.  Mr. Lee is a CPA, CGA (British Columbia).

Advisors, Directors, and Investment Committee:

Brianna Davies, JD (Independent Director): Ms. Davies is a corporate securities lawyer with over 14 years experience working as legal counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer to various privately held and publicly traded companies, primarily focused in the resource and technology sectors. She has a broad range of international experience having held roles with companies with assets in North America, South America, Russia, Australia, Mali, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. Ms. Davies obtained a Juris Doctorate from the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law in 2005 and graduated Summa Cum Laude with an Honours B.A in Economics, from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada in 2002.

Michael Young (Chairman, Advisor & Investment Committee Member): Mr. serves as the Company’s Chairperson. Mr. Young is a founding partner of Cottingham Capital, an investment company focused on real estate, technology and Consumer brand investments. He has served at Cottingham Capital as Managing Partner since its inception in January 2017. Prior to January 2017, Mr. Young served as the Managing Director and Co-Head of Trading for a Canadian Investment bank. Mr. Young was previously on the boards of Nuuvera Corp. and ICC Labs Inc. The Company believes Mr. Young’s qualifications to serve as a director of the Company include his extensive senior level executive management, and trading experience, in the Canadian and U.S. capital markets, as well as his experience serving on other public company boards of directors.

Kyle Gould (CFA, Advisor & Investment Committee Member): Mr. Gould is a Co-Founder of Hyperion Capital Inc., a boutique advisory firm specializing in the healthcare and technology sectors. Prior to founding Hyperion Capital Inc., Mr. Gould served as a Director within GMP Securities L.P.’s cannabis practice where he aided in raising and advising over $10 billion worth of corporate mandates across 100+ transactions. During his time at GMP Securities L.P., the firm was ranked #2 globally for cannabis activity. Mr. Gould held roles for GMP Securities L.P. in both New York City and Toronto. He started his career at BMO Capital Markets Corp. in New York where he focused on leveraged finance for North American based companies. Mr. Gould is financially literate and is a CFA Charterholder and graduated from Dalhousie University with a major in Finance.

Jaiveer Singh (Advisor & Investment Committee Member): Mr. Singh is the CEO of Mint Pharmaceuticals Inc. Under his leadership, Mint Pharmaceuticals Inc. has emerged as one of the country’s most reputable and leading generic pharmaceutical companies over the past decade. Mr. Singh is also financially literate and is an active early stage investor and is passionate about supporting fellow entrepreneurs in building differentiated and high-quality businesses and currently serves on several boards. Mr. Singh was the Chairman of Truverra Inc. until it was acquired by The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. in 2019 and is a co-founder of Los Angeles-based hedge fund Medina Singh Partners, LLC.

Alfred Wong (VP of Investments): Mr. Wong is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur with experience in technology, cannabis, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods. He is currently the Managing Director at a boutique management consulting firm. He previously served as President & CEO of a CSE-listed technology company, and as President and Director of Growmax Capital. Mr. Wong co-founded an innovative drug-repurposing company (Nash Pharmaceuticals) in 2017 which was acquired by Algernon Pharmaceuticals a year later. He was also the President of Bullrun Capital where he conducted M&A, due diligence, fundraising, and RTO transactions for private and public companies.

Jonathan S. Goldman (Advisor): Mr. Goldman has more than 25 years of experience in business, commercial real estate, and infrastructure development, having built a successful renewable energy development firm. He served as president and co-owner of Stafford Developments, a diversified private property development company that has deployed more than $1 billion of equity capital and managed assets exceeding $2 billion on behalf of investors with its sister company Goldman Group. Mr. Goldman has worked with entrepreneurs for a cannabis venture fund, technology infrastructure business, publicly-traded cannabis production company, and retail and hospitality businesses.

“The team’s strong foundation of experience will enable us to drive the growth of our portfolio companies and support their success with mentorship, connections, and advisory. We are committed to judicious review and analysis of opportunities to secure the right investments for a solid overall portfolio in the exciting and novel psychedelic field,” added Mr. Somjen.

About Origin Therapeutics

Origin Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (CSE: ORIG Proposed) (the “Company” or “Origin Therapeutics”) is an actively managed investment issuer focused on making equity investments in psychedelics-related companies, where legally permitted, to provide investors with diverse exposure to the sector. The Company, led by a team of industry experts, leverages its management expertise, professional network, and due diligence process to identify leading and emerging global companies for its portfolio that are innovating in the sector and are supported by science. Learn more: https://originpsychedelics.com/

For Further Information:
Alexander Somjen
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Origin Therapeutics Holdings Inc
www.originpsychedelics.com 
info@originpsychedelics.com 

For media inquiries, please contact: Brittany@Exvera.com

Cautionary Statements and Forward-Looking Information

Any Information as to the principal occupation, work experience, and/or skills of a director, officer, advisor, or consultant has been furnished by the respective individuals without independent verification by the Company. The Company accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of such information.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

Certain statements in this news release related to the Company are forward-looking statements and are prospective in nature. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “may”, “should”, “could”, “intend”, “estimate”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe” or “continue”, or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company’s business plan, the Company’s investment objectives, and its ability to invest in the psychedelics industry, subject to applicable laws. Factors that could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company’s Preliminary Long Form Non-Offering Prospectus dated August 30, 2021, including the schedules thereto, that are available on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable laws.