In the heart of Ottawa’s ByWard Market, a new kind of investor relations and capital strategy firm is reshaping how biotech innovation finds its way to global investors.
Founded by medicine-based serial entrepreneur and strategist Dr. Anirudh “AK” Kumar, CarMa Institute has quickly become a bridge between scientific discovery and international funding- linking Western biotech companies with visionary investors across the MENA and APAC regions
From medicine to strategy
“The idea for CarMa came from a desire to leave a legacy,” Kumar explains, seated in CarMa’s minimalist new office overlooking the market. “A legacy not just for myself, but for future generations, one where we work on next-generation therapeutics to solve the problems we see in health today. From mental health to neurodegenerative disease; From cancer to lifestyle disease.”
With a background in medicine and more than a decade in start-up leadership, Kumar saw the same pattern repeat: “Brilliant scientific founders struggling to communicate their value to investors. “We can’t solve modern problems with the thinking of the past,” he says. “We need new energy and new ways of connecting people.”
That philosophy gave rise to CarMa Institute: a firm designed to bring together scientists, strategists, and capital holders who share a mission to improve humanity.
“I’ve always been a super-connector,” Kumar says with a smile. “Collaboration is the true catalyst of innovation.”
A global mandate
While CarMa operates out of Ottawa, its reach spans continents. The firm currently advises 20 global biotech companies developing next-generation therapeutics for mental-health disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, and regenerative medicine.
One standout example is Kariya Pharmaceuticals, a Denmark-based biotechnology company focused on developing brain-penetrant GLP-1 therapies for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Founded by Ottawa native Ian Laquian, the company has successfully completed its Phase I clinical studies and is now preparing a DKK 161 million financing round to support its Phase II Parkinson’s trial – both of which CarMa has helped structure through its global investor network.
But the firm’s scope extends well beyond transaction facilitation. “We’re connecting ecosystems,” Kumar says. “From San Francisco to Copenhagen, from Dubai to Sydney- bringing together biotech innovation and investors who may never have met otherwise.”
He believes that MENA and APAC regions are the next frontiers for biotech capital. “I grew up in the Middle East, and I’ve seen the incredible innovation and appetite for technology there,” he explains. “Many western biotech companies don’t realize how ready those regions are for collaboration. The capital is there, the curiosity is there, and the mindset is bold.”
For CarMa, global collaboration isn’t optional; it’s the only way forward. “Health challenges are universal,” Kumar notes. “To build the next generation of therapeutics, we need the next generation of partnerships.”
The CarMa philosophy: Conscious capitalism
Behind CarMa’s strategy lies a distinctive philosophy Kumar calls “Conscious Capitalism.”
“Often, seasoned investors understand the science,” he says, “but what really drives commitment, especially in MENA and APAC regions, is the story behind the science. They want to know: Why does this matter? Whose life will this change?”
He calls this lens Return on Prestige rather than Return on Investment, a mindset where impact and legacy hold equal weight with financial return.
At CarMa, that translates into a narrative-driven investor-relations process: every client engagement includes deep founder interviews, storytelling frameworks, and tailored capital-readiness decks that speak both to data and to purpose.
“Narrative is intellectual property,” Kumar emphasizes. “It’s what carries an idea through difficult times. When markets tighten or science faces setbacks, it’s the story and the conviction behind it that keep investors aligned.”
This hybrid of storytelling and strategy has become CarMa’s hallmark. By blending investor analytics with creative communication, the firm helps its clients move beyond the transactional and into the transformational.
Why Ottawa and why now
For a company operating on three continents, CarMa’s choice of headquarters might surprise some. But to Kumar, it’s deliberate.
“Ottawa is Canada’s capital and a capital of ideas,” he says. “You have incredible institutions here, like the University of Ottawa, with cutting-edge researchers and a capacity to build stealth biotech programs. The innovation density is high, but the visibility is low. We want to change that.”
CarMa at ByWard opened its doors in the Fall and will serve as a collaboration hub hosting small private salons where founders, investors, and policymakers can meet in person.
“Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs happen over coffee, not in conference rooms,” Kumar laughs. “We want to create a space for those collisions, where Ottawa’s thinkers can connect with the world.”
Looking toward 2026
CarMa’s growth trajectory is steep. With an expanding global portfolio, the firm is now advising on capital strategy, partnerships, and investor-readiness programs for everything from cell-therapy platforms to digital-health startups.
“We’re booked solid,” Kumar admits. “But it’s a good kind of full, the kind where you feel the ecosystem moving.”
The team’s next phase includes building CarMa Foundry, a platform to incubate early-stage biotech ideas and prepare them for cross-border investment, and CarMa Seed, a dedicated seed fund designed to back breakthrough biotech innovators and accelerate them toward their next stage of clinical or commercial inflection.
Through it all, the mission remains clear: to accelerate global life sciences collaboration while keeping human purpose at the center.
“Our vision,” Kumar says, “is to be a global node in the world’s biotech capital network; a place where science, capital, and consciousness intersect.”
He pauses for a moment, glancing at the CarMa mandala logo on the wall. “If we can help even one breakthrough reach the people who need it, that’s legacy enough.”
