Jason Matthew Daniel Pontin (born 11 May 1967) is a British-born venture capitalist and journalist. He is a partner at the venture capital firm of DCVC in Palo Alto, and is a board member and seed investor in a number of life sciences companies. He is the former editor in chief and publisher of ''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

''.

Early life and education

Pontin was born on 11 May 1967 in London, to a British father, Anthony Charles Pontin, a businessman, and a South African mother, Elaine Howells, an actress. He was raised in Northern California and educated in England, at Harrow School and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

Career

From 1996 to 2002, Pontin was the editor of '' Red Herring'', a business and technology publication. From 2002 to 2004, he was the editor of ''The Acumen Journal'', a now-defunct magazine he founded about the life sciences. Pontin has written for many national and international magazines and newspapers, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

The Believer Magazine ''The Believer'' is an American bimonthly magazine of interviews, essays, and reviews, founded by the writers Heidi Julavits, Vendela Vida, and Ed Park in 2003. The magazine is a five-time finalist for the National Magazine Award. Between 200 ...

'', and ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

''. He writes for ''Wired'' in the publication's "IDEAS" channel and contributes to the magazine. In February 2013, he delivered a TED Talk in Long Beach, California, "Can Technology solve our big problems?" that has been seen more than 1.6 million times. He was hired as the editor of ''Technology Review'' in July 2004, and in August 2005 was named publisher. Pontin engaged in what ''

'' has described as a "strategic overhaul" of ''Technology Review'', whose goal is to make the magazine into a largely electronic publishing company. In October 2012, he renamed the organization MIT Technology Review and relaunched it as a "digital-first enterprise". ''

AdWeek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

'' commented that "Pontin and MIT Technology Review could set the standard for the transition to a digital future for legacy media." Pontin was Chairman of the

MIT Enterprise Forum From 1978 to 2021 the MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) operated chapters in major cities in the U.S. and worldwide. The MIT Enterprise Forum was non-profit organization affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through MIT Technolo ...

, MIT's global organization of technology entrepreneurs. From 2005 to 2017, he was the editor in chief and publisher of

. In 2015, he cofounded MIT Solve the Institute's open innovation platform, which deploys capital and other resources towards solutions to grand challenges. From 2018 to 2020, he was senior partner and senior advisor at Flagship Pioneering, an American life sciences

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2019, with CEO Neil Dhawan, he cofounded Totus Medicines, a chemical biology company whose drug discovery platform uses structure-based design, combinatorial chemistry, and automated biophysics to rapidly identify oncology therapies. Pontin is a board member of Totus Medicines. Pontin has been a General Partner at DCVC since March 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pontin, Jason 1967 births Living people Technology writers English male journalists British magazine founders English magazine editors English publishers (people) English columnists Alumni of Keble College, Oxford People educated at Harrow School