About

Maria Jose is Managing Partner of WNT Ventures, a New Zealand based deep tech Venture Capital. With over a decade of experience as a founder turned investor, Maria Jose has seen first-hand the evolution of the NZ Venture Capital landscape.

MJ is a Biotechnology Engineer and the Founder & CEO of VidaOx, a Chilean biotech start-up that gave a second life to wine waste. In New Zealand, MJ has worked at four deep tech VCs and invested and worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs. At WNT Ventures, MJ is focused on investing Fund 3, managing portfolio companies from Fund 2 and 3, and raising Fund 4, a $35 - $50m fund to build another cohort of world changing, deep tech companies.

Maria Jose's passion is supporting entrepreneurs through investment, commercialisation, and growth. Besides her role at WNT Ventures, Maria Jose is an Independent Committee member in several organisations focused on science and technology ventures in Chile and NZ, such as Return On Science, and Start-Up Science, the Seed Accelerator and Investment arm of the Chilean Ministry of Science. MJ is a NZ Woman of Influence 2021 finalist in the Diversity category, a TEDx speaker, and a mentor to early-stage start-ups and entrepreneurs.