Alexander Kielland is an experienced VC executive who understands the disruptions and obstacles that global operations face. As COO at Sound Bioventures, he’s committed to ensuring that nothing unnecessary distracts from the firm’s investments.
To describe his 15-year career handling legal, financial, and operational issues, Kielland will sometimes say (with a slight smile) that he’s a “janitor”.
“It’s partly a joke, partly true,” he explains. “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty to ensure things get delivered on time and of the right quality.”
And when it comes to venture capital deals and international projects, there’s an exhaustive amount of mind-numbing and annoying tasks (like required reporting, compliance steps, and administrative work) that Kielland deals with so investment team members can focus on more critical areas.
“It’s basically aiming to remove all the tedious work that needs to be done,” he says. “Otherwise, it takes up a ton of bandwidth and mental headspace”
Establishing credibility and connection
Originally from the greater Copenhagen area, Kielland got a Master’s in Finance and Business Law from Copenhagen Business School before earning his Master of Laws degree in International Financial Law from King’s College London in 2012.
“I think I’ve always had an international mindset, a sort of international curiosity,” says Kielland, citing his time studying law in London as a pinnacle moment for that mindset.
Kielland returned to Copenhagen to practice M&A and corporate law at a full-service firm right out of law school. Less than five years later, he joined the venture capital department at Denmark’s sovereign wealth fund, EIFO, eventually moving up from Legal Advisor to Legal Director. In 2021, Kielland transitioned to VP of Operations at the sustainable-tech-focused VC firm 2150, where he ultimately became Chief Operating Officer.
For Kielland, those experiences honed his ability to oversee areas like legal, finance, and HR, which are uniquely complex in the global VC environment. They also strengthened Kielland’s skills in building credibility and strong working relationships.
“I put a lot of value in being dependable, respectful, easy to work with,” he says. “It all boils down to trust.”
The draw of joining Sound Bioventures
According to Kielland, the more he learned about Sound Bioventures, the more his interest in joining the firm grew. It was especially piqued after meeting with its managing partners, Casper Breum and Johan Kördel, in the summer of 2026. They stood out to him as having high integrity as well as being down-to-earth and straightforward – both separately and together.
“It was their individual personalities but also their internal dynamic between them,” he explains. “They clearly trusted each other.”
And while the biotech industry wasn’t a very familiar field for Kielland, he could tell that Sound Bioventures had a strong track record with a proven niche in biotech investing. What’s more, the firm’s dedication to investments with real-world positive impact resonated with him.
“They had a clear-cut strategy, focused on substance and outcomes, which really appealed to me,” says Kielland. “To use capitalism constructively, I think that’s sort of the biggest lever for change. I liked that.”
So just three months after first contact with Sound Bioventures, Kielland accepted the offer to become its COO.
“My job is to remove noise for the rest of the team”
Working from Copenhagen, Kielland’s responsibilities as COO include coordinating and collaborating with Sound Bioventures’ team members and partners all over Scandinavia and the world. While some consider it a challenge, he views it as something more.
“Being spread out obviously requires a good team culture that needs to be nourished deliberately,” says Kielland. “I see it as a strength, given that we should be able to cover more ground on the investment side.”
And supporting the investment side of the firm is the whole point of Kielland’s role.
“My job is to remove noise for the rest of the team so they can focus on signal,” he explains.
Kielland’s responsibilities include everything from maintaining compliance and coordinating with limited partners to participating in negotiations and upholding investment agreements. But it’s about more than just taking care of time-consuming, laborious work.
“Venture capital is by its nature a long journey, and it helps to be consistent and proactively build trust with current and future partners,” explains Kielland.
As a result, being trusted that all t’s are crossed and all i’s dotted speeds up execution and reduces bottlenecks.
“Trust is a sort of a friction mitigator,” says Kielland. “If there’s no trust, there’s a ton of friction. So productivity actually increases with trust.”
