One Decision Changed Everything
Biomakers
By Jared Campbell
October 2025
In 2019, Nicolas “Nico” Kirchuk faced a pivotal decision that would reshape not just his company, but the lives of cancer patients across Latin America. Standing in Biomakers’ Buenos Aires headquarters, the CEO and his co-founders looked at what had been a successful local Argentinian diagnostics company and saw something far greater: the potential to build one of the world’s most diverse genomic databases and transform cancer therapy development globally.
That moment marked Biomakers’ metamorphosis from a bootstrapped diagnostics startup into a venture capital-backed biotechnology powerhouse. But the real story isn’t just about the company’s evolution—it’s about how Nico and co-founders Ruben Salanova and Manuel “Manu” Bibiloni built a remarkable team culture that could stretch across continents while maintaining the intimacy of a close-knit family.
Today, Biomakers employs 100 people across four countries: 60 in Argentina, 15 in Mexico, 10 in Brazil, and a growing presence in the United States with offices in San Francisco and Miami. This isn’t just geographic expansion—it’s strategic diversity that reflects their unique value proposition. By building teams in multiple Latin American markets, Biomakers has assembled one of the largest, most diverse genomic and tumor biobank datasets in the world, representing patients from 20 countries.
“We consciously decided to grow into a company with a global impact,” Nico explains. “The mindset changed very quickly, from diagnostics to biotechnology and data company.” That shift required more than just capital—it demanded a fundamentally different approach to team building.
What makes Biomakers extraordinary isn’t just their scientific achievements, but their multidisciplinary approach. Their teams include engineers, physicians, geneticists, biologists, biochemists, economists, and sales professionals—a diversity Nico sees as one of their greatest strengths. This intellectual variety has enabled their evolution into what is now a tech-driven biotech company collaborating with 17 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies in oncology.
The challenge? Maintaining cohesion across such geographic and professional diversity. Nico’s solution is elegantly simple: intentional, frequent face-to-face interaction. He ensures three to four in-person visits annually with each team, and the results are measurable. “I can see a correlation in productivity immediately following an in-person meeting,” he notes, tracking metrics like revenue, new partnerships, and proposals to gauge the impact.
"We consciously decided to grow into a company with a global impact."— Nico Kirchuk
Each founder brings distinct strengths to these visits: Manu handles operational connectivity, explaining how projects link across the organization; Nico focuses on big-picture vision and company direction; and Ruben dives deep with scientific teams.
Perhaps most remarkably, Biomakers has achieved something rare in today’s business world: extraordinary employee loyalty. With minimal turnover and many employees staying for years, the company has cracked the code on remote team engagement. The secret isn’t just competitive compensation—it’s purpose.
“We know how to make our employees feel valued, empowered, and purpose-driven,” Kirchuk reflects. “The employees realize they are saving lives and impacting future generations.”
Recently, Kirchuk’s own move to San Francisco has energized the entire organization, symbolizing their global ambitions while inspiring teams worldwide who see new possibilities for growth and impact in their leader’s bold geographical leap.