10 Family-Office Speakers Shed Light on Direct Investing in Therapeutics and Medical Devices

By Michael Quigley, Director of Research, LSN

Last month in San Francisco, Life Science Nation’s RESI Conference hosted two family-office panels to discuss investors’ motivations for funding therapeutic and medical-device companies, the current trends in this space, and the distinctions between family offices’ investment strategies. Given the fact that a good portion of family offices fly below the radar, it is easy to understand why there was standing room only during these two panel discussions.

LSN recruited the panelists from our extensive network of family office investors—a network that we have developed over the past three years. As noted by both panels, family offices have been increasingly making direct investments in life science companies, a trend LSN has been following.  The reasons for this trend include avoiding poor returns (as happened during the financial crisis), increasing control over the final investment decision, and having a philanthropic and social impact. Last but not least is the personal aspect, where some family offices are also looking to provide solutions to their own family healthcare issues and thus effecting the family legacy.

Both panels stressed numerous points, including the importance of companies having a strong management team, the growing sophistication of family office investors, and the generally longer investment time lines that these investors have. The latter trait in particular means that, in many cases, a family office can more successfully align with the goals of a fundraising entrepreneur than can many other investors.

Other topics discussed by the panels included strategies and channels for finding family offices, best practices for securing funding from these investors, and the strategic benefits that family offices can bring to the table after committing capital.

One fact that echoed in these panels is that family offices represent a significant, valuable source of capital that should be strongly considered by any fundraising entrepreneur. To see for yourself, take a look at the video recaps of the panels.