Archive | December, 2016

Calling All Capital Raising CEOs

15 Dec

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, LSN

As crazy as this may sound, LSN has more early stage investors signed up for Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference (423 registered) than we have fundraising CEOs and scientist-entrepreneurs. I mean think about it! Raising capital is first and foremost a numbers game – you need to get in front of as many investors as possible to increase your chance of meeting the right set of players for your companies stage of development and product. RESI on January 10th at the Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel will provide an unprecedented moment to get you and your firm in front of the two kind of early stage investors that show up at RESI conferences.

The first group typically has a mandate to invest capital in a particular disease, platform or service. This means the money has been appropriated and they are actively seeking firms to fulfill their current investment mandates and allocate funds. The second group of investors are what I call opportunistic. If they see something interesting, they will put some money in; they don’t always need to have a preapproved mandate to invest. Many of both are attending the upcoming RESI event, and having these two kind of prominent investor types in abundance is a boon for companies looking for capital.

Historically, the last two weeks is when a lot of attendees register and start to plan out their activities in the conference arena. This tactical plan usually works well; however, being JPM, the biggest mega life science show on the planet, the old rules don’t apply. We sent out an alert last week that we fear we may have to close down registrations because we have a limit on the number of people the venue can hold. Now we actually think we may have more investors than capital raisers. January 10th is an unprecedented opportunity to meet investors, start a dialogue that leads to a relationship and hopefully an allocation in the future. The capital will not come and find you. You need to do whatever you can to get in front of investors. This is the 11th RESI conference in 3 years, it’s working, and I hope we can move the needle in early stage life science investing. We are calling all capital raising CEOs take advantage of this opportunity. Click here to register for RESI @ JPM

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Asian Investors Venturing Boldly for North American Life Science Innovations

15 Dec

Shaoyu Chang, MD, MPH, Director of Research & Asia Business Development Liaison

Shaoyu 10*10

Capital from Asian countries has become a significant force behind life science innovations in North America. On October 10 2016, Zymergen, a Bay Area biotech startup, announced that it closed a massive $130 million Series B round led by the Japanese telecom giant Softbank. The infusion of cash aims to help the three-year-old company build a robot workforce to produce industrial chemicals through genetically altered microbes.

In our previous article, we analyzed US-Asia cross-border investments in life sciences. As we look back on year 2016, the trend seems even clearer. The LSN database recorded 204 pre-IPO equity financing deals in life sciences in North America this year. Interestingly, one out of every four pre-IPO equity financing deals has participation of at least one Asian investment organization (Figure 1), including Softbank’s mega deal.

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Figure 1. Life Sciences Private Equity Financing Rounds in North America 2016 (total: 204)

Although cross-border deals are considered challenging at times, a good number of Asian investors are willing to take a leading role, such as Shenzhen, China-based DiNovA Capital. Just this week, the healthcare-focused firm led a $35 million equity financing round into Laguna Hills, CA-based Sonendo, Inc. The new capital aims to advance the commercialization of its dentistry technology platform on a global scale.

For Asian investors, syndicating with co-investors helps diversify portfolio and gain exposure to a wider range of innovations. WuXi Healthcare Ventures, the corporate VC arm of WuXi AppTec, is one of the most active cross-border investors, having participated in three biomedical deals including Avelas Biosciences, Twist Bioscience Corp., and Ideaya Biosciences. Asian co-investors provide not only capital injection but often strategic value in a syndicated round.

Despite recent financial uncertainty, Asian country governments are promoting their biomedical industry with stronger-than-ever urgency. State-owned enterprises and private corporations alike are encouraged to look abroad for innovative technologies that address healthcare problems at home. For example, Japan is seeking geriatric medicine and home care sectors, and China is more interested in lung and liver diseases.

At the upcoming RESI San Francisco conference, you can expect to meet investors from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and India. We are pleased to announce the Asia panel track, composing of Asia Investors Landscape Workshop, Asia Pharma Partners Panel, Asia Medtech Partners Panel, and Asia Pacific Investors Panel. This track will cover both breadth and depth of US-Asia cross-border investments in healthcare. Speakers are as follows:

Asia Investors Landscape:

Asia Pharma Partners:

Asia Medtech Partners:

Asia Pacific Investors:

RESI San Francisco Panel Announcement: Biotech Family Offices

15 Dec

By Lucy Parkinson, Director of Research, LSN

RESI has always aimed to represent the diversity of capital sources for early stage life science companies; alongside sessions featuring VCs, pharma, angels, and other traditional sources of capital, LSN is proud to feature two sessions devoted to Family Offices that invest in new healthcare ventures. The Biotech Family Office sesssion features investors from five different firms who will cover the wide-ranging interests of family offices in the early stage drug development sector.

Moderated by Jayson Rieger (SVP of Business Development & Portfolio Management, PBM Capital), the panelists are:

Christine Bunt (Venture Partner, 20/20 HealthCare Partners)
Will Eden (Vice President, Thiel Capital)
Daron Evans (Managing Director, PoC Capital)
Alex Pickett (Associate, Mediqventures)

If you’d be interested in hearing how these family offices source and assess biotech opportunities, and what you need to do to align your company with their investment ethos, you can register for RESI now.

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Hot Investor Mandate 1: China-Based Firm Invests in Therapeutics, Medical Devices, and Diagnostics in the USA

15 Dec

A subsidiary investment firm of a leading China-focused private equity fund is actively looking for equity investment, in-licensing, or add-on acquisition opportunities to augment its healthcare portfolio. The size of investment varies depending on the deal. The firm considers businesses in China and the United States.

Within healthcare, the firm considers a wide range to technologies including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostic tools, and healthcare IT. The firm is interested in products with large market potential in China in a wide range of therapeutic categories. The firm is open to companies at various stages of development but prefers products that have obtained human proof-of-concept.

The firm looks for products with a China angle and may request China distribution rights on a case-by-case basis.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 2: Corporate VC Invests Early in Oncology and Dermatology

15 Dec

The strategic corporate venture capital arm of a pharmaceutical group is looking to make strategic investments and is capable of accessing separate pools of capital and expertise from within the company. The fund is capable of making variety of different size investments with varied capital structures, from equity positions to licensing deals and acquisitions. Other than the asset’s therapeutic area of focus being aligned with the company’s mission, the timing of the asset is an important characteristic, as the fund looks to fully commit to the success of the investment and provide strategic guidance and hands-on involvement from senior decision makers and staff.

The firm is targeting oncology, dermatology and oncodermatology. The fund is looking for assets in pre-clinical, as early as lead optimization stages (no more than 2 years from the clinic), to early-stage clinical trials (Ph. I), ideally that need fine tuning and strategic direction. That being said, it is a requirement that the company have some type of tangible asset i.e. not just an idea for a therapeutic. The fund is primarily interested in small molecules and biologics since these are the areas where their expertise lies. For the right opportunity, the fund would consider looking at additional types of therapeutics such as gene therapy, stem cells, etc. that fall within their areas of focus, however the internal process to move one of these products forward would be longer and more complicated.

The firm is actively looking for deals and is open to opportunities globally. The fund does not look to take a board seat along with all investments, unless it makes strategic sense for the company.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 3: Global VC Firm Invests in Infectious Disease, Inflammation and Rare Diseases

15 Dec

A venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments in the technology and life sciences sectors has offices in Europe, the US and Australia. In Life Sciences, the firm typically invests at seed stage or before a company has been formed and develop these early opportunities through preclinical phase; at late preclinical/early clinical stage the firm gets co-investors involved. The firm prefers areas where there are multiple capital efficient routes to market, with opportunities for early proof of concept or early outlicensing or exits.

The firm manages a $150M fund and makes investments from $100K to $10M, depending on the opportunity. The firm is seeking a couple of opportunities to add to its portfolio. The firm invests in companies based in the USA and/or Europe.

The firm looks at early stage biotech therapeutics. In terms of indications, the firm is interested in anti-infectives and particularly antimicrobial resistance, as well as immuno-modulatory anti-inflammatory indications and orphan and rare diseases.

The firm looks for a strong management team with track record and a ground-breaking technology addressing an unmet need. The firm seeks to take significant minority stakes and board seats. In addition, the firm will provide hands-on support from its own bench of senior execs, experts and advisors to accelerate its ventures after investment.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

Hot Investor Mandate 4: Innovation Fund Seeks Healthcare IT Focused on Providers

15 Dec

A VC firm manages a health innovation fund backed by a healthcare system that invests with a focus on health technologies with a provider angle. Typical size of an initial investment is $1-3 million in Seed to Series B round. The firm can invest up to $5 million over the lifetime of a company. The firm is open to leading or syndicating in a financing round. The firm is currently seeking opportunities across the US and Canada.

The firm considers HealthTech innovations that have a strategic angle to healthcare providers and do not need to go through regulatory development hurdle. Examples may include healthcare operational improvement, healthcare workflow management, data analytics, radiologic information analysis, telemedicine, population management, and automated screening. The firm is interested in the diseases that affect large populations such as oncology, cardiovascular diseases and stroke, hypertension, and geriatric conditions. The firm seeks businesses from Seed to Series B stage.

The firm is looking for competent management teams developing innovative solutions to real-world problems in the healthcare industry. The firm’s healthcare system limited partner is actively involved in the vetting process.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com

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