With RESI returning to MaRS in Toronto on April 10th, LSN has prepared a full day agenda of panel and workshop content. In addition to RESI’s high quality one-on-one partnering, attendees will also have the opportunity to hear directly from investors on a variety of topics in early stage fundraising.
For this RESI event in Toronto, we are introducing panels on Tech Transfer and on Government Research Funding, both of which are key topics in the local ecosystem. RESI on MaRS will also see the return of perennial RESI sessions such as Early Stage Therapeutics, Medical Device Investors, Diagnostics and Digital Health. Additionally, RESI will include panels on increasingly popular topic areas – Family Offices, Genomics, and Big Data & Algorithms in Healthcare. Finally, RESI’s Track 4 presents 4 workshops and panels focused on Asia-North America Partnerships, with deep dives on Cross-Border In-Licensing, the Asia Investors Landscape, and more.
RESI on MaRS is a chance to immerse yourself in the early stage life science fundraising world for a day, with full-day partnering and the opportunity to educate yourself on the latest in funding new healthcare technologies and building strategic relationships. If you’d like to attend, sign up now.
In last week’s newsletter, you may have read about LSN’s review of 2017 licensing deals and how licensing deals are happening even earlier. Despite the high risk, pharmaceutical companies all across the globe are aggressively seeking partnership opportunities in hopes of identifying breakthrough therapies.
During RESI San Francisco – our first conference of the year – we invited 5 panelists from the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies to share their insights on early-stage partnerships. How do they assess value? How can companies differentiate themselves, especially those who are in an overcrowded space?
Moderated by Chris Haskell, VP, Head of West Coast Innovation Center, Bayer HealthCare, the Big Pharma panelists were:
Kevin Lynch, Vice President, Search & Evaluation, AbbVie
Chris Sheldon, Head, Oncology Search & Evaluation, AstraZeneca
Understand the value that you bring with your technology. Demonstrating strong scientific expertise is key. Knowing how your technology is differentiable and providing a cogent explanation on why your technology might work seem like obvious pointers, but this is particularly important for companies who are in overcrowded indications. Most likely, the potential pharma partners who you will be in conversation with are already familiar with what has succeeded and failed.
Know why you want to work with a certain group and think of this as a long-term relationship. Every pharmaceutical company is different, so it is essential to do research on your potential partners and fully understand how they could benefit your company. When they provide suggestions and feedback on how to improve, make sure that these are fully understood and addressed at the next meeting. After all, large pharmaceuticals aren’t there just to provide you with an excess of capital. They want to work with likeable management teams with whom they can develop a cooperative relationship over many years.
It is better to keep things simple in an introductory discussion. You will not need to provide every single piece of information that is attributed to your company’s work. Eventually, detailed materials (i.e. patents, detailed data on a given asset, etc.) will be reviewed as needed, but the initial conversation should be focused on understanding what your company is doing and what differentiates your technology.
Don’t be afraid to follow up, but understand that the process takes a while. Most pharmaceutical companies are organized into groups based on therapeutic area and expertise. It can take a while for these groups to review the entire portfolio and send promising opportunities up the corporate ladder. In an initial conversation, it is good to ask when you will hear back so that you can act accordingly based on those expectations. Eventually, large pharmaceuticals will make sure you receive a response from them, one way or the other.
Life Science Nation (LSN) has created a fully integrated global matching platform that allows for buyers and sellers in the early stage life science arena to find and connect with each other based on a company’s stage of development and product. An integral part of LSN’s matching platform is the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference series that that currently is held six times a year in life science technology hubs throughout North America and Europe. RESI is a one-of-a-kind partnering event, in that the event has a 1:1 ratio of scientist/entrepreneurs to investors/strategic partners. Hundreds of investors and strategics regularly attend the RESI conference to source technology deals.
LSN has been approached over the last two years regarding bringing the RESI conference to China. The LSN Research team has done significant outreach to help establish a strong ecosystem of China-based investors who speak on our RESI panels and use RESI as a vehicle to source and vet diverse technology assets across the silos of drugs, devices and diagnostics and digital health.
You Can Help LSN Decide on RESI China
LSN currently has concerns about bringing RESI to China, and indeed to Asia. At a typical RESI event, half of the attendees are scientist-entrepreneurs who have left a major pharma/healthcare firm or a university to create their own startup company, with initial funding sourced from government grants, friends and family, or angels. These scientist-entrepreneurs then attend RESI conferences to find additional funding. The issue for LSN and RESI is to understand if China has a sufficient number of scientist-entrepreneurs in China who are starting companies independently of government, pharma or academia? Also, if the Chinese model of life science company development is different, how can RESI adapt our conference to the Chinese model and make it work? If you’re interested in seeing RESI come to China, please take this survey below to help us better understand how we can successfully bring RESI to China. We are looking for sponsors and partners to support us in this initiative.
A strategic capital group within a large company is focused on venture and growth stage investments in several verticals including healthcare, IT and energy. The group will make investments from $5M – $30M and is very flexible with structure and size, with approximately 80% of investments in the form of equity and the other 20% in debt. The group will both lead or co-invest and typically seeks board representation although it is not a requirement. The group is focused on companies in the United States, but may look at some international opportunities in select geographies.
The firm is interested in medical devices, healthcare services, digital health, and biopharma and the group is looking for derisked opportunities in these areas. In the medical device space, the group is interested in devices that have achieved FDA approval and have reimbursement established. Digital health/healthcare IT companies should have commercial traction and a minimum of 10-20 paying customers. The group is looking for healthcare services companies that have proven their business model and are in need of growth capital. In the biopharma space, the group avoids opportunities with binary scientific, development, or clinical risk and is interested in areas such as specialty pharma, outsourced services, platform technologies, etc.
The firm places a large emphasis on high quality management teams and will work with companies with an incomplete management team as long as the key members of management are in place and have significant experience/expertise in the area they are pursuing.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
A large pharmaceutical company based in China is fully integrated with solid infrastructures in drug development, clinical development, regulatory, manufacturing, sales and marketing in China with global perspectives. The firm currently manages two funds with over $200 million AUM and is actively seeking investment opportunities across a wide range of industries. A significant allocation of the fund is dedicated to healthcare and life sciences investments, while the rest of the fund will focus on investing in electronic materials and aluminum business. On average, the size of investment is $10M, but the firm has the capacity to invest more in companies they identify as a strong fit. The firm can invest in a broad variety of types and transaction structures including growth capital, buyouts, late-stage developments (with proof of concept), and recapitalizations. The firm looks for companies located around the globe, with a preference in the US, Europe, and Japan.
The firm is a flexible and opportunistic investor that is currently considering Therapeutics, Medical Devices, and Diagnostics. The firm is open to all kinds of sectors and indications with preferences in antivirus, oncology, neurosciences, and diabetes. The firm is open to novel medical devices of all FDA regulatory pathways, including 510k and PMA. The firm is strongly interested in medical devices. In terms of therapeutics, the firm will look at products of all stages from pre-clinical to phase I, and from phase III to on-the-market; while middle stage products might be a less focus. Regarding medical devices and diagnostics, the firm will invest at any stage of development. The firm is willing to consider companies targeting orphan indications.
The firm can invest in both private and public companies. The firm is willing to both lead and co-invest in companies located around the globe, while co-invest is their sweet spot. The firm has no specific requirements for the management team. The firm may take a board seat in applicable cases.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
A USA based medical technology venture firm founded in 2013 makes equity investments in early stage companies developing products for to accelerate the trend of precision medicine diagnostics. The firm seeks a leading investment position and deep involvement with its portfolio companies. Typical investment ranges from $5-15 M and is calibrated to milestone attainment. With a global view and global operational capabilities, the firm is currently seeking opportunities around the world.
The firm focuses on three market segments that support knowledge-generating precision medicine diagnosis: 1) mobile health, data analytics, and healthcare IT; 2) high specificity in-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics; and 3) diagnostic technologies that guide or are a companion to precision therapies. The firm is looking for technologies that will dramatically improve patient health and have the potential for global markets and scale.
The firm is looking for experienced management teams with deep domain expertise. The firm typically request board representation post-investment.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
An investment firm founded in 2015 is actively supporting new healthcare companies in the USA and Canada. The firm is partnering with a New York-based firm to fund companies and assist those companies in scaling. The firm typically invests $250,000-$1.5 million, and while the firm focuses on companies interested in a “soft landing” in Western New York, the firm has the capacity to invest elsewhere as well.
The firm focuses on healthcare solutions that include a software component. Areas of interest include remote sensing, healthcare in the cloud, assistive devices, and remote sensing devices (e.g. Health IT).
The firm focuses on companies that have the capacity to become US government contractors. The firm supports their portfolio companies in bidding for contracts, and is able to work with both US and Canadian companies interested in becoming listed on the GSA Schedule.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.
The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.
A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.
The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.
A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]
With RESI returning to MaRS in Toronto on April 10th, LSN has prepared a full day agenda of panel and workshop content. In addition to RESI’s high quality one-on-one partnering, attendees will also have the opportunity to hear directly from investors on a variety of topics in early stage fundraising.
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