Next Phase Newsletter

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series

There is an opportunity to take advantage of in the global partnering domain but you have to leave your region in order to participate.

The LSN team just visited 8 countries and met with over 250 companies across Europe and Israel. The goal of the trip was to help the regional technology hubs and their constituents understand what it takes to go from a regional mindset to a global mindset in finding investors and channel partners. We saw first-hand the challenges that European life science entrepreneurs are facing. The big two: time and cost to go outside the region.

The biggest obstacles I found for fundraising European companies was a tendency to have a more conservative nature, and not being totally convinced that if you want to play in the global funding ecosystem you have to play by a new set of rules. These new rules may be different both culturally and in the business dynamic. The global marketplace abounds with compelling technology assets and understanding the competitive landscape and where you fit is crucial.

We told audiences at the LSN Fundraising Boot Camp workshops that you either have to go for it, or not. And if you do, you need to figure out how to get out of your region and start a continuous dialogue with the global players who are looking to fund and partner with you. RESI is bringing over 200 investors to Europe, March 25 in Vienna for the first time – the fundraising CEOs I met with said they would love to attend but the time and cost associated was prohibitive. Fundraising is an expensive endeavor: as strange as it sounds, you need to spend money to get money. In addition, it’s important to remember that investors invest in teams as well as technologies, and they expect their startup CEOs to do what they have to do to succeed.

Having run 22 global conferences since 2016, I’ve observed that global startups and their assets are in a critical timing situation. They either catch the wave or miss the wave of opportunity that is happening right now. Once the wave passes, it is gone. It is not waiting for fundraising CEOs to rationalize spending some time and money to meet with prospective investors. Fundraising is a numbers game – for example, you could do a deep dive in your region and find 50-100 investor targets to call on and start a dialogue with, or alternatively you could go global and find 400-500 investors that are a fit for your stage of development and product. Going global is clearly more likely to yield results.

If you are trying to raise capital today, in 2019, it takes 9-18 months and is extremely competitive in this golden age of life science product development. If you do not go for it and put everything on the line, then you will miss the wave and it will only make the challenges you will face harder. As a scientist-entrepreneur, it takes one investor meeting to change your life, but getting to that one meeting takes a lot of drive and persistence.

LSN has helped over 300 global startups to raise over 500mm dollars over the years. Our RESI conference is unique in that it is the only dedicated investor conference that is cross-border and cross-silo (drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital health). LSN brings a one-to-one ratio of investors/strategic partners to fundraising CEOs. I have been hearing about the same issues of cost and timing since I started LSN seven years ago…I saw the wave and wanted to catch it.

I would advise global fundraising CEOs to try and get into the global ecosystem and start a dialogue with investors and partners outside your region. If you went to just three of LSN RESI events starting with RESI Vienna in March, RESI Philadelphia in June and RESI Boston in September, you have a truly unprecedented opportunity to meet 30-50 investors in total across 3 events, which would give every CEO a real understanding of where they are at and what they have to do to get funded and find partners.

I feel your pain. I know you care about the ultimate success of your company’s products, which could save lives and impact patient care. However you do need some tough love here. Don’t create a false premise that regional discussions are enough to get you funded. Take the extra step into the global partnering arena and take advantage of a vehicle like the RESI conference series who can help make the process very efficient.

By Karen Deyo, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Investing in the seed stage is always a risky proposition, especially in the life sciences. Startups at an early stage face risk on many fronts – scientific, regulatory, execution, market –  and many investors prefer to wait until an asset is derisked before committing capital. Seed funds specialize in the early stages, each with their own strategy to help their portfolio companies cross the ‘valley of death’ to reach the more traditional venture investment stage. RESI’s focus on early-stage life science includes these earliest investors, who will share some of their insights on how investment decisions are made at the seed stages. These investors will discuss how they mitigate their risk at the earliest stage, what they look for in these companies and how they get involved in the development of the company.

To learn about Seed Funds and how they help companies grow out of infancy, attend the panel at RESI Europe to hear the panelists speak. The participants are:

Philipp Rittershaus, Senior Investment Manager, High-Tech-Gründerfonds

Dr Philipp Rittershaus studied technical biology in Stuttgart and also obtained an MBA in engineering management alongside his doctorate at B.R.A.I.N. AG. Prior to becoming an Investment Manager at HTGF in 2015, he was a self-employed consultant and implemented a range of life science and spin-off projects. At the HTGF Philipp nurses a portfolio of 10 Life Science Companies.

Pierre Socha, Principal, Amadeus Capital Partners

Pierre joined Amadeus Capital Partners in 2012. Pierre has a current investment focus on digital health, medical technology, AI and machine learning and cybersecurity. He is a non-executive director on the boards of Inotec, Repositive, Doctify, Congenica and oversees Amadeus’s investments in PhoreMost, Organox and Antidote (formerly TrialReach). Pierre brings operational experience to these investments, having managed the growth of several life science businesses in Asia and Europe. During a decade at biotech company Avesthagen, he guided the group’s strategy and European activities, contributing to acquisitions, joint ventures and exits. Pierre is French and holds an MSc in Environmental Economics (Hons.-SciencesEco) from Université de Provence, France and a BSc in Finance & Econometrics (Math Spe.-SciencesEco) from Université Louis Pasteur, France. He has attended executive programs at Harvard, MIT and Stanford.

Markus Wanko, Managing Partner, IST CUBE

Following a fifteen-year career in investing and strategy consulting and upon returning to Austria, Markus joined IST to start TWIST, IST’s tech transfer organisation, and has been driving the development of IST PARK, the technology park adjacent to IST Austria, and IST CUBE. His background is in venture capital investing with Safeguard Scientifics and the European Investment Fund, strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group, and principal investment with QIA, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. He has supported a broad range of startups in the process, energy and tech industries. He has an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School, an MSc from TU Vienna, and an MIM from WU Vienna and HEC Paris.

Sabine Kaiser, Venture Partner D/A/CH, NLC

Sabine Kaiser has more than 20 years of experience in consulting and entrepreneurial investing. Previously, she worked as a strategic consultant with McKinsey&Company, as a venture capital investor for Technologieholding VC GmbH and 3i plc, and in asset management for BTV, an internationally active German single family office. Sabine is passionate about technological and social innovations that have a significant positive impact on peoples’ lives. She believes in the ability of individuals and companies to create positive externalities while pursuing their business and in the potential for sustainable growth. Sabine holds a Diploma in Human Biology from the Philipps-University of Marburg and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. She is also an IHK-certified business mediator, specialized on conflict resolution in Venture Capital financed companies.

By Lucy Parkinson, VP of Investor Research, LSN

Life Science Nation is looking ahead to the summer, when we’ll be joining thousands of executives from the life science and pharma industries in Philadelphia on June 3rd during the BIO International Convention.  By bringing the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference to Philadelphia in June, LSN will provide a focused early stage venue for investors to find new technologies and connect with early stage entrepreneurs from all around the world.  RESI’s agenda of panels and workshops will provide fundraising CEOs with guidance on how to find capital even for the most novel potential breakthrough product.  Panels include emerging areas of technology like Investing in Cell & Gene Therapy, Mental & Behavioral Health and AI in Healthcare, and key potential sources of capital like Asia Corporates & Strategics, Korea Investors and Angels & Family Offices.  At RESI Philadelphia, entrepreneurs can both meet investors and hear candid, insightful discussion on what makes investors tick. If you’d like to join us during BIO, register here.