Archive | March, 2022

Digital RESI March IPC Winners

31 Mar

By Claire Jeong, Chief Conference Officer, Vice President of Investor Research, Asia BD, LSN

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Another Digital Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference is in the books! At Digital RESI March, nearly 40 life science and healthcare startups participated in the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC), a unique pitching opportunity for early-stage companies in therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics, digital health, and R&D/services sectors.

The IPC has a voting component on which all registered attendees – from fellow startup executives to active early-stage investors – can vote for their favorite companies based on the materials displayed on their dedicated landing pages (pitch video, slide deck, executive summary, etc.) as well as their performance in live Q&A sessions, in which founders pitch directly to and participate in a subsequent Q&A with investor judges.

Life Science Nation is pleased to share the winners of last week’s IPC who received the most votes during the 3-day conference. Congratulations to the winners! Check them out below and see the full list of finalists. The IPC returns June 7-9 and applications are open! Apply today and save $300 by April 15!

Embrace Prevention Care (1st Place)

Embrace is a leader in geriatric preventive care, providing an integrated suite of telehealth, pharmacy and behavioral change services to improve health and reduce costs. We help older adults with chronic conditions take meaningful actions to reduce hospitalizations and extend safe aging in place. Our local nurse practitioners partner with physicians to help their patients implement care plans and follow medication regimens, creating new practice revenue and reducing the complex patient burden.

Bold Therapeutics (2nd Place)

Bold Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage oncology company founded in 2018 by a team of biopharma industry veterans to develop and commercialize BOLD-100, a first-in-class anti-resistance therapeutic. BOLD-100 significantly enhances the activity of a wide range of other anti-cancer therapies by disabling a critical and previously untargeted cancer resistance, survival and proliferation pathway. Based on compelling preclinical and early clinical results, Bold Therapeutics is focusing its development efforts on some of the most challenging cancer indications where existing therapies are largely ineffective, resulting in a significant unmet medical need.

CoolSpine (3rd Place)

CoolSpine LLC was spun out of Yale University and is developing two neuroprotective medical devices that induce localized hypothermia to address injuries from spinal or cerebral ischemia. The patented devices cool the Cerebrospinal fluid in either the brain or the spinal cord to levels known to be neuroprotective (32°-35º C). By using the CSF to induce hypothermia, the devices uniquely cool the targeted areas while maintaining systemic normothermia, a significant benefit that avoids the complications of systemic hypothermia. The devices are incorporated into ventricular or intrathecal catheters, standard products for brain or spinal protection and therefore require no additional invasive intervention. CoolSpine’s primary targets are spinal cord and cerebral ischemia.

National Institute on Aging Launches Startup Challenge

31 Mar

By Candice He, Vice President of Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, LSN

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Life Science Nation is pleased to share an exciting opportunity for the longevity and age-tech startup community: The National Institute on Aging is hosting a startup challenge, The Healthy Aging Start-Up Challenge and Bootcamp to Foster Diversity and Accelerate Innovation, and applications are open! Apply by May 23 to win a cash prize, one-on-one mentoring, and access to an entrepreneur bootcamp!

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Apply-here

About the Challenge

The Healthy Aging Start-Up Challenge and Bootcamp to Foster Diversity and Accelerate Innovation invites applications from diverse researchers and entrepreneurs with a demonstrated need for entrepreneurial resources. Applicants should have innovative ideas for science-driven technologies and products that aim to promote healthy aging or address aging-related diseases or conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. There is special interest in participants and ideas that have the potential to increase the diversity of NIA-funded small business research and development. NIA strongly encourages applications from researchers and entrepreneurs from groups underrepresented in the U.S. biomedical sciences and in life science entrepreneurship.

Up to 20 finalists will be selected to participate in a 4-month entrepreneurial bootcamp designed to provide resources to help overcome barriers to launching a start-up and obtaining funding. The bootcamp will include entrepreneur workshops, mentorship, networking opportunities, and grant application skill building. Participation will be mostly virtual and will require finalists to commit approx. 4-6 hours per week plus one 3-to 4-day in-person networking event scheduled for September 19-22, 2022 in Boston (travel expenses paid by NIA). At the conclusion of the bootcamp, finalists will pitch to be selected as one of up to five winners to each receive a $60,000 cash prize. 

Applicants are encouraged to attend the Pre-Application Webinar scheduled for April 20, 2022, at 2 PM ET to learn more about the Challenge.

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Calling for Mentors

Mentorship is a critical component of this program. As participants will be learning to refine their idea, develop a pitch deck, identify markets and investors, and launch a new life science venture, the NIA is seeking volunteer mentors with an interest in diversity who are passionate about sharing their expertise in areas like entrepreneurship, investing, product development, digital health, and/or science and technology related to aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Mentoring relationships with individuals of shared backgrounds and experiences are especially beneficial to mentee success, so the NIA is especially excited to recruit mentors with unique or underrepresented backgrounds. Please share the link below for mentors with anyone who you feel may be a good fit.

Mentor applications are due May 2, so apply today!

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Free Fundraising Bootcamps for Life Science Startups

31 Mar

By Antoinette Lowre, Manager of Business Development, LSN

Digital RESI returns in a virtual partnering format June 7-9. To prepare Life Science Nation’s network of startup founders and scientist-entrepreneurs to partner with the 400+ investors and strategic partners expected at this upcoming RESI, we are pleased to offer complimentary fundraising bootcamps. These 1-hour webinars dive into different topics pertaining to early-stage fundraising and digital partnering through the RESI platform. They also include sessions on the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge – one of the most popular and competitive events at RESI.

Check out details below and register to join a free fundraising bootcamp to support your current or next raise!

Tuesday, April 5, 2PM EDT
Branding & Messaging: Seed to Series B 
  • Antoinette Lowre, Manager, Business Development, Life Science Nation
  • Megan Rychwa, Analyst, Investor Research, Life Science Nation
To win capital, you must stand out from the crowd. The first way to do that is to have top-notch marketing collateral. This bootcamp discusses how to provide potential investors with high-quality, professional materials—materials that engage them, communicate your message clearly and concisely, and present the information they want to see in a way that helps them to decide quickly and easily if you are a potential fit for their needs.
Tuesday, April 12, 2PM EDT
Preparing to Pitch at RESI 
  • Alexander Vassallo, Manager, Business Development, Life Science Nation
The Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) is an opportunity for early-stage companies to gain additional exposure to conference attendees, pitch directly to a panel of relevant investors, and participate in a live Q&A session. This bootcamp will walk through the process of preparing your pitch materials and what to expect in a live pitch session, including frequently asked questions from investor judges.
Wednesday, April 20, 11AM EDT
Fundraising 101: Avoiding Pitfalls and Improving the Odds
  • Karen Deyo, Director, Investor Research, Israel Business Development, Life Science Nation
  • Candice He, Vice President, Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, Life Science Nation
This bootcamp is designed to help scientist-entrepreneurs navigate the world of fundraising. It starts out by debunking some commonly held misconceptions about early-stage startups and fundraising, followed by tips on how to improve your chances and increasing investor visibility.
Wednesday, April 27, 1PM EDT
Preparing to Pitch at RESI
  • Candice He, Vice President, Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, Life Science Nation
The Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) is an opportunity for early-stage companies to gain additional exposure to conference attendees, pitch directly to a panel of relevant investors, and participate in a live Q&A session. This bootcamp will walk through the process of preparing your pitch materials and what to expect in a live pitch session, including frequently asked questions from investor judges.
Wednesday, May 4, 2PM EDT
Strategies for Successful Partnering 
  • Alexander Vassallo, Manager, Business Development, Life Science Nation
  • Joey Wong, Analyst, Investor Research, Hong Kong BD Life Science Nation
This bootcamp is a fan favorite with tried-and-true tips to make your partnering experience exceptional, letting your technology, product, and team take center-stage. Whether booking 1-on-1 meetings or pitching to a panel, these strategies will help you prioritize the details that make a difference in telling your story to potential investors and strategic partners.

Hot Investor Mandate: Private Investment Firm Seeks to Invest in Clinical Stage Therapeutics Including Vaccines, Platform Technologies, Repurposed Drugs, Etc.

31 Mar

A private investment firm primarily invests in life sciences and disruptive technologies and is actively seeking new investment opportunities. The firm is most interested in USA-based companies, but is open to investing in other geographies given that the companies target the USA or EU markets.

The firm is most interested in therapeutics, and most of their portfolio companies have fallen in that sector thus far. The firm has reviewed medical device opportunities before, but has yet to make an investment in that space nor is that within the firm’s current focus. The firm steers away from digital health. Currently, the firm is most interested in vaccines, platform technologies, and reformulations and repurposed drugs (505(b)(2) or even ANDA regulatory pathway). For disease areas/indications, the firm is interested in infectious diseases, oncology/immuno-oncology, neurology, ophthalmology, and orphan diseases. The firm prefers to invest in clinical assets, and pre-IND assets are generally considered too early stage by the firm. For companies developing vaccines or in infectious diseases, the firm may consider earlier stage opportunities as the firm is most interested in these fields. The firm is also open to commercial stage opportunities.

The firm seeks to work with experienced management teams with a demonstrated track record of success. The firm generally co-invests alongside a syndicate and will not always seek a board seat. The firm does have strong strategic value-add, and seeks to work with their portfolio companies to help develop new R&D partnerships, commercial and licensing alliances, new drug development program collaborations, manufacturing, supply and distribution joint ventures, and more.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: Newly Established USA-Based VC Interested in Digital Health Technologies Including Digital Therapeutics, Smart Devices, Tech-Enabled Services

31 Mar

A newly established venture capital firm based in the US is expecting to close their first fund this year. The firm is seeking to invest in Seed to Series A companies. The firm expects to make about 80% of their investments in North America, but has a global outlook and has evaluated opportunities from Europe, Israel, and Asia.

Within life sciences, the firm is most interested in digital health technologies, including Digital Therapeutics, AI-powered healthcare solutions, smart devices, and tech enabled services. The firm will be extremely selective about medical device companies without a digital component. The same applies for traditional therapeutics and diagnostics sectors as well. The firm likes to see early traction (i.e. paying customer engagement), but is open to pre-revenue companies.

The firm is open to working with all kinds of management teams. The firm is capable of leading seed rounds and can act as either lead or co-investor.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: VC Fund Invests Broadly Across All Life Science Sectors With an Increased Interest in Medical Devices and Imaging Solutions, Can Help Companies Expand Into China Market

31 Mar

A US fund invests in early-stage startups in many industries with a preference for healthcare and IT technology. Typical equity investment size ranges from US$0.5-2 million in Pre-A to Series A stage companies. The firm is open to either leading or following in a syndicated round. The firm expects to make 10+ deals in the next 12 months and can invest globally with a focus on the US and Canada.

The firm considers broadly across healthcare industries including innovative drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health products. The firm has an increased interest in medical devices and imaging technology. The firm prefers companies that develop disruptive technologies to solve unmet medical needs.

The firm is looking for experienced management teams. The firm can leverage its innovation center in China to assist with commercialization in the China market.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: Seed Fund With US and China Offices Seeks to Invest in All Global Life Science Technologies With a Strong Focus on Diagnostics and Digital Health

31 Mar

An early-stage venture capital firm with offices in USA and China has 2 business practices; managing a seed fund that invests exclusively in healthcare and life sciences, and an advisory business primarily for western biotech or life science companies that are looking to establish business opportunities and partnerships in greater China. The firm is starting to expand their network into the Middle East, especially Turkey. The firm is looking for Seed opportunities but is open to participation in Pre-Seed and Series A on a case by case basis. The typical check size is $50-250K in the form of equity or convertible notes. The firm will consider opportunities anywhere in the world.

The firm will look at all subsectors and indications but is not investing in immunotherapy or cancer at this time. The firm is particularly interested in chronic disease, especially diabetes and is starting to look at neurodegenerative diseases as well.  The firm is not doing biotech deals, but they’ve done deals in Healthcare IT and the AI space. The firm is focusing on diagnostics and digital health at the moment.

The firm is open to all management teams but prefers teams with prior start-up experience. The firm is not looking to do small participations in big rounds and would prefer to do investments where their stake has a meaningful impact on the company.

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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