Category: Interviews

From Asset to Licensing Campaign: Finding the Right Partners, Benchmarks, and Deal Terms

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In this interview, Patrik Frei explains how biotech CEOs can use Biotechgate to identify potential licensing partners, assess competing programs, and benchmark relevant transactions. He also discusses how Venture Valuation can help turn that research into a licensing strategy and potential deal terms. 

Patrik Frei
Founder and CEO at Venture Valuation AG		 Caitlin Dolegowski
Program Director, LSN

Caitlin Dolegowski (CD): Let’s start with the asset. If I’m the CEO and want to license it to pharma, what do you need to know before you start looking for potential partners? 

Patrik Frei (PF): Who the ideal partner would be. It is not always big pharma. Mid-size and specialty companies are often the better fit.

  • When the right time to out-license is. That moment can differ from partner to partner, depending on the data each one needs to see before engaging.
  • How much time you have. Building the relationship takes months or years, not weeks. An out-licensing deal cannot be expected within one or two months.
  • What makes your asset different. You need a clear, evidence-based answer on why it is better than the programs already on a partner’s desk.

CD: Who should I approach? Show us how you would use Biotechgate to find pharma companies with a plausible fit based on their pipelines, therapeutic interests, geography, and previous licensing activity. Does the platform generate an initial target list from my asset description, or do I construct it through searches and filters? 

PF: In Biotechgate, you can see what pharma companies are actively looking to in-license. This is based on what they communicate at conferences, in presentations, and on their websites. It is classified by our analysts rather than guessed by an algorithm.

You add the stage, indication and, if relevant, the geography for out-licensing, and you get a target list of potential partners actively looking for that type of program. You build the list yourself through searches and filters, which keeps you in control of the criteria—and it takes minutes, not weeks. You can also set up an alert that tells you as soon as a new potential partner appears. And you can enter your search criteria in natural language using our AI-based workflow, which lets you run complex queries in plain words.

CD: How much of the market have we found? For this example, how many companies appear initially and how many remain after you assess fit? What portion of the credible global partner universe would you expect Biotechgate to capture, and where might important gaps remain? 

PF: As we work with over 30 local partners around the world—from Ausbiotech, BioTaiwan, HollandBIO, UKBio, Maryland, BioFlorida to Ohio Life Sciences and many more—we capture a substantial share of the credible global partner universe. In an example like this one, a search typically starts with several hundred companies and narrows to a shortlist of 20 to 40 once stage, indication, and in-licensing intent are applied. The key is that our data are structured. This is not a general AI or web search. The list only includes companies that our analysts have classified as actively seeking assets, or that have declared this themselves.

We also have a Chinese-speaking analyst covering that increasingly important market. If I had to point to where our coverage is relatively thinner, I would say Africa, South America and, to a lesser extent, Japan.

CD: Can I reach the right people? What names, responsibilities, email addresses, and phone numbers are available for those companies? Can I download the target list and contacts into my CRM? How do I verify that a person is current and handles licensing opportunities like mine? 

PF: We have invested a great deal of effort in collecting the relevant contacts in each company: name, role, and responsibility. For big pharma, we identify the business development person responsible for the specific indication or stage, and provide email and LinkedIn details. Our analysts review and update these records on an ongoing basis, and LinkedIn gives you a second, independent check that a person is still in the role.

All information can be searched, refined, and downloaded in Excel format. From there, it can be imported into any CRM or used in whatever format suits your workflow. We also provide an API that gives you direct access to the data.

Within a company, many people are usually involved. The key is to find a champion who is genuinely interested in your asset. That person will bring the right colleagues on board. Biotechgate gives you the best chance of identifying that entry point. It is just as important to meet people face to face at conferences such as RESI. Biotechgate provides the verified intelligence to identify that exact champion, and pairing that targeted research with direct, face-to-face partnering at focused conferences like RESI creates the highest-converting path from cold lead to executed term sheet.

CD: What is my global competition? How would you find similar assets and examine their owners, stage, clinical activity, and licensing status? What makes another program a genuine alternative for a potential pharma partner? 

PF: Biotechgate has a very intuitive interface. All data are attached to a company, and you can search by company, asset, financing round, licensing deal, clinical trial, and more. To identify similar assets, the best route is to search by asset and select the stage, indication, and sub-indication. This gives you a list of similar assets, their companies, the management of those companies, and their investors.

Another key differentiator is how Biotechgate combines curated, structured data with AI. Many so-called “AI companies” rely primarily on unstructured documents and let a language model extract answers from them. That works well for summarizing text, but it struggles with questions that require completeness and precision, such as, “Which oncology licensing deals above USD 100 million were signed in Europe in the last three years?” Answering that reliably requires data that has been verified, standardized, and linked. At Biotechgate, structured data is the source of truth, and AI is the layer that makes it fast and intuitive to explore.

Pharma is looking for first-in-class or best-in-class. A competing program becomes a genuine alternative when it addresses the same indication with a comparable or better profile and sits at a similar or more advanced stage. That is why every biotech has to understand its competitive landscape before approaching partners. It is also crucial to understand what licensing deals a potential partner has already done and on what terms.

CD: Where does my asset stand? Can Biotechgate show the evidence needed to compare my program with those alternatives? Does it generate a rank or assessment, or must the CEO and advisers judge relative position from the data? 

PF: Biotechgate provides the evidence—stage, clinical trials, indication and sub-indication, primary market, originator, administration mode, and molecule type—but it does not score or rank the result. We deliberately leave the judgment to the CEO and their advisers. If an independent view is needed, Venture Valuation can assess the relative position of the asset. A score would hide the assumptions behind it. Partners will challenge your reasoning, not your rating, so the underlying evidence has to hold up.

CD: What happened to similar assets? How would you find relevant pharma licensing agreements and venture financings? Which terms and financial details are available, which are usually undisclosed, and how do you avoid treating an announced deal’s maximum value as cash received? 

PF: Starting from the asset, you can see immediately which licensing deals and agreements have been signed for comparable programs. For some deals, you can even access the actual contract that was signed as a PDF download, and you can trace the financing rounds and investors that have backed companies with equivalent assets.

Biotechgate has over 40,000 licensing deals, over 10,000 deal values, and over 1,700 actual licensing agreements. Additional information includes upfront payments, regulatory and commercial milestones, equity investments, and royalties. Royalty rates and the detailed milestone schedule are the terms most often left undisclosed.

Because we separate the individual components of a deal—in particular, the upfront from the milestones—Biotechgate shows the difference between the headline deal value and the cash actually received at signing. That stops anyone from mistaking an announced biodollar total for money in the bank.

CD: What might my asset and a deal be worth? What does Venture Valuation’s independent analysis add to the database research? How would you test development risk, market assumptions, and different combinations of upfront cash, milestones, and royalties—including the effect of reaching the next development milestone before licensing? 

PF: Biotechgate gives you solid benchmarks for comparable transactions. On top of that, Venture Valuation provides an individual calculation of potential licensing deal terms. Based on the specific asset, time to market, development risk, market size, and uniqueness, we model front-loaded or back-loaded structures. We can also show what the same asset would be worth after the next development milestone, so you can decide whether to license now or wait.

Without that work, it is hard to know how to set upfront payments, milestones, and royalties once negotiations start. Pharma typically wants to know a biotech’s ballpark figures early on, so you have to be prepared.

CD: What do I take into a licensing campaign? At the end of our example, describe the target list, contact information, competitive landscape, transaction comparisons, and valuation analysis the CEO could have in hand. Which pieces are available through a Biotechgate subscription, which require your team’s services, and how should a CEO get started? 

PF: A biotech CEO ends up with the full package: a qualified target list, named contacts with email and LinkedIn details, the competitive landscape, and comparable transactions—all available through a Biotechgate subscription—plus a tailor-made asset valuation with concrete deal term proposals, which is where our Venture Valuation team comes in.

The best way to start is a short call with us and a trial of the database, so you can run your own asset through it. Biotechgate is the deal-making tool every CEO needs.

The practical test is to bring a real asset to Patrik’s team and see what the research produces: a potential partner universe, available contacts, competing programs, and relevant transactions. From there, a CEO can decide whether an independent valuation would help shape the licensing discussion. That work can provide the foundation for a global partnering campaign. Readers who want to explore what Biotechgate and Venture Valuation can deliver for their asset can contact Patrik’s team at https://www.biotechgate.com/.

Register for RESI JPM 2027

The Problem Isn’t Access to Capital. It’s Being Investable. Why early-stage life science companies need a commercialization engine, not another introduction

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

For years, LSN ran an investment banking program for early-stage life science companies. It taught us something important: capital-raising solutions work best when a transaction is imminent. For most early-stage companies, it isn’t. Seed, Series A, and Series B companies are still working through the scientific, clinical, regulatory, commercial, and financing risks that determine whether investors will engage. They pitch technology and market potential. Investors ask what’s been proven, which risks have been retired, and what evidence is still missing. More introductions won’t close that gap. These companies need more than deal preparation. They need a commercialization process that can run for months or years.

The Commercialization Engine
LSN is building one with global partners: universities, research institutes, regional clusters, and innovation programs with technology-rich ecosystems. Our partners advance discoveries, generate evidence, and retire development risks. LSN provides assessment intelligence, investability preparation, and access to the global capital and licensing marketplace. LSN’s agentic AI engines support this process. They help evaluate companies through the eyes of investors and licensing partners, an approach already used with more than 250 clients. They also identify and rank relevant global capital and licensing targets.

Stage Commercialization Capability
Scientific assessment and de-risking Scientific and commercialization partners
Investability preparation LSN Investability Assessment, LSN Labs, de-risked decks
Partner identification LSN Matching Engine and Global Target Lists
Campaign execution BD Assist
Global partnering RESI Conference Series

Companies enter wherever their readiness puts them. Agentic AI tools are becoming widely available. LSN’s advantage is the global network, relationships, proprietary databases, and market intelligence built through years of direct work with investors, licensing partners, and companies. That depth of intelligence goes well beyond the cursory matches available from web searches.

BD Assist: Where Preparation Becomes Execution
A seasoned CEO may know a few dozen investors and can find a few hundred more. That still isn’t enough. LSN’s Matching Engine generates a Global Target List of 800–1,000 prospective capital and licensing partners. BD Assist puts that intelligence to work through sustained outreach, engagement tracking, and follow-up over the 9–18 months that early-stage campaigns can require. The CEO leads investor relationships, negotiations, and transactions. LSN manages targeting intelligence, sets up the meetings, and provides campaign support. The cost is $5,000 a month, with no success fee. LSN leverages databases that capture current and forward-looking mandates and historical VC and Pharma transactions, then integrates into all of LSN’s RESI events to add face-to-face or virtual meetings with investors and licensing partners worldwide.

Who Is the Perfect Fit for BD Assist?
The ideal client is an experienced life science CEO who knows how to raise capital and has an investable asset and a credible development plan. What they lack is the global reach and campaign infrastructure to pursue hundreds of prospective investors and licensing partners. This CEO doesn’t need someone to explain fundraising or negotiate a term sheet. They need a dedicated team to identify the right global targets, run a disciplined campaign, and keep opportunities moving while they run their company. BD Assist is not for every company that needs money. Companies still working through fundamental scientific or investability issues may first need assessment, de-risking, and preparation.

The CEO knows how to raise the money. LSN provides the global intelligence and reach, including meeting setup and campaign infrastructure, to help them find it.

To see whether BD Assist is the right fit for your company, contact the LSN team. LSN BD will provide a free investability assessment report, show you what your global target list should look like, and offer commentary on your messaging for your target audience.

Get Your LSN Labs Company Assessment Report

Watch the Asset Flow, Not the Equity Flow: What I Learned at BioJapan

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

I recently returned from BioJapan, and the one takeaway I want to share with my global network is this: stop viewing Asia Pacific as a single market.

Regulations on both sides of the Pacific have made equity deals between the US and China much harder. But capital hasn’t stopped moving. It has changed form. Where equity deals run into friction, pharma licenses the asset instead. Chinese biotechs out-licensed $60 billion of assets in the first quarter of this year alone, up 73% from the same period a year earlier. That includes AstraZeneca’s deal with CSPC worth up to $18.5 billion. Large pharma faces a steep patent cliff before 2030, so its appetite for clinical-stage assets isn’t going away.

So watch the asset flow, not the equity flow. Here is what actually changed for me in Japan. I went in thinking about APAC as one market with local variations. It isn’t. It is three markets with three completely different jobs, and once you see them separately, the whole region stops looking confusing.

Three Markets, Not One

Each market plays a different role. China produces more assets than its domestic capital can absorb. Australia and Southeast Asia have the clinical infrastructure others can use. Japan and Korea stand out because they have both: a growing supply of academic innovation and deep corporate balance sheets looking for it.

Region Sell Side
(Early-Stage Assets)		 Buy Side
(VC / PE / Pharma)		 Characterization
Mainland China A large volume of high-quality assets, many moving faster than domestic capital can fund them Domestic equity is selective and US venture investment has pulled back, while global pharma licensing runs at record levels “The Asset Reservoir”
Japan, South Korea, & Taiwan A deep, largely untapped pool of academic assets, alongside mature platforms: ADCs and regenerative medicine in Japan, AI-driven discovery and diagnostics in Korea. Taiwan continues to produce world-class assets Active corporate venture arms and well-capitalized conglomerates “The Strategic Capital Track”
Australia & Southeast Asia Excellent trial infrastructure producing fast, high-quality human data Cross-border investors using local efficiency as a launchpad for global programs “The Clinical Fast Track”

Japan: Where Assets Meet Capital

Universities such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Keio University, Osaka University, Kobe University, and the University of Tsukuba, with RIKEN anchoring the discovery end, are producing a remarkable range of new assets across drugs, devices, diagnostics, and digital health. What’s new is a coordinated government effort to carry those assets to market:

  • AMED runs a 2:1 double match-up program. When a registered VC invests in a Japanese drug discovery startup, AMED can add up to twice that amount in non-dilutive funding, awarded per pipeline rather than per company, so a startup with three approved programs can draw on it three times.
  • MEDISO, under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, pairs ventures and university spinouts with experts in regulatory affairs, international development, and fundraising.
  • J-Bridge, run by JETRO, connects international innovators with Japanese corporates.

Three state-backed institutions, answering to different ministries, are working on the same bottleneck, and regional clusters are carrying that work into the field. For global investors and partners, that means Japanese assets now arrive better funded and better prepared, and Japanese corporate capital is easier to reach than it has been in years.

One Japanese advantage almost nobody prices correctly: Japan maintains a conditional, time-limited approval pathway for regenerative medicine products that can grant market access on evidence of probable benefit. No other major market offers that. If you have a cell or gene therapy and have never looked at Japan as a first market rather than a third one, you are leaving an option unexercised.

KBIC, the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, and LSN are working together to strengthen the commercialization pathway for Japanese life science companies through entrepreneur education, company preparation, capital formation, and international business development. At BioJapan in October, LSN presented joint sessions with KBIC, including one alongside MEDISO, on startup readiness and global fundraising.

RESI Asia: Tokyo and Kobe

That is why RESI is coming to Japan. RESI Asia Japan convenes in Tokyo on April 13, 2027, for global partnering. We expect to announce more events around RESI before and after the 13th

The Bottom Line

Regulatory boundaries have changed the rules, but pharma’s appetite for licensing shows the underlying science has never been more valuable. Watch the asset flow, not the equity flow. I look forward to seeing many of you in Tokyo next April.

RESI Asia Japan Registration:

Japan-base Registration (JPY)
Non-Japan-base Registration (USD)

Synaptic Bio, First-Place IPC Winner at RESI Boston: Building a Next-Generation Checkpoint Therapy

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Synaptic Bio, the First-Place winner of the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge at RESI Boston, is advancing a tetravalent bispecific antibody designed to improve both the efficacy and tolerability of cancer immunotherapy. In this interview, the team shares how SYB302 applies immune synapse biology to PD-1 therapy, its path toward the clinic, and the investor and partnering conversations sparked at RESI. 

Yotam Levin
CEO and Co-Founder at Synaptic Bio		 Caitlin Dolegowski
Program Director, LSN

Caitlin Dolegowski (CD): Introduce Synaptic Bio and the unmet need you are addressing in cancer immunotherapy. 

Yotam Levin (YL): Synaptic Bio is a spinout from Dr. Adam Mor’s lab at Columbia University, building bispecific antibodies around the biology of the immune synapse, the interface where a T cell and a tumor cell engage. Our lead program, SYB302, pairs a next-generation PD-1 blocker with IL-25 neutralization in a single asset. Checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) transformed oncology, but they leave a lot of patients behind. Roughly 800,000 people in the US are treated with ICIs each year, but an estimated 480,000 don’t respond. About half overall develop immune-related adverse events, an expected side effect of bolstering the immune system, and an estimated 140,000 patients have to stop therapy because of severe ones. So there are two problems: too few patients respond, and too many who do respond are forced off a drug that was working. We designed SYB302 to address both concerns.

CD: How does your tetravalent bispecific platform, including SYB302, leverage immune synapse biology to differentiate it from existing checkpoint therapies? 

YL: Today’s PD-1 antibodies mainly work by blocking PD-1 from binding its ligand. SYB302 adds a physical mechanism. Its PD-1 arms are long, and the molecule is larger than a standard antibody. That size pushes PD-1 out of the immune synapse so it can’t suppress the T cell. We have a cool movie on our website at www.synaptic-bio.com to show this. The tetravalent design adds a second mechanistic layer. IL-25 is a homodimer, so each IL-25 molecule can bridge two SYB302 antibodies. That clusters PD-1 on the T cell surface and drives its internalization and degradation. IL-25 is abundant in the tumor microenvironment, so the effect is strongest where we want it. IL-25 is also a driver of immune-related toxicity. Neutralizing this cytokine gives us a built-in safety brake. In preclinical models, including colon, melanoma, and bladder tumors, SYB302 showed stronger tumor control than anti-PD-1 with markedly less organ damage. A single antibody designed to improve both efficacy and tolerability – we have not seen any other antibody that does both.

CD: What are the most important scientific or development milestones over the next 12 to 18 months? 

YL: Our focus is moving SYB302 from a mature Development Candidate toward the clinic. The key milestones are:

  1. Stable cell line and process: completing cell line development and defining the manufacturing process, targeted around month 9 after funding.
  1. FDA engagement: a pre-IND meeting, targeted around month 12.
  1. GMP and toxicology: starting GMP manufacturing and GLP toxicology, leading to an IND submission at about month 24.

In parallel, we’ll expand our preclinical data in colorectal cancer and other indication-specific models, characterize IL-25 as a potential patient-selection biomarker, and advance the manuscript describing the SYB302 data. Colorectal cancer, particularly the MSS subtype that responds poorly to current checkpoint inhibitors, is our lead indication. CRC is a very prevalent disease with few treatment options. As supported by the biology of IL-25, this tumor shows that having high levels of IL-25 correlates highly with poor overall survival.

CD: What did being named First Place winner of the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge at RESI Boston mean to your team? 

YL: It was a meaningful validation, especially coming from an audience of investors and industry experts who evaluate hundreds of stories a year. Our science comes from a university lab and takes a different approach to PD-1 biology, so it’s rewarding to see that message resonate with people who understand the field. It also reinforces our conviction that the next generation of checkpoint therapy needs to deliver both better efficacy and better tolerability.

Preparing for the pitch was fun, because we had to distill a 30 to 60-minute story into a mere six minutes. This forced substantial simplification on one hand, but it also required us to ensure a sophisticated audience gets what they came for – understanding the essence of what we do. The most critical listener in the audience was, of course, Professor Mor – the fact that he liked the presentation was yet another award.

CD: What aspects of the RESI experience, including the pitch, judge feedback, or partnering conversations, were most valuable? 

YL:

  1. The pitch: We had to make multiple decisions on what to leave behind and not share. It’s like asking – of the 12 major value propositions of your assets, what are the one and a half that you really need to focus on?
  2. Judge feedback: The judges were very insightful, despite the brevity of the presentation and lack of detail. One asked about breakdown of budgets and its assumptions, identifying some assumptions we’ve taken without showing them. I was happy we could answer the questions quickly without to use backup slides for an answer.
  3. RESI Sessions: We really enjoyed the panels because they brought industry leaders and experienced investors. We could get a much better feel for what individual fund managers expect to see, how they differ from one another, how to overcome the overwhelming noise of hundreds of pitches and business plans, and whether or not there is a likely fit with certain parties. Meeting these investors in person instead of through email, Zoom, or networking apps made all the difference.

CD: Did RESI Boston lead to any meaningful investor, strategic partner, or scientific conversations that you expect to continue? 

YL: Yes. We had productive conversations with a few investors and potential strategic partners, and several are in the funnel. I can’t share specifics of course, but the interest has been in both SYB302 and the broader platform.

CD: What types of investors or strategic partners would be most valuable, and why should other early-stage companies consider the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge? 

YL: We’re looking for partners who understand the immuno-oncology landscape and can support a long development path. That includes biotech-focused venture investors for our seed financing, and strategic partners in oncology and immunology who see the value of a differentiated PD-1 backbone. For our lead asset, we prefer traditional seed funding; for our additional assets in Type2 inflammation we also foresee single-asset licensing, option-based co-development or a strategic investment. We think corporate VCs could be a natural fit, because they have deep scientific expertise but also an eye for market access. Our strongest asset is our science, data, and results – having experienced investors in our team would go a long way.

Apply to Pitch at RESI JPM 2027

The Missing Piece in Preparing Life Science Companies for Investors

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

One of the most pervasive problems we see across life science entrepreneurial programs is that Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) help companies develop executive summaries and pitch decks that emphasize the science and market opportunity. This approach repeats across incubators, accelerators, universities, and entrepreneurial training programs worldwide.

The problem is that the two sides of the table are speaking different languages. The sell side presents science and market potential, while investors and licensing partners evaluate the seven-layer risk stack: market, technical, regulatory, execution, economic, financing, and exit risk. They want to understand which risks have been retired, which remain, and what evidence supports the company’s ability to overcome them.

This is precisely where LSN spends its time preparing companies for global roadshows and RESI partnering events.

We begin with the LSN assessment, which identifies where the company sits within the risk stack, what has been accomplished, and what remains to be de-risked. We then reconstitute the executive summary and pitch deck to speak the language of risk, supported by evidence rather than simply promoting the science and market opportunity.

We also develop a milestone-driven Gantt chart that shows the development milestones already completed and the value created, the one, two, or three critical milestones ahead for the remainder of the current year, and the subsequent development and de-risking milestones planned for years two and three.

The capital ask becomes the financial expression of the de-risking plan. By calculating the cost of the current and future milestones, the company can explain precisely how much capital it needs, what that capital will accomplish, which risks will be retired, and how achieving those milestones is expected to increase the asset’s value.

This is the fundamental distinction between a conventional pitch deck and a de-risked deck. One emphasizes the promise of the science and the size of the market. The other demonstrates a credible, milestone-driven, financed pathway to making that science investable.

That is the missing commercialization discipline LSN brings to the table, and it is what investors and licensing partners are looking for.

Register for RESI JPM 2027

RESI Boston 2026: Your Complete Conference Guide 

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

DF-News-09142022

Life Science Nation (LSN) is pleased to release the RESI Boston 2026 Program Guide for the upcoming hybrid conference, taking place September 22–23 in person at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, followed by virtual partnering on September 25 and September 28–29.

Held during Biotech Week Boston, RESI brings together early-stage life science companies, active investors, strategic partners, and industry leaders for targeted fundraising and business development conversations. The event features the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge, investor panels, workshops, company showcases, and RESI Partnering, the conference’s purpose-built platform for scheduling one-on-one meetings.

The Program Guide offers a comprehensive look at the RESI Boston agenda, including sessions focused on the Boston biotech ecosystem, therapeutic innovation, pharma partnering, strategic capital, health systems, chronic disease care, family office investing, and impact investing. Attendees can also explore the participating investor, sponsor, exhibitor, and company lineup, along with networking opportunities throughout the event.

With partnering underway and meeting calendars continuing to fill in the final weeks before the conference, RESI Boston offers innovators a valuable opportunity to connect directly with investors and strategic stakeholders shaping the future of healthcare.

View the program guide and register for RESI Boston today.

Register for RESI Boston

Where Cross-Border Deal Flow Actually Happens 

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By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

DF-News-09142022

Every VC and PE firm says they want cross-border deal flow. Few have it. Most cross-border relationships stop at an introduction that never becomes a term sheet, because access without real syndicate standing on the other side rarely converts.

At RESI Boston 2026, Life Science Nation is convening a Cross-Border Investor Luncheon with Simon Hua, Chairman of BioMetas, to explore how cross-border access actually works through one of the hardest markets to enter.

Simon Hua
Chairman of BioMetas

Simon spent fifteen years in investment banking in Hong Kong, then a decade building and scaling the equity-for-service model that turns CRO relationships into equity stakes and syndicate seats, first at Viva Biotech, then ChemPartner, and now BioMetas. He has led CROs and his own fund, CFS Capital, to incubate and invest in over 100 innovative biotechs globally, while building an ecosystem with academic research institutions, government platforms, and VCs including Huagai Capital, E-Fund Capital, and Qiming Venture Partners.

The luncheon is built around a simple premise: bring together VCs and PE firms that want genuine syndicate relationships outside their own region, with funds that can send them deal flow and receive it in return.

Simon will speak directly to how that access works: how the equity-for-service model surfaces promising biotechs before they are broadly shopped, and how that early visibility converts into syndicate seats alongside the region’s leading investors.

Whether you are looking east or west, the practical question is the same:

How do you actually get inside?

RSVP for Cross-Border Investor Luncheon Today

*You must be an active VC investment firm that makes direct investments into life science and healthcare companies for us to approve your RSVP.