By Antoinette Lowre, Manager of Business Development, LSN
Over the last several years, a record number of exciting life sciences start-ups have come online. Most of these start-up companies need scientific instrumentation to support their research. But when funds are limited, how can these companies get the instrumentation needed to hit their growth milestones?
Bold View Capital is hosting a workshop as part of the Service Provider Showcase at Digital RESI, September 13-16. The workshop will kick-off with an overview of the leasing market for start-ups. Expert panel will share their own experiences going through the leasing process and offer valuable lessons learned.
This workshop is valuable for start-up companies:
That rely on scientific instrumentation
That are pre-revenue and have limited funds to purchase instrumentation
By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN
I’ve heard a lot about RESI through the years, but does it work?
The question that comes from every fundraising executive at some point takes many forms, but this is frequently the hardest to answer. To do so requires a basic understanding of the Fundamental Facts of Fundraising, before explaining what RESI will and won’t do. While many entrepreneurs would enthusiastically jump at the promise of a partnering conference series offering low effort and high yield in terms of booking meetings with qualified investors and walking out with a term sheet or more, but reality doesn’t align with that story. Instead, reality aligns with the truths outlined below:
Fundamental Facts of Fundraising:
Funding a startup into early-stage success and beyond is incredibly difficult and RESI won’t change that.
Fundraising is a numbers game.
Your best chances come from a good fit based on product and stage of development.
There are strategies and best practices that set you up for success.
You get out what you put in.
While not a silver bullet to any of the above, instead, RESI is a powerful tool that is:
Designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs in life science and healthcare. That’s it. Every product, service, and resource are geared towards setting up scientific startups for success.
A model that takes place five times each year with thirteen conferences, bringing in hundreds of investors and early-stage companies each time, creating many opportunities to book meetings.
A connection vehicle that is designed for attendees to seek and target the best fits for their needs through its match-based partnering system.
Rewarding to those who apply proven strategies and are willing to work.
No matter how expensive or high quality, a hammer will only build a house in the hands of a builder who knows how to use it and shows up to work. I recently connected with two CEOs – one had a very negative perspective of his RESI experience and one with a very positive one.
The first CEO stated that RESI was the “world’s worst meeting ever” and insinuated that he was more deserving of investors’ time with “hit my name in Google”. When I dug deeper, it was clear that he had sent roughly 15% of the meeting invitations of his counterparts with no attempt at follow-up. I’m not surprised he did not have a better experience.
The second CEO shared that he had had a very positive experience at RESI. He then outlined his pre-conference strategy in which he identified several investors who were an excellent fit for his company, and even prepared a secondary list of investors who were less of a match, but still may consider taking a meeting – which he inevitably used when an investor was unable to connect. He also detailed his post-conference follow-up strategy. He shared how he recognized the opportunity available to him and he was willing to work hard to make the most of it. While he didn’t ask me to “hit his name in Google”, I did anyway. His company raised a multi-million-dollar Series A shortly afterwards. Unsurprisingly, it says more about his ethic than whether a partnering conference “works”.
Like most things worth our time and effort, RESI is a valuable tool that will work if you do. Join us September 13-17 to see what it’s all about at the virtual RESI Partnering Week. Save when you register by August 6. We hope to see you virtually there!
Dr. Karim S. Karim, PhD, PEng, MBA, is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of KA Imaging. Karim has developed novel X-ray imaging devices and systems since 1998 and has founded multiple startups in the past two decades. He is also a Professor of Engineering at the University of Waterloo where he has raised more than $15M in research grant funding, trained over 40 PhD and MASc students, has co-authored 250+ publications and 50+ patents. Some of the pixel circuit technology he developed during his PhD is now used in ultrasonic fingerprint sensors in mobile phones and tablets.
Erika Wu: How is artificial intelligence incorporated into your product, and where is KA Imaging now?
Dr. Karim S. Karim: KA Imaging is a spin-off company from the University of Waterloo in Canada and specializes in developing innovative X-ray imaging technologies and systems to create solutions for the medical, veterinary and non-destructive test industrial markets. Our vision is innovative X-ray everywhere and our mission is to enable our employees the freedom to innovate and create high performance products, for our customers, using cutting edge advances in X-ray technologies. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a critical part of ongoing innovation in the X-ray imaging space – it has been shown to help clinicians improve diagnostic accuracy and it has also been used to improve X-ray image quality. Our flagship product is the Reveal 35C, the world’s first portable, single-exposure, dual-energy X-ray detector that enables early detection compared to traditional X-ray solutions. Reveal is vendor-agnostic and can be retrofit onto any fixed or portable X-ray machine. What this means for clinicians is that they can instantly become more effective and efficient with their time recognizing diseases earlier and with greater confidence. What this means for patients is better outcomes so they can go home sooner and safely. Unlike standard X-ray, dual-energy X-ray techniques from our flagship product, Reveal 35C, leverage the wealth of spectral data that is present yet hidden in each conventional X-ray spectrum to achieve better bone and tissue contrast. AI algorithms can leverage this spectrally separated data to achieve more accurate image interpretation and analyses compared to AI algorithms that use only the data obtained from a standard X-ray detector.
We are actively seeking funding up to $25M USD in a Series B financing round. We are also looking for strategic OEM/integrator and distribution partnerships to grow our sales channels in North America and internationally. The Reveal 35C is FDA-cleared, Health Canada-approved, TGA Australia-approved, and is expected to be cleared for sale in Europe next year. Recently, we signed up Alpha Imaging as a distribution partner in the USA as well as a number of international distributors in Australia, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan. Reveal 35C was also recognized as a Technology Breakthrough by Premier, a leading technology-driven healthcare improvement company, uniting an alliance of more than 4,100 US hospitals and 200,000 other providers and organizations to transform healthcare. Reveal 35C was also listed in the 2021 WHO Compendium of Innovative Health Technologies.
Erika Wu: If you could describe AI in three words, what would they be? What is a piece of advice you’d give to startup CEOs?
Dr. Karim S. Karim: AI is transformative, helpful, and inevitable. My advice is, “People before things always” or alternately, “Put people ahead of other stuff.” People may forget the content of a conversation you had, but they rarely forget the feeling you’ve left them with, so choose your words and actions wisely.
Erika Wu: What are some challenges you’ve learned from and how have they impacted the future of KA Imaging?
Dr. Karim S. Karim: The medical device field is very unusual because you have to promote your product as innovative to investors and incremental to regulatory bodies simultaneously. Jokes aside, for a technology to translate into a really innovative product, your product must do everything the existing market leader is doing and still improve something. This is why Reveal 35C is simultaneously the world’s best X-ray detector and the world’s first portable dual energy X-ray detector. Our team worked hard to achieve this so that ultimately, we would have a chance to replace every X-ray detector in the world with a Reveal 35C. So our staff designed Reveal 35C to use the same dose, the same X-ray source, and the same clinical workflow as a standard X-ray detector, and we put the entire product into a package that looks, weighs and feels like a standard X-ray detector. Yet, the user can get two extra bone and soft tissue dual-energy X-ray images in addition to the standard X-ray image simultaneously using only one exposure. Reveal 35C is highly innovative because it uses the existing information in the X-ray spectrum (which is ignored by standard X-ray) and provides this to both clinicians and AI software for enhanced decision-making.
Against the light of scientific innovation meeting the COVID-19 global pandemic remains the shadow of a continuing public health crisis, one disproportionately carried by older adults and seniors. RESI Longevity’s Social Isolation & Loneliness panel, taking place September 16, 10 AM EDT, discusses the health implications of this issue, as well as highlights the ingenuity in this sector. The panel features entrepreneurs and strategic partners working together to bring about creative solutions to issues of isolation.
Tombot Co-Founder and CEO, Tom Stevens is sharing an answer to seniors who are no longer able to care for a live animal but benefit from furry companionship. The solution is Jennie the robotic golden retriever, who is not only adorably realistic, but is designed to help with stress, anxiety loneliness, and depression.
Karen Dolva, Co-Founder and CEO of No Isolation offers a solution that enables seniors to access their loved ones from the comfort and safety of their homes. The Komp is a one button computer that allows access to photos, messages, and even live video with ease.
Join Karen, Tom (and Jennie) and other creative age-tech companies along with their strategic partners at RESI Longevity this September 16-17. Register by August 6 to save $50! If you’re ready to connect directly to investors who are a fit for your product and stage of development, apply for the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge, an opportunity to pitch to a panel of active investors and tell your company story. Learn more and apply by August 20!
By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN
Have you ever left a meeting with a potential partner thinking it was a blast, but only to learn later that it was a bust? While there are many reasons why that could be, the virtual Global Roadshow Prep Course is designed to rule out factors within your control. A pre-conference companion course to RESI Partnering Week, September 13-17, this virtual course is meant to prepare you and your company to make meaningful connections with the right investors who are a fit for your product and stage of development.
This hands-on, one-day campaign preparation class will explore the process, materials, research, and practices that will speak directly to potential partners and will provide you with invaluable experience to set you up with long-term fundraising skills.
Learning objectives include, but are not limited to:
Branding and messaging communicating your company’s unique story and market value
Understanding and creating collateral for use in a pitch setting, including tagline, elevator pitch, executive summary, and slide deck
Discovering the values of different types of investors and identifying the best fit -based leads
Communicating effectively in order to secure a meeting and following up to develop an ongoing relationship
Engaging in successful partnering strategies to obtain funding and strategic partnership
The virtual course is available to 24 early-stage CEOs and includes complimentary registration to RESI Partnering Week with Premier Partnering access for only $1,950! Sign up today to get started on your global roadshow!
A common myth is that the best products sell themselves. The reality is that a great outreach strategy can make a huge difference in the fundraising arena! Over the past nine years, Life Science Nation (LSN) has been working with 2,000+ life science startups each year to connect them with global investors and strategic partners. Our interactions with both companies and investors have given us an insider’s knowledge on some of the key strategies that can help make a fundraise successful.
To help more early-stage companies gain tactical fundraising skills, LSN will offer four complimentary, virtual Fundraising Bootcamps. The Fundraising Bootcamp is invaluable to CEOs seeking financing to help them position themselves as they raise capital to move their technologies forward in the development process. The following topics will be covered in this 1-hour webinar:
Debunking the Top 10 Myths in Fundraising
How to Get Your Global Target List of Investors
Partnering Strategy: Preparing for your Investor Meetings
Fundraising Bootcamp Schedule
Europe/Middle East Investor Landscape – Fundraising Bootcamp
By Erika Wu, Business Development Representative, LSN
Past RESI AI panelist, Jonathan Cohen returns to give an update on 20/20 Gene Systems, including an expansion from cancer detection to respiratory and cardiovascular diagnostics. Learn how Jonathan and the team are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to expand their offerings, and how they’re working to create more opportunities for early-stage diagnostic startups. RESI AI returns September 16-17 with dynamic panels, as well as opportunities to pitch to a live panel of investors. Learn more about how you can get involved and tell your story at Innovator’s Pitch Challenge!
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 […]
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