Category: Redefining Every Stage Investments (RESI)
The Redefining Every Stage Investments (RESI) Conference is an ongoing conference series that provides an international venue for life science companies across Biotech, Medtech, Diagnostics and Healthcare IT and to source investors from around the globe, create relationships, and eventually, secure funding.
By Gregory Mannix, Vice President International Business Development, LSN
I have been spending a great deal of time in Europe developing the LSN European Ecosystem, and this culminated in bringing the RESI Conference Series to Europe for the first time in 2019. The second RESI Europe conference will take place in a few short weeks in Paris on March 23rd. Here is a snapshot of what I have learned from my travels over the last 18 months.
What I see is many early-stage life science companies with great technology, moving and developing within a mostly regional ecosystem. This includes investors, government agencies, angels, family offices, VCs, PEs and Pharma and Medtech players. The inevitable result is a huge bottleneck in which startups can’t find nearly enough regional investment partners, forcing scientist-entrepreneurs who are looking to raise their series A and B rounds to look outside of the region. The challenge is that most are not prepared for this change and struggle with cultural and business practice differences. This is where LSN comes in, with valuable insight through our Fundraising Bootcamps and by bringing the global-focused RESI Conference Series to Europe.
Europe has a vibrant early-stage community of startups across the 4 Ds: Drugs, Devices, Diagnostics and Digital Health. Within the broader life sciences sector, including CROs and other service providers, research institutions and investment firms, our data tracks over 5,000 such companies around Europe that we have broken down below. In addition, the role startups play in moving the industry forward is evidenced by the fact that 2/3 of the assets in therapeutics are still in development.
Below is a list of all of the locations where LSN has been holding our Fundraising Bootcamps over the past 18 months, where we have recruited, trained and held one-on-one coaching sessions at some of the main tech hubs in Europe. All told, LSN has reached almost 600 companies in the last year through our on-site Bootcamps, helping these companies expand outside their regions and enter LSN’s global ecosystem.
– By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series
Dennis Ford
Dennis Ford(DF): Todd, please tell us about your new position and what you are trying to accomplish?
Todd Haim(TH): I began working on small business grant programs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) more than 10 years ago when I joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. After 9 years at NCI, I was asked to lead the launch of a new Office of Small Business Research (OSBR) at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). NIA’s OSBR was created just over 1 year ago. It serves as the main coordinating office for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants that are awarded to companies working on solutions to address aging and aging-related diseases.
One exciting aspect of our work at NIA is that the Institute does not have a singular disease focus; rather, we are interested in wide variety of new technologies related to aging and older adults. OSBR’s key goals include strategic coordination of the SBIR/STTR programs across NIA’s Scientific Divisions and connecting with small businesses across the U.S. interested in NIA funding to develop promising innovative technologies. We are also responsible for developing programs and resources to enhance the success of our awardees and funding projects in areas that both meet NIA’s scientific priorities and are ripe for commercialization.
Although OSBR’s overall goal is to fund innovative new technologies that will improve health and quality of life in our rapidly aging population, we also hope to raise awareness of the small business programs among first-time applicants and individuals who would not typically apply for NIH funding.
DF: What kind of funding is available to scientist-entrepreneurs through your new office?
TH: Most small businesses interested in improving the health of older Americans can find a funding opportunity from NIA that’s right for them. Through OSBR, NIA participates in several funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) that fall into two general categories: omnibus and targeted solicitations. Almost all NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) as well as other government agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (e.g., Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, etc.) participate in the annual Omnibus FOA, and applications are accepted three times per year. This FOA does not focus on a single disease area, rather, it focuses on any health-related small business innovation of interest to these agencies. If a proposal submitted through the omnibus FOA relates to NIA’s mission, it may be considered for assignment to NIA.
In contrast, NIA’s targeted small business FOAs are specifically focused on aging and related diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD). In July 2019, NIA released a broad funding opportunity to encourage applications for the development of technologies addressing AD/ADRD.
We also offer programs designed to provide additional funding and technical/business assistance to our funded companies and potential applicants. One example is I-Corps™ at NIH, which provides entrepreneurial training, mentoring, networking, and market research. The Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) entrepreneurial training program is designed for medical device innovators. And the Applicant Assistance Program provides first-time or previously unsuccessful SBIR/STTR applicants with a dedicated mentor and step-by-step coaching to maximize their chances of obtaining funding. Finally, the Commercial Readiness Pilot Program, provides technical and R&D assistance to businesses at a later stage in their development.
DF: Who are you seeking? Is there a particular indication you are currently looking to fund or are you opportunistic in the arena of aging?
TH: One area of particular focus for NIA, and the nation, is Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Because the prevalence of AD is predicted to triple within the next 3 decades, Congress has provided significant AD/ADRD funding that has enabled NIA to fund a greater diversity and variety of projects in this area to advance research into a treatment, prevention, or cure for these devastating disorders. NIA also welcomes grant proposals for technologies and innovations in the broader scientific areas around aging, such as fall detection, biomarkers, interventions to help older people maintain independence, research to understand the mechanisms of aging, and methodologies to treat conditions commonly associated with aging.
DF: Have you evaluated and funded any startups to date? If so, how many? Are there funds remaining?
TH: Currently, NIA is funding close to 200 unique startup companies through the SBIR/STTR programs; details are available in the NIH RePORTER database. As the overall NIA budget has increased over the past few years, the SBIR/STTR budget for NIA has also increased. For instance, the NIA SBIR/STTR budget in fiscal year (FY) 2013 was only $27.5 million. In FY 2019, that number was estimated to be over $100 million, which is nearly a four-fold increase over a 6-year period.
NIA has a diverse portfolio of funded technologies. Approximately 32% of our funded technologies are drugs/therapeutics, but we also fund medical devices, including monitoring (18%) and supportive (10%) technologies. Digital and mobile health applications (19%) are also growing in utility, so we are seeing more applications in this field. The remainder of our portfolio consists of research tools (9%), in vitro diagnostic tools (7%), and imaging tools (5%). However, the proportions of each type of technology in our portfolio fluctuate over time based on the applications submitted during each funding cycle.
DF: Do you have a message for any of the U.S. companies developing solutions within the aging arena?
TH: One of the key goals that NIA’s OSBR is trying to achieve is to not only target academic scientists-turned-entrepreneurs, but also small business owners who are less familiar the NIH grants process. Though we are facing a lack of awareness of our programs by this group, many of their technologies are still supporting the NIH mission.
I would like entrepreneurs in the aging sphere to know that they have my highest respect and admiration because they are working to address a looming public health crisis. The difficulties that the biomedical enterprise has had in successfully targeting aging and AD point to the importance of NIH’s efforts to fund early-stage, meritorious projects being undertaken by startups and translational researchers. At NIH, it is our mission to invest in research and innovation that will ultimately benefit the health of everyone, and we encourage all eligible businesses developing aging-related technologies to apply for our small business grants. You are doing incredible work, and we are here to support you every step of the way. We encourage potential applicants to connect and seek guidance from us ahead of submitting an application and can be reached at niasmallbusiness@mail.nih.gov.
In addition to RESI’s industry-leading one-on-one partnering experience, RESI Panels provide a great chance for entrepreneurs to hear insights from experienced investors as well as direct interaction opportunities with these speakers. Every panel will be a 50-minute moderated discussion in which the audience can be involved as well asking questions as the panelists discuss and move from topic to topic. RESI Europe will also feature different panels focused on informing entrepreneurs on how to go about raising capital for their life science technologies. Check below to see our updated speakers that will participate in RESI Europe in Paris on March 23, 2020.
Adriaan Hart de Ruijter
Managing Director Cascara Ventures
Allan Daisley
Managing Director Startupbootcamp
Digital Health Miami
Amine Benmoussa
Founding Partner Apogee Ventures
Arpita Maiti
Executive Director & Global Head, Emerging Science & Innovation Lead, Inflammation & Immunology Pfizer, Inc
Baudouin Hue
Partner CapDecisif Management
Ben Evans
Investment Director InHealth Ventures
Caroline Sai
European Coordinator of EIT Health Investor Network EIT Health
By Bryanna Allison, Business Development Manager, LSN
In the weeks following up to each RESI conference, we spend a lot of time on making the most of RESI Partnering. We have written multiple articles about the importance of partnering, and how to use the system to the greatest effect. In addition, we have recently featured interviews with RESI attendees using partnering successfully, ultimately leading to successful fundraising campaigns. To help RESI attendees, below is a video featuring a full tutorial of the partnering platform. Make sure to check it out to see all of the features available on partnering!
An interview with Yuan-Ren Cheng, COO of Heroic-Faith Medical Science
– By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN
Jessica Yang
International early-stage companies often seek cross-border investment opportunities and strategic partnerships. How do these companies start at the beginning? What can they do to meet global investors and expand beyond regionally available resources? LSN invites 10 different types of investors from across the globe to meet with early stage companies at the RESI conferences, allowing companies to take advantage of the chance to meet many investors who are a fit for them in one day. I recently spoke to Yuan-Ren Cheng, COO of Heroic-Faith Medical Science, who won second place in the RESI San Francisco 2019 Innovation Challenge and successfully raised their seed round. Heroic-Faith Medical Science is a Taiwan-based medical device company developing AI-powered respiratory monitor for the critical care medicine.
Jessica Yang (JY): Congratulations on raising your seed round! What is the recent progress of your company?
Yuan-Ren Cheng (YRC): Thank you! We raised our seed financing round of $2.96 million, and we are looking to raise our Series A round for $7 million this year. Our exciting story was that, before we attended RESI SF last year, we had secured only $900K for our seed round, and after RESI SF, we raised an extra of $2.06 M to make it $2.96 M in capital. We grew from 7-8 team members to 21 employees now. We also received our key patent in the US recently, and we expect our device to receive US FDA clearance this year.
JY: That’s amazing! How do you think RESI helped you?
YRC: I think applying for Innovation Challenge was an important decision for us. We got selected as a finalist at our first RESI and won second place. This helped us gain a lot of exposure via RESI’s newsletter announcement and promotion for the top 3 Innovation Challenge winners, and RESI’s media partners also promoted our company and technology. I think this make our respiratory monitor became more famous.
Besides some investors from Taiwan that we’d seen before, most investors are new to us. We got 11 confirmed meetings at our first RESI, including big firms like Siemens. Interestingly, though the VP of Business Development from Siemens told us we weren’t a fit for their investment focus, she still sees our product promising and further introduced her connections in the patient monitor area. This is the power of RESI! You get to meet right people in similar industries at RESI, and if you are well-prepared, you could get even more opportunities from these people. That’s why we always recommend other startups that we know to apply for Innovation Challenge and proactively attend RESI.
JY: What was your strategy of sending out meeting requests in the RESI partnering platform?
YRC: We sent 100+ meeting requests through the partnering platform. We especially increased our efforts in the week before RESI. We noticed that many investors start to lock down their schedules in the week prior to the conference, and that’s why we sent follow-up messages in the partnering system to grab their attention. Also, we regularly researched the partnering system for newly added investors. We searched and sorted hundreds of investors in the partnering system, then we prepared three kinds of executive summaries targeting different categories of investors that fit us. For example, we had executive summaries specifically for Medtech investors, Healthcare IT investors, and investors who are interested in pulmonary and cardiovascular sectors.
JY: How do you think Innovation Challenge is different from other startup competitions? What is the key advantage of Innovation Challenge?
YRC: Overall, I think RESI really organizes the Innovation Challenge very well! The RESI team provided instructive information to let everyone know the purpose of this competition is for startups to network with investors at their poster. It’s very straightforward and condensed, and the Innovation Challenge allows us to have interactions with many RESI attendees. We got tons of business cards and recognized new business opportunities because of the Innovation Challenge. This is crucial to us because we know whom to contact and with whom to follow up after the conference. After all, you need a list to send your emails with company updates.
Speaking of this, I will also recommend that two people from the same company attend RESI together, to allow one to focus on partnering meetings and the other to stay at the Innovation Challenge poster. I think this is the most productive way to attend RESI.
JY: In your seed round you also raised money from non-Taiwan investors, what is your suggestions to international companies who are currently fundraising?
YRC: I think one point is that international startups have to step out and attend global conferences like RESI. Looking for cross-border partnership isn’t an easy task. We know that some investors with geographical restrictions of their investments could be the barrier. But if you have strong arguments to convince other global investors with your actual execution and performance, I think there are always chances to get funding. For example, you really need to understand the unmet medical needs, digitize your company’s progress, and even find out the advantages from where you’re based. This is also why RESI is such a great platform that you can keep attending the conferences and following up with potential opportunities. Otherwise, you won’t know where to start and find targets that aren’t based in your region. You can also learn what other early-stage companies are developing in RESI and analyze your competitiveness.
JY: Thank you so much for sharing your story!
Established in June 2018, Heroic-Faith Medical Science Corp., LTD. is focused on the development of medical devices for the critical care medicine. The total annual spending on ICU care in North America in 2018 reaches $108 billion USD, being second only to cancer care which totals $158 billion USD, making it a key market that is marked by costly spending, as well as one that is open to new ideas. We hope to combine Taiwan’s advanced medical expertise with its cutting-edge electronics capabilities to develop break-through products, so that we can realize the ideal of our CEO, “Saving lives through innovation”, in the global market.
On Monday, Partnering for RESI Paris will open. Registered startups will be able to message and book meetings with vetted, active, early-stage investors and strategic partners who are focused on investing in biotech, medtech, diagnostics and digital health. RESI’s unique investor profiling process and search ontology help entrepreneurs make the right connections and get the most out of their 16 available meeting slots at RESI. Look below to see who’s already registered – we are expecting over 200 investors in total. Want to get in on the first round of RESI Partnering? Register now!
By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series
Yishaonan Chai, LSN’s Finance Manager, has a dad who teaches calligraphy at a University in China. LSN received a scroll which we framed of a poem that reflects the basic nature of LSN. Although LSN is small we are mighty as we have reach around the world. We are currently getting ready for our 28th RESI conference in Paris on March 23, 2020. The calligraphy featured below is a poem:
“海纳百川，有容乃大；
壁立千仞，无欲则刚”
—–林则徐
Hundreds of rivers run into the sea, its greatness contains everything;
Thousands of cliffs stand sheer, it’s indestructible with no greed.
—–Lin Zexu
(Lin Zexu was the Governor-General under Emperor of the Qing dynasty best known for his role in the First Opium War of 1839–1842. He destroyed 1,000 long tons of allegedly illegal opium to save people from addiction).
It advises people should be broad-minded to accept diversities and differences, connecting with them all; And people be dedicated to what you are doing, not being distracted by other thoughts, so that your work will be undefeatable.
I would say that is a good metaphor for LSN and what we are fighting for.
