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

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.

By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

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	Catherine Boule Managing Partner CapDecisif Management
Christian Soschner CEO CS Life Science Invest	Christoph Massner Analyst Earlybird	Donald Xu Managing Director Lynx Financial	João Ribas Associate Novo Holdings
Julian Vasilescu Director of Licensing, Business Development Roche Diagnostics	Luc Marengere Managing Partner TVM Capital Life Science	Markus Wanko Managing Partner IST CUBE	Matthieu Chareyre Serial Angel Investor
Mirko Scherer CEO CoFeS China	Natalia Novac Director, Emerging Technology & Innovation Eli Lilly & Co	Neha Tanna Principal Joyance Partners	Patrick Burgermeister Partner KIZOO Technology Ventures
Stephen Kearney Innovation – Life & Health Hannover Re	Varun Gupta Associate Wellington Partners Venture Capital	Walter Stockinger Managing Partner Hadean Ventures

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!

By Lucy Parkinson, VP of Investor Research, LSN

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!

Confirmed RESI Europe Investors

As of Feb. 20, 2020

 

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  28^th 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.

– By Bryanna Allison, Business Development Manager, LSN

Companies frequently ask me the question: does RESI work? We at LSN believe strongly that companies can successfully complete their fundraising if they follow our advice, but you don’t have to take our word for it: I recently spoke to Ankit Agarwal, CEO of Imbed Biosciences, who was eager to share his story of how he used RESI to raise his Series A.

Bryanna Allison: Congratulations on raising your Series A! Why are you so excited to share your story?

Ankit Agarwal: Thank you! I wanted to do this interview to encourage other fundraising CEOs – it’s a long and difficult process. It’s important not to get discouraged, despite how long it may be taking and how many noes you may hear. I found that the key was reaching out to multiple types of investors, and to meet with as many relevant investors as possible. This is why RESI was so helpful –it gave me access to hundreds of investors in one room. Beyond that, RESI is like a community for early stage life sciences; I had the chance to meet fellow fundraising CEOs facing the same challenges, allowing us to make friends and compare notes.

Over the course of a year, I attended 4 RESIs and was selected twice for the Innovation Challenge. I had a lot of meetings and got a lot of noes before I started hearing yeses. My advice is to make sure you are consistent and to get yourself out there as much as possible.

BA: How much did you raise for your Series A?

AA: Our goal for the Series A was to raise $5M in capital. We closed $4M in investments and a $1.5M grant from the NIH for a total of $5.5M in capital.

BA: Did you meet your investors for the first time at RESI?

AA: Yes, we did! But, we were very diligent about reaching out to hundreds of investors, both at RESI and in between conferences, making sure that they were relevant to our technology. We worked hard to get 12-16 meetings scheduled for every RESI we attended, and we got a lot of feedback that helped us refine our message and pitch. We also went into deeper diligence with several investors that did not end up leading to funding, but provided invaluable feedback and connections to the right investors.

BA: How long did your fundraise take?

AA: Before RESI, I was on the road for about 9 months to fundraise. From the initial meeting at RESI, it took about 10 months to finalize the deal, with a lot of back and forth. RESI is like the Disneyland® of early stage investors – it cut out so much time and money that I would have spent to meet with that many investors if I had continued fundraising as I did before attending RESI.

BA: With regards to the fundraising process, was it familiar to you? Do you have prior experience as a startup CEO and with a successful fundraise?

AA: This is my first company – the technology behind Imbed’s products came out of my post-doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin. This was my second round of fundraising for Imbed, the first being three separate seed rounds, raising a total of $3M, over a 4 year span.

BA: How many meeting requests did you send out in the RESI partnering platform?

AA: I sent 100+ requests through the partnering platform at each RESI I attended. I also reached out to investors that were a close, but not perfect, fit, because I wanted to make sure that I cast a wide net, in case they were interested. In addition to the meetings at RESI, this led to around 50 pitches outside of RESI with investors I met at the conference. I met with at least 100 investors over the course of 10 months.

BA: As a first time CEO, how did you prepare for your meetings?

AA: I used all of the resources LSN and RESI made available, and I followed your directions. I used the templates you provided for my outgoing message on the partnering platform, I sent out 100+ meeting requests to the relevant investors, as you recommended. In all, the process was easy and straightforward.

BA: What did you include in your message that was of the most interest to investors?

AA: Having a good pitch deck was key. Also, discussing our path forward, including the strategy for raising our Series B helped. This allowed me to clarify that this was not our last capital raise, that there was an opportunity for follow-on investments, as well as mentioning the bigger value inflection point down the line.

BA: Did you present your pitch deck at the meeting, and did you bring any additional material with you?

AA: I sent the investors an email before the meetings with the pitch deck and executive summary attached. During the meeting, I showed the device and clinical cases using our products. At the end, I gave them a brochure with the information.

BA: How many meetings do you think you had before closing the round?

AA: There were quite a few. That was the benefit of RESI: that I had a lot of meetings in one day. Even if I received 15 noes that day, it was still productive because this allowed me to screen potential investors before spending money to travel and meet them all individually.

BA: What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to companies attending RESI to fundraise?

AA: I would tell them to believe in the RESI process and follow your advice on how to make the most of it. They should really try to fill in those 16 slots, but should not be disappointed if all of those meetings end up not being a fit. They should look at it as a positive: they still met and screened out 16 investors – who knows how long that could have taken outside of RESI if they had to try to meet with them one at a time.

I viewed this as a personal challenge: as a first time entrepreneur, I wanted to see if I could close this round myself. I followed your recommendations by the book, and it worked! Using RESI to fundraise is an easy and elegant process.

BA: Thank you for sharing your story. Good luck moving forward!

About Imbed Biosciences: Imbed Biosciences is a privately held biotech company registered with FDA as a medical device manufacturer with an ISO 13485 certified quality management system. The company has a portfolio of products in development based on its patented and FDA-cleared Microlyte^® technology to combat local pain and infections in complex wounds such as burns, chronic ulcers, surgical wounds, epidermolysis bullosa, and colorectal surgeries. A portion of Imbed’s research funding comes from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases (NIAMS).