By Nono Hu, Director of Marketing, LSN

With RESI on MaRS coming up next week, the LSN team are getting ready to head to Canada’s hub of healthcare innovation, Toronto!  With over 300 healthcare companies supported by MaRS Discovery District, we’re looking forward to hosting RESI in this rising biomedical innovation scene.

LSN would like to present the RESI on MaRS Program Guide.  If you’re planning your day in Toronto and want to see full lists of the speakers, RESI Innovation Challenge participants, exhibitors and sponsors you could meet, look no further!

 

By Cole Bunn, Senior Research Analyst, LSN

As tech continues its foray into healthcare, we are seeing a variety of different digital solutions for just about every segment of the healthcare industry. The relatively nascent nature of this sector has entrepreneurs and investors still working to figure out the most effective ways to work their way into large healthcare systems or efficiently reach consumers and add value.

Moderated by Dennis Giokas, Chief Technology Officer, Canada Health Infoway this session will feature:

• Tom Hawes, Managing Director, Sandbox Industries
• Shurjeel Choudhri, Senior VP & Head, Medical & Scientific Affairs, Bayer Healthcare
• Jean-Francois Pariseau, Partner, Healthcare Fund, BDC
• Dennis Depenbusch, Director, New Ventures Initiative, BCBSKS

This panel will provide a unique perspective on the digital health investment landscape with a varied lineup of organizations who are putting money to work in this burgeoning area of healthcare, including pharma, payers and a government VC arm.

By registering for RESI on MaRS, you’ll be able to listen to the early digital health panel live in person, interact with the investors and experience numerous opportunities to expand your network in the life sciences.

By Shaoyu Chang, MD, MPH, Senior Research Manager, LSN

For the first time ever, RESI is taking the Innovation Challenge to MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, Canada on June 23. The competition will feature 30 handpicked early stage innovators from MaRS and across North America.

From a competitive pool of applicants, these entrepreneurs have been selected by LSN’s scientific validation team based on their scientific merit and “investor readiness.” The 30 companies bring together cutting-edge innovations across healthcare IT, biotech, medical device, and diagnostics.

Meaningful connection is key to RESI Innovation Challenge. Instead of a traditional 15-minute pitch contest, the companies will receive a presentation space in the exhibition hall for the full day of the conference to showcase their innovations to investors and fellow entrepreneurs. LSN has found repeatedly that companies presenting in this venue interact with more investors—and with more meaningful dialogues.

To add some friendly competition to the mix, the RESI Innovation Challenge invites all attendees to participate in a virtual investment contest. At the start of the day, each attendee will receive “RESI Cash” to allocate to the entrepreneurs whose technologies they expect will be most influential. The capital that was invested will be tallied up and the top three winners will be featured in our RESI newsletter recap that will go out to LSN’s 23,000 newsletter readership.

• First Prize: Complimentary tickets to 3 RESI Conference Series events of your choice (2 tickets per event)
• Second Prize: Complimentary tickets to 2 RESI Conference Series events of your choice (2 tickets per event)
• Third Prize: Complimentary tickets to 1 RESI Conference Series event of your choice (2 tickets)

Whether you are an investor, an entrepreneur, or a service provider, make sure you check out the exhibit hall to meet with some of the top innovators in the field and invest your “RESI Cash.” We will see you there!

By Cole Bunn, Senior Research Analyst, LSN

As we approach our third RESI event of 2016, LSN prides itself on continuing to foster an environment that allows entrepreneurs to effectively engage with investors, strategic partners and other key stakeholders that have the ability to move the needle in their venture. The value in robust networking/partnering coupled with first-hand insight from veteran investors and industry leaders, for diagnostic entrepreneurs is clear.

Moderated by Tom Miller, Managing Partner, GreyBird Ventures, this session will feature:

• Nicola Urbani, Investment Director, Emerillon Capital
• John Steuart, Managing Director, Steuart Ventures
• Kathryn Deuchars, Director, Ontario Personalized Medicine Network, Ontario Genomics
• Jeff Summer, SVP Business Development, Clinical Affairs & Genetics, LifeLabs

The investors on this panel will share their perspective and tactical guidance for shepherding a diagnostic at the early stages of development through the dynamic healthcare environment to an eventual exit.

By registering for RESI on MaRS, you’ll be able to listen to the early stage diagnostics panel live in person, and also experience numerous opportunities to expand your network in the life sciences and to learn more about the fundraising process.

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, LSN

Up to two hundred early stage life science investors will converge on MaRS Discovery District on June 23^rd in Toronto. The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference series continues to match up fundraising CEOs and scientist-entrepreneurs with global investors who are a fit for their sector and stage of development.

LSN created RESI to fill a hole in the early stage arena by connecting investors and startups at events held every 90 days throughout North America. RESI on MARS is shaping up to be a very compelling event. RESI continues to receive great support from the global early stage life science investor community because investors find great technology assets and startups at RESI, as well as being able to network with other likeminded investors.

Quotes I Heard at RESI Events

Family Offices

An investor representing a large family office who has been to last 5 of our conferences stated he had 16 partnering meetings at a recent RESI event. The one thing he appreciated most was that majority were from outside the traditional biotech hubs – with far more realistic on valuations than those elsewhere.

An investor from a California-based family office who had never been to RESI before said “I go to many conferences across various industries and this was a great combination of useful topics and the kind of opportunities I want to see.”

Corporate VC

A corporate VC investor said he made one investment in a company he met at RESI last year, and this year he found 2-3 he said he was very interested in pulling the trigger on.

A new corporate venture fund from the insurance industry said he needs venues like RESI where he can find next generations solutions for all future applications, and also meet investors and strategic partners for corporate initiatives.

Another corporate VP described RESI as a great venue for finding technology assets. The corporation invested in a company that was sourced from a previous RESI event.

Seed Fund

Funded by Chinese pharma firms looking for early stage investments, this fund’s partner postponed a trip back to China to come to RESI to find regional healthcare technology startups.

Pharma

A U.S. Pharma BD and Licensing lead said “RESI is great for showing what great resources are in second tier regions. I have met several companies at RESI that I will continue to investigate.”

A VP of Outsourced Technology said “I need to find companies before they get tied up with long term VC relationships. RESI enables me to broaden my view of companies in a region I need to canvass. I need to get to know these companies at an early stage.”