Next Phase Newsletter

By Joey Wong, Senior Investor Research Analyst, Hong Kong BD, LSN

RESI South is rapidly approaching, taking place in person on March 25 in Atlanta at The Whitley Buckhead Hotel, followed by two days of virtual partnering on March 26-27. For this highly anticipated conference, LSN’s Investor Research Team has curated a lineup of 7 panels covering a wide range of topics relevant to early-stage investments and innovations.

At RESI South, we have a series of panels that feature key players in the startup investment ecosystem, including Corporate Venture Capital and Seed Funds. The panelists will delve into their investment and partnership strategies, how they evaluate prospects, manage relationships with their early-stage portfolio, and their unique position in the ecosystem, among other topics.

Other panels will focus on emerging sectors that have been gaining interest and momentum, such as Digital Health, AI in Healthcare, CNS Diseases, Longevity, and Chronic Disease Management. These panels will feature investors who have been actively following and allocating in these respective verticals. They will provide insights into cutting-edge innovations, the latest investment trends, the importance of these technologies, and how these markets will evolve in the future.

We are honored to be joined by a diverse group of panelists, each bringing unique backgrounds and experiences. Through organizing these panels, our goal is to foster communications, bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and investors/strategic partners, and assist founders and CEOs in navigating their fundraising and business development journey in this highly competitive landscape. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from and connect with seasoned investors and executives at these RESI panels.

Here are the speakers for RESI South 2024:

Peter Alff Senior Venture Partner Orange Grove Bio	Irene Blat Sr. Dir. Search & Evaluation, Oncology Servier	Natasha Bonett DeLong Portfolio Manager Rex Health Ventures
Mark Bouzyk President & CSO AllaiHealth	Justin Burns Vice President, Venture Development GRA Venture Fund, LLC	Rowan Cade Program Manager, BARDA Ventures Division of Research Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe)
Tom Callaway Founder Life Science Partner	Nicolas Cindric Partner Yahara Ventures	Drew Cutshaw Senior Associate & Medical Officer Pappas Capital
Sinclair Dunlop Managing Partner Epidarex Capital	Martin Gershon Managing Partner and CIO Endeavor Venture Funds, Senior Executive Investor-in-Residence Techstars	Deborah Hemingway Managing Partner Ecphora Capital
Ray Jang Principal Primetime Partners	Jennifer Jordan Venture Partner iGlobe Partners	Nancy Torres Kaufman CEO Beacon Capital LLC
Sarah Kleinpeter Global Vice President Alzheimer’s Disease Novo Nordisk	Jason Kuo Senior Associate & Lead Healthcare Investor Tech Square Ventures	Mankit Law Director, Worldwide Business Development GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Michelle (Waye) Leeuwon Program Manager for Product Development Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)	Ron Levin Managing Partner Alumni Ventures	Andy Merken Partner, Corporate & Securities Co-Chair, Life Sciences Burns & Levinson
Ross O’Brien Founder & Managing Partner Bonaventure Equity, LLC (BVE)	Allyson Plosko Partner SpringTime Ventures	William Plumer Managing Partner Bullet Partners
Preetha Ram Managing Partner Pier 70 Ventures	Thomas Saylor Chief Executive Officer, Serial Enterpreneur NeuroAcoustics	Katerina Stroponiati Co-Founding Partner Monday Capital
Nathan Styles Executive Director of McQuade Center for Strategic R&D Otsuka Pharmaceutical	Jim Tobin VP, Cardiovascular & Metabolism Scientific Innovation Johnson & Johnson Innovation	Liz Todia Principal Mutual Capital Partners
Robert Tucci Managing Director Texas HALO Fund	Dave Vreeland Senior Managing Partner Caduceus Capital Partners

By Cameron Hurlburt, Director of Business Development, LSN

The RESI South Conference is a hybrid event, with an in-person day on March 25th at the Whitley Atlanta Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta, GA, followed by two virtual days on March 26th and 27th. Life Science Nation expects 300+ life sciences startups, investors, and strategic partners to mingle for dynamic networking opportunities. The RESI South Partnering Platform opened on March 4th, connecting CEOs with 150+ early-stage investors. Tailored matchmaking in sectors like therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health awaits.

To learn more, please watch the RESI Overview Webinar hosted by our Chief Conference Officer and VP of Investor Research, Claire Jeong. In this 10-minute video, Claire provides an overview of the RESI conference series, explains what makes RESI South unique, and, most importantly, how the RESI conferences stand out from other partnering events.

Click the video to watch:

By Caitlin Dolegowski, Marketing Manager, LSN

Partnering conferences are an important part of an early-stage company’s journey to raising capital and achieving your fundraising goals. Life Science Nation (LSN) hosts the RESI conference series to provide partnering opportunities with investors and strategic partners. Additionally, LSN provides support to Founders and CEOs to get prepared for meetings by putting their best foot forward and prepping them with the tools necessary to get there. A key tool for making the most of our next conference, RESI South, is the RESI Survival Guide.

The RESI Survival Guide covers the 5 major steps to finding success at RESI:

• Build a Comprehensive Partnering Profile
• Develop your Executive Summary
• Refine your Pitch Deck
• Craft your Meeting Request Message
• Outline a Follow-up Strategy

Read detailed explanations of each step and examples of executive summaries and meeting requests in the RESI Survival Guide.

Partnering for RESI South is LIVE as of Monday, March 4th. Make sure to set your schedules up and make time slots available and accept and send meeting requests to secure some meetings on your calendar.

LSN provides Partnering Tutorial webinars, you can signup to join the live webinar and participate in the Q&A on March 14, register here. The Partnering Tutorial is a terrific way to figure out how to navigate LSN’s RESI partnering system and learn insights on outreach strategy to secure investor and strategic partner meetings that are the right fit for you.

If you have any questions about getting prepared for RESI South or wish to have a consultation on your marketing materials, reach out to RESI@lifesciencenation.com and your Business Development representative will schedule some time with you to review. Registration is still open to attend RESI South, with options to attend both in-person and virtually. Happy Partnering!

By Karen Deyo, VP of Product, Israel BD, LSN

Crafting a compelling tagline is more challenging than you would expect – many startups approach it based on what they think sounds good and come out with a slogan that does not give much information on the company. A tagline should give investors a noticeably clear idea of what your company is doing in just 5-7 words. This forms the foundation of a company’s marketing collateral, something we emphasize in our educational content and webinars. It is where we start with the companies we work with, helping them refine their message into a concise, compelling snapshot of the company. It often takes at least 20 versions and edits to land on a good tagline. Gauge your success by sharing it with people unfamiliar with your company – can they accurately describe what your technology is, and what problem/disease you are addressing? If not, go back to the drawing board, or ask for our help!

Ahead of our next RESI event, RESI South, in person in Atlanta March 25, virtual March 26-27, we held a competition for the most compelling tagline, and received quite a few submissions! Below are the six winners – congratulations, and we look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

Tagline Competition Contest Winners
	Convergence Medical
	Building the world’s first arthroscopic surgical robot.
	Sentrimed
	Creating safer, oral oncology therapies by targeting podoplanin
	BrainStorm Therapeutics
	AI-powered human brain organoid drug discovery engine
	Nanoxort
	Smarter, safer medical imaging – powered by nanotechnology.
	Curanostics
	Revolutionizing infectious disease diagnosis with rapid, precise ML-driven genomic analysis for healthcare.
Light Switch Bio	Light Switch Bio
	Delivering Safety, Maximizing Value: Laser-Guided Drugs Transforming Pharma’s Approach

By Caitlin Dolegowski, Marketing Manager, LSN

RESI South, in person March 25 in Atlanta at The Whitley Buckhead hotel, followed by two days of virtual partnering on March 26-27 is rapidly approaching, and the partnering platform opens next Monday, March 4. This hybrid conference enables attendees to book both in-person and virtual meetings. The LSN Partnering Platform offers startups the opportunity to search for and identify investors that are a fit for them based on sector, indication, stage of development, and other criteria. Successful partnering takes a lot of work, and the companies that book the most meetings send, on average, over 100 meeting requests to relevant investors, followed by frequent follow-ups. We will be offering a free partnering tutorial next week to provide you with helpful insight into making the most of your time at RESI.

March 5, 2024 12:00 PM ET

The LSN Event Partnering Process – Sign Up

There is still time to register for RESI South and meet with 250+ active investors in the life science industry.

By Momo Yamamoto, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Life Science Nation(LSN)’s research team has been inviting investors to attend the upcoming RESI South conference and there are some exciting new life sciences, early-stage focused investors who will be joining the RESI South conference.

	MSL Investment

Some new investors attending RESI South include Caduceus Capital Partners, a venture capital firm based in Nashville, TN that invests in early-stage digital health companies across the US. A managing partner of the firm will also be speaking on the Digital Health panel. Joining that panel is another managing partner from Bullet Partners, a private equity and advisory firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA that focuses on digital health and SaaS companies. Monday Capital, a venture capital firm headquartered in New York that invests in biotechnology and digital health companies focused on longevity, blockchain infrastructure, and AI in Seed and early venture rounds, will also be attending for the first time and will be on the AI in Healthcare panel. Pier 70 Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Seattle, WA that invests in digital health and therapeutics companies in seed and early growth rounds will also be joining the discussion on the AI in Healthcare panel as well. GRA Venture Fund, a public-private venture capital fund investing in research-driven, Georgia-based startup companies will also be attending RESI South for the first time in-person. Boyd Street Ventures, a venture capital firm headquartered in Oklahoma that invests in life sciences and healthtech and is preparing to launch its second fund later this year, will be attending in-person. Catalyst by Wellstar, a fund affiliated with Gerogia’s largest healthcare system, and MSL Investments, an early-stage investment firm focused on early-stage medtech and digital health companies, will be attending virtually. Ajinomoto Corporate Venture Capital (Ajinomoto CVC) is the corporate venture arm of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., a leading global company well known for its food products and amino science businesses with over $10B revenue. Ajinomoto CVC was launched in 2020 and has a US office based in Palo Alto, CA. The firm seeks to make equity investments in promising early-stage biotech companies developing therapeutics of novel modalities companies, in mostly Seed and Series A rounds.

By Erika Wu, Business Development Manager, Global Tech Hubs, LSN

EW: Please introduce us to Bio Alabama. Such as mission statement and brief overview of the services offered. 

BIO Alabama is the leading advocate for Alabama’s bioeconomy. We represent the state on a national and international stage, promoting the intellectual and innovative capital that make our state a premier place to invest, start, and grow in bioscience.  

We represent Alabama’s bio related industries, research scientists, clinicians and business professionals who are working together to foster, develop and support the life sciences in Alabama. BIO Alabama is the state affiliate in Alabama of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the preeminent national association for biotechnology companies.  

Our mission is to promote biotechnology innovation by creating a favorable scientific, business and legislative environment that will facilitate the growth of emerging and existing companies while attracting new biotechnology opportunities to Alabama and to increase public awareness regarding the potential impact on quality-of-life and the state’s economy. 

EW: Please introduce us to the # startups that are presenting at RESI South in Atlanta on March 25th: 

1: Gulf Sterilization – Michelle Scott – President and CEO of Gulf Sterilization

Gulf Sterilization, offers an environmentally conscious sterilization
option to the life sciences and advanced manufacturing industries via
cutting edge gaseous chlorine dioxide. This technology, developed by
an offshoot of Johnson and Johnson, is provided in a state of the art,
5400 square foot facility housing multiple chambers for sustainable
sterilization services. In December, Gulf Sterilization was
recommended for ISO:13485 certification ensuring the highest quality
and regulatory compliance. Recently, they accepted one of only 75
invitations extended worldwide to the Global Industry Scientific
Exchange on Alternative Sterilization held in Munich, Germany. Active
in the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation
(AAMI), Gulf Sterilization also values the opportunity to foster regional
growth in the life science ecosystem through their membership in
FMMC and Bio Alabama. 

2: ResBiotic – Vivek Lal – CEO

ResBiotic is a Biotech CPG Company based in Birmingham, AL. ResBiotic stands for Restoration Biotics where we make a new class of wellness supplements – ones that are actually science backed. Physician-developed, with your health in mind, our supplements designed to restore your microbiome and foster whole body wellness and resilience. With multiple product lines, ResBiotic® offers supplements for every body. Our hero seeks to improve symptoms, like low energy or breathing challenges and understands the value of investing in supplements to support healing or general well-being. They most value proactive, holistic, and science-backed wellness approaches to gut, lung, and immune health.

3: SynVivo Inc – Gwen Fewell – President and CEO

SynVivo Inc. is a commercial stage Organ-on-Chip company in the Life Sciences Research Tools market. Our patented platform offers 3D Tissue and Organ-on-Chip models for Neuroscience,Oncology, Inflammation, and Toxicology drug development and personalized medicine applications. The company’s vision is to  establish a new standard of predictive tools for understanding human responses in drug development, bridging the gap between pre-clinical drug testing and human clinical trials towards transformative advancements in personalized
medicine. SynVivo’s microfluidic platform allows accurate modeling of both the morphology of human tissues and organs and the physiology of blood flow and shear stress to create more predictive models for preclinical testing of drugs. Complex in vivo microvascular environment including scale, morphology, hemodynamics of blood flow and cellular architecture are re-created in
vitro. SynVivo’s Organ-on Chip models feature a side-by-side architecture enabling real-time visualization and quantitation using standard analytical instrumentation.

4: Chonex – Michael Lynch – President and CEO

  Chonex is at the forefront of regenerative agriculture innovation with StrongSoil, a transformative product designed to rebuild and regenerate topsoil. This allows farmers to achieve higher profitability through reduced chemical use and increased crop yields. Priced to enable cost-effective implementation, StrongSoil enhances soil microbiology, thus promoting profitable farming with less risk from external threats like droughts and diseases. Comprising a comprehensive mix of beneficial microorganisms, micronutrients, and enzymes, StrongSoil is proven to significantly boost soil health and plant resilience. With five years of comprehensive research behind it, StrongSoil’s innovation is packaged in a user-friendly, water-soluble format compatible with almost all agricultural fertilizers and chemicals, marking a significant milestone in the advancement of sustainable farming.

EW: What are your initiatives and strategic goals in 2024 for Bio Alabama? 

BIO Alabama has three strategic growth pillars that include economic development, workforce initiatives and connectivity life science efforts across the state.   In 2024, BIO Alabama is offering a couple of new services to our members to support our growth pillars.   The first is an M&A assessment methodology that Dr. Blanks has used previously during his decade of work in private equity.   The goal of this assessment is to identify weaknesses in company plans, strategies, IP, financial plan, capex, etc and correct those weaknesses in order to improve the value of the company’s equity when they go in front of investors.   The second is to support SBIR/STTR applications for members through a review process to catch mistakes or missed steps in the application process.   The goal of this effort on grant applications is to increase the number of applicants that receive a full review of the scientific value of the application.   Both of these services are offered at no direct cost to our members. 

For any questions, please reach out to  Erika Wu,at e.wu@lifesciencenation.com