Next Phase Newsletter

An investment firm based in Europe has been supporting innovative Technology and Healthcare companies for over 20 years, investing over $350M in 60+ startups. The firm’s funds are backed by some of the most visible companies and institutions in the industry. The firm makes allocations from $500,000 to $10M over the life of the investment, and in the life science sector allocations are typically over $5m. The firm primarily invests in companies based in Europe or with ties to Europe. Allocations to US, Canada and Israel are possible.

The firm invests in the healthtech and digital health sectors and is opportunistic within these sectors regarding indication area and technology. The firm prefers to invest in early-stage companies.

The firm seeks highly qualified, ambitious management teams, and is typically an activist investor that takes a seat on a portfolio company’s board.

If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.

Some of the biggest challenges executives of early-stage life sciences companies face is securing financing and forging their first licensing deals. Though they may possess deep scientific knowledge, finding the right investors and partners, and telling their story in a compelling way may require skills they have not yet developed. Life Science Nation works with entrepreneurs to tell their stories, identify potential investors and partners, and connect with them. Daniel Levine  of Levine Media Group interviews Dennis Ford, founder and CEO of Life Science Nation, for BigBio Communications about the journey and challenges life sciences entrepreneurs make when they set out to raise money, what investors care about, and what steps they can take to best ensure their success. Listen here:

By Candice He, Vice President of Business Development, Global Investment Strategist, LSN

To keep the capital investors and licensing partners meetings numbers up Life Science Nation (LSN) has put together a partnering event bundle for the next two RESI conferences. Register for both Digital RESI March and RESI Boston June until March 13 and save up to $1,000.

Launching and executing a global partnering campaign means getting out into the market and socializing your company with potential partner meetings. Combining the Digital RESI March partnering event with the face2face RESI Boston June event gives our startup companies an opportunity to create some momentum as 2023 progresses.  LSN offers a compelling price point that will able our scientist entrepreneurs and fundraising CEOs a chance to get in front of the players in the market that they need to meet.

The Digital RESI March partnering event is a full-blown virtual conference with investor panels and workshops, as well as the best partnering available. RESI Boston June features all the same compelling sessions in person at Weston Copley Place, June 5-7. Both conferences include an investor and licensing partner database curated by LSN and we fill in all the buy-side partner profiles in our partnering system. This enables the sell-side startup CEOs to search and find the strategic partners they need to establish a dialogue with. This capability makes the RESI events unique and dynamic as they can really match based on fit which make the meetings so much better.

Startup CEOs need to get into the market and the bundle opportunity will increase their odds for fundraising success. For those CEOs who are not quite ready to start partnering meetings you can go and participate in the three-day, two hour a day, entrepreneurial education program from 11-1 which will guide you through setting up and launching a global partnering campaign.  Plus, you can also take advantage of the Audience Access Pass and go to RESI for content and education.  Let’s get busy!

By Karen Deyo, Director of Investor Research, Israel BD, LSN

Life Science Nation (LSN) knows why startups fail at partnering events, and it is mostly a lack of experience and knowledge, which puts the startup out of context. For example, it starts with very simple things, such as not understanding the importance of the tagline. If you are an investor receiving hundreds of meeting requests, you do not have the time to do a deep dive into every message. The company that nets out who they are with a compelling tagline that can be quickly skimmed and then get an affirmative meeting request clicked is how it is done right. You should be able to get a meeting just by the potential partner reading your tagline. The same rules apply to your company’s elevator pitch. A tagline is 5-7 words that net out who you are and what you do. A potential partner should be able to read your tagline and have enough information to either take a meeting or go on and read more…your elevator pitch is 5-7 sentences that net out who you are and what you do in more detail.  Again, from reading the elevator pitch should be able to decide whether take a meeting or read more.

There are a lot of pitfalls and common red flags that companies can avoid when trying to make a good first impression. These include assuming the investor is completely ignorant of the market, claiming their technology will address a whole market (such as ‘cancer’), claiming to have no competition, and claiming a KOL is involved in their company when they are not. Do not underestimate the investors you meet and expect them to take everything you say at face value – they are well informed, and, if they run into something they aren’t sure about, they will check.

LSN has developed a 4-step process on how to request meetings at a partnering conference.  LSN knows that just asking for a meeting will get you minimal results. We use the subject line of the email as a key starting point because if you use the subject as a tool to get attention and generate meetings if used properly.

4-Step, Subject Line Process that we have pioneered and works with astounding results. We have tested this process hundreds of times. The results are usually going from 3-7 meetings to 12-20+ meetings just by having your story and narrative crisp and using our LSN meeting request process. The 4-Step, Subject Line process that starts with putting the following in the subject line.

• First Attempt for RESI Meeting: Introduction meeting request of XYZ company at Up-and-coming RESI event
• Second Attempt for RESI Meeting: XYZ Companies Founders, Management Team, KOLs, and How XYZ Make a Difference
• Third Attempt for RESI Meeting: XYZ Company Innovative Technology Asset and Market Position
• Fourth and Final Attempt for RESI Meeting: XYZ Company Strategic Partners and Current Projects

Remember that when launching and positioning your company you are going on a journey from regional to global. Sign up for the LSN classes that are available to help with your branding and messaging. LSN curriculum specifically revolves around Global Roadshow Preparation, getting a company’s story straight, developing a compelling narrative, canvassing a global target list of capital investors and licensing partners, and follow-up. RESI partnering events bring the LSN ecosystem to life and afford startups the opportunity to meet strategic partners five times a year which is a crucial aspect as the transaction does not get done by attending 1-2 events a year.

LSN’s Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference series is a terrific opportunity to network and make connections with key players that can help move your company to the next phase. The RESI conference series, because of its unique focus and format, is by far the best opportunity for early-stage companies to meet and partner with investors and strategics. Partnering opens February 21 for Digital RESI, March 14-16 and your degree of success is directly proportionate to the effort you put into it.

By Dennis Ford, Founder and CEO of Life Science Nation, Creator of the RESI Conference Series

An entrepreneur’s attitude and ability to execute the plan have an enormous impact on their overall success or failure. Life Science Nation (LSN) has created an ecosystem where entrepreneurs who are seeking capital or licensing deals can identify and match themselves up with partners that are precisely right for their stage of development and product.

Where LSN sees things break down is when entrepreneurs decide to pause their partnering efforts or skip the next partnering event because they are not getting the results they want. They fail to stick with the plan that fundraising is a pure numbers game, and it takes 9-18 months and hundreds of partnering meetings to find the few compelling partners that are a great fit and can lead to transactions. You need to buy off on a process for finding and meeting potential partners and work that process knowing it is always going to be a tough road.

What entrepreneurs forget is that it only takes one good connection, one good meeting, to turn the momentum around and change the dynamic of the partnering campaign and start to pick up momentum.

Entrepreneurs with a positive attitude and a relentless willingness to stick with the process will be more motivated to take risks and push themselves to go the extra mile. They must remain focused on their goals and be open to feedback and criticism and always move forward as a global partnering campaign ebbs and flows. None of this is news but at the end of the day persistence is what will make the difference and that is why LSN has 5 RESI events a year, with options for in-person, hybrid, and virtual, to provide an ecosystem that will allow the buyers and sellers to meet and get matched up, create a dialogue that can lead to a relationship and eventual transaction.

The Digital RESI, March 14-16 event is a fully virtual conference, and will offer 300+ investors and licensing partners, Innovation Pitch Challenge, Entrepreneurial Education, funding and partnering panels and workshops.  I submit that if you are a startup looking for global partners you must keep up the effort through digital and face2face events and not let chances slip by.