A newly established venture capital firm based in the USA is actively seeking early-stage investment opportunities in life sciences and healthcare sectors with its first fund. The firm is focused on emerging companies in pre-seed / seed rounds and will participate in Series A at the maximum. Currently, the firm is focused on USA-based companies, but can dedicate a portion of their fund to invest outside of the USA.
The firm invests in 4 main focus areas, ordered by priority: (1) biotech, which includes biomarkers, liquid biopsies, cell therapy, smart packaging, drug delivery, next generation sequencing, omics; (2) digital health, which includes wearables, diagnostics, services, AI-enabled approaches, management, fitness, digital therapy; (3) medtech, which includes smart devices, smart lens, breath biopsy, 3D printing, in vitro diagnostics, surgical robotics, laser therapy; (4) health edtech, which includes personalized learning, med. professional development, immersive learnings (e.g., VR), wellness. The firm plans to expand their investment capabilities in medtech, as they have recently made great investments in this space. The firm is indication agnostic, and is open to all opportunities including oncology, cardiovascular, infectious, metabolic, neurological, and rare/orphan diseases.
The firm seeks to work with companies backed by a management team with deep domain expertise and technologies that are backed by solid IP. The firm prefers to act as a follow-on, but will seek to lead more investment rounds in the future.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
Hot Investor Mandate: VC Firm in USA Invests in Early-Stage Medical Devices, Diagnostics, and Digital Health Technologies, With Strong Interest in AI Applications
A venture capital firm based in the USA makes around 1/3 of its investments in industry tech mainly focusing on digital transformation within traditional sectors, second 1/3 in enterprise tech including both SaaS and network technology, and the last 1/3 in healthcare, including AI in healthcare and medical devices. The firm typically invests $1-2M initial check per company, and reserve 2/3 of the fund for pro rata. The firm prefers to lead the round and also open to co-investment. The firm typically makes 7-10 new investments per year, and only focuses on companies based in North America (USA & Canada). Furthermore, the firm has a considerable value-add in supporting companies leveraging their former entrepreneur and operator experience, and their extensive network which includes over 30 executives from Fortune 1000 companies.
The firm is open to all subsectors of AI in healthcare, diagnostics and all classes of medical devices. The firm is indication agnostic and looks primarily at early-stage companies, particularly at the seed pre-Series A stage.
The firm does not have a particular management team requirement, as it primarily assesses the technology itself. If leading the round, the firm will take a board seat after an investment.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
Startup ABCs: Academics Becoming CEOs
By Dennis Ford, Founder and CEO of Life Science Nation, Creator of the RESI Conference Series
Life Science Nation (LSN) is the leader in connecting early-stage life science and healthcare startups with capital and licensing deals. While academia remains one of the most powerful institutions for innovative tech, the main challenge we see with the founders is that they are entering into a new business universe, more specifically, a startup business universe. They enter this universe with powerful technology that they hope to translate and commercialize. But first-timers are often lacking the rudimentary skillset to succeed at launching a startup. These often-overlooked aspects, which LSN refers to as the tactical “nuts and bolts,” consist of getting their story straight, identifying partners that fit their stage of development and product, and messaging these potential partners through all the different modalities available today.
The big shift from academic to founder includes a basic understanding of business development, marketing, and sales, all of which are needed to find capital investors, licensing partners, and product collaboration partners. When it comes to partnering, it’s important to understand that the very first step is identifying and curating a list of potential partner profiles that are a fit for the startup’s stage of development and product set. Developing this list is the singular most important step, and it must be done thoroughly. Once this is done, the second and third steps come naturally. The second step is developing a system to track contacts and keep the list updated, and the third consists of outreach and following up. Founders who have completed step one must keep their list organized and in a safe and accessible location (not Excel). I’m talking about a CRM. From here, they can start to curate and track partners. Deals can take anywhere from 9-18 months, from start to finish, and keeping the partner profiles updated and associated tasks and deliverables current. It is imperative to be efficient and organized in running a global partnering campaign.
Through its events, products, and services, LSN has spent the past decade guiding academic innovators and teaching these basic business development concepts and tools that prepare them for their foray into the early-stage startup environment and fundraising. The Valley of Death doesn’t need to be the end of a great idea and LSN is a trusted partner in that process. Contact our business development team to learn more about how our events, products, and services can help connect you to the next step along your early-stage journey.
| Want to learn more? The Business Development team at Life Science Nation is available to answer questions and share additional details to help you meet your partnership goals! | |||
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| Greg Mannix Vice President International Business Development, General Manager Europe Book a Meeting Email Me |
Candice He Vice President of Business Development, Global Investment Strategist Book a Meeting Email Me |
Antoinette Lowre Manager of Business Development Book a Meeting Email Me |
Alexander Vassallo Manager of Business Development Book a Meeting Email Me |
Making a Difference One Impression at a Time
By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN
Amplified Sciences CEO and Co-Founder, Diana Caldwell knows a lot about lasting impressions. It was an early impression working with her co-founder, Dr. Jo Davisson that led her to join him in leading Amplified Sciences and advancing the early detection of devastating diseases, such as pancreatic cancer. Additionally, Diana’s recent first-place win at the Digital RESI JPM Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) was a result of the impressions she left with judges and attendees alike with marketing materials and a live pitch.
Listen to our conversation to learn more about Diana’s career as a pharma executive and how her experience and passion led her to her latest adventure: entrepreneurship, fundraising, changing the diagnostic landscape, and leaving all the right impressions along the way.
The IPC returns to Digital RESI March 22-24. Apply today and save $200 when you register by February 18!
Free Fundraising Bootcamps
By Greg Mannix, Vice President International Business Development, General Manager Europe, LSN
In our 10 years of experience hosting the Redefining Early Stage Investment (RESI) conference series and curating our Investor Database, Life Science Nation (LSN) has interacted with myriad startup companies, investors and strategic partners, and witnessed many deals come to fruition. This is tremendously rewarding for the team at LSN. It has also given us a lot of insight into the keys to successful fundraising strategies and the tools that really help companies close a round.
Everything we do at LSN is aimed at promoting connections that will lead to companies getting the funding to take their technologies one step closer to helping real people. Our fundraising bootcamp series shares our insights on fundraising so that life science entrepreneurs can be better prepared to find and engage the right investors and strategic partners.
Take advantage of these FREE bootcamps and best of luck in your fundraising endeavors!
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| Wednesday, February 16, 2PM EST | Sign Up |
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| Wednesday, February 23, 2PM EST | Sign Up |
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| Tuesday, March 8, 12PM EST | Sign Up |
Hot Investor Mandate: Investment Arm of Family Office Invests $15M on Average to Pre-Clinical or Clinical Stage Companies With Strong Interests in Immuno-Oncology, Rare Disease, and More
An early stage fund based in Israel is investing in private companies developing pharmaceuticals only. The firm invests in early stage projects, preferably with PoC validation, and supports companies from venture creation to Series A. The firm’s average ticket size is $15M along the lifespan of the company and comes in the form of straight equity. The firm seeks board representation and is a very active investor, helping guide the company’s development and strategy. The firm is fundamentally science-driven, invests globally and may lead or co-invest. The firm has no targeted number of investments per year.
The firm’s mother company recently launched a late stage fund that seeks investments in private companies developing pharmaceuticals which raise Series B and up to Crossover round/IPO.
Both early-stage and late stage funds are open to both pre-clinical and clinical stage companies and are agnostic to technology type and indication. The firm has a specific interest in immuno-oncology, gene therapy, RNA/DNA based therapy and orphan or unmet medical need. The firm is only interested in first-in-class, breakthrough assets and does not consider re-purposed assets, diagnostics, medical devices or iterative technologies.
The firm prefers to invest early and help take the company through a major inflection point. The firm has no specific management team requirements.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
Hot Investor Mandate: Investment Firm With USA Offices Invests Up to $10M Over the Company Lifecycle, With Interests in Healthcare Technologies Dedicated to Improving Quality of Life
An investment firm with offices in multiple cities throughout the USA recently closed its newest fund and is actively seeking new investment opportunities. The firm is focused on investing in Seed to Series A rounds, with initial check sizes ranging from $2-3M, and $5-10M reserved for follow-on investment. The firm invests in global opportunities.
The firm invests in a wide variety of industries, ranging from transportation, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, etc. The firm has a broad interest in life sciences and will consider opportunities in therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and computationally enabled solutions, and is open to different types of modalities and indications. However, the firm does have a strong interest in human augmentation, which includes technologies dedicated to longevity and enhancing quality of life, cognition, enhancement, etc.
The firm’s management team is comprised of entrepreneurs who have been through the investment and fundraising process – the firm seeks companies run by driven entrepreneurs (open to both first-time and serial) whom they can work together based on mutual trust. The firm prefers to lead investment rounds and seek board representation, but is open to co-investing. The firm invests in a small number of companies and seeks to have a very active, hands-on role in their portfolio companies.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com.
