Hot Longevity Mandates: Multinational Venture Firm

3 Aug

The firm is a venture capital fund founded in 1996 with offices in the US, China, and Japan. The firm has over $4.2B assets under management and has invested in over 400 companies. In 2019, the firm closed Fund IX at $780M, its largest fund to date. The firm invests mainly in early-stage technology companies (i.e. internet, SaaS, consumer-tech, etc.) with high disruptive potential and seeks to be the first institutional investor, but dedicates a small amount of capital (about 20% of the fund) to later-stage companies as well. Typically, first checks fall in the $2-5M range in Seed to Series A rounds, but the firm has made investments as small as $250K. Overall, the firm invests in over 20 companies per year across North America and Asia. In terms of healthtech specifically, the firm aims to make at least 1-2 USA-based and 1 China-based investments per year.

The firm is mainly interested in digital health opportunities and will not consider therapeutics or medical devices. The firm will stray away from anything that involves FDA regulatory approval. Previous investments of the firm include a Google Glass-powered remote scribe platform that improves the workflow of physicians, an AI engine that matches cancer patients with clinical trials, a wearable health tracker for healthy lifestyle management, etc. Companies do not need to be generating revenue prior to investment.

The firm invests in private companies with strong technology and can work with different kinds of management teams that are ideally devoted full-time to the company. The firm will almost always act as the lead investor and seek board representation, staying actively involved in their portfolio companies. The firm prefers to have a syndicate of co-investors invest alongside the firm, but this is not an absolute requirement.

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

Hot Longevity Mandate: Taiwan-Based Family Office

3 Aug

The family office investment fund is based in Taiwan. The fund focuses on healthcare, with investments including healthcare services as well as novel health technologies. The firm focuses on China, Taiwan and the US, and usually invests about $1 million per deal, but as the firm is a multi-stage investor, larger allocations are possible.

The fund is interested in medical devices, diagnostics and digital health, in addition to healthcare services. The firm is open to any indication area but has a particular interest in cardiology. The fund can make early stage investments but requires that the company at least have a working prototype/pilot product.

The fund primarily invests in companies that have operations in Asia but will also consider US-based companies.

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

Hot Longevity Mandate: US-Based Venture Firm

3 Aug

The firm is a venture capital firm that was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Western US. The firm is seeking opportunities across all sectors of life sciences with a focus on biotechnologies, digital health, and infosec. The firm will engage in seed to series B rounds, but mostly looking to invest in series A. A typical allocation can range from 4 – 8 million USD. The firm will invest in companies that are based/headquartered in the US. The firm prefers to lead the investment round and will seek board seats when leading.

The firm is interested in novel technologies that address significant unmet needs in life sciences. The firm is most focused on biotechnologies and digital health but is open to considering all sectors in life sciences. Within the therapeutics sector, the firm is most interested in companies with a diversified pipeline in pre-clinical and clinical trial stages. The firm will consider opportunities in any indication, but has particular interest in oncology, immunology, and neurology. Within the digital health sector, the firm is interested in companies focused on value-based care models and technologies that incorporate machine learning and AI. The firm is also opened to considering medical devices and diagnostics companies of all stages of development. The firm is opportunistic in terms of subsectors and indications in these sectors.

The firm has no strict company or management team requirements, but prefers to work with companies led by founders with strong scientific and technical expertise. The firm does look to take an active role in helping the company to grow.

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

Improving Diabetes Management with AI-Driven Glucose Sensors – Interview with Marc Ripper, PhD, CEO of Alertgy

2 Aug

By Erika Wu, Business Development Representative, LSN

Is the future of diabetes management here? Learn about what Dr. Marc Rippen and his team at Alertgy are achieving with their patented technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide on-demand blood glucose readings. You can also see Alertgy at the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge during the digital RESI Partnering Week, September 13-17. Join RESI AI (September 16-17) for dynamic panels, as well as opportunities to pitch to a live panel of investors. Learn more about how you can get involved and tell your story at Innovator’s Pitch Challenge!

Investment Opportunities Abound at RESI Partnering Week

29 Jul

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

The summer flying by means one thing: RESI Partnering Week is on its way, and with it comes an avalanche of opportunities to meet with the many investors already signed up! The virtual RESI events have been met with growing interest from early-stage investors, as it provides them with opportunities to invest globally despite the travel restrictions. CB Insights recently reported that investments, both in numbers and investment dollars, have both risen steadily in the past year, indicating that there are plenty of funds out there for fundraising CEOs to tap into.

Check out the latest list of investors attending RESI Partnering Week, including Digital RESI September, RESI AI, and RESI Longevity, September 13-17, and take advantage of the early bird rate ending next week.

RPW Sept. 2021 Confirmed Investors
Confirmed RESI Investors Confirmed RESI AI Investors Confirmed RESI Longevity Investors
As of July 29
 

Financing Scientific Instrumentation as a Start-Up Company

29 Jul

By Antoinette Lowre, Manager of Business Development, LSN

Over the last several years, a record number of exciting life sciences start-ups have come online. Most of these start-up companies need scientific instrumentation to support their research. But when funds are limited, how can these companies get the instrumentation needed to hit their growth milestones?

Bold View Capital is hosting a workshop as part of the Service Provider Showcase at Digital RESI, September 13-16. The workshop will kick-off with an overview of the leasing market for start-ups. Expert panel will share their own experiences going through the leasing process and offer valuable lessons learned.

This workshop is valuable for start-up companies:

  • That rely on scientific instrumentation
  • That are pre-revenue and have limited funds to purchase instrumentation
  • For whom traditional financing is not available
  • That prefer debt financing to diluting equity

Instructors:

  • Darren Platt, President, Demetrix
  • Bryan Leavitt, Managing Partner, Fountainhead Investment Partners
  • Chad Kobold, Director of Business, Development, Bold View Capital

Join Bold View Capital on Wednesday, September 15 at 1 PM EDT. Sign up by August 6 to save on early bird rates!

Does it Work?

29 Jul

By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN

I’ve heard a lot about RESI through the years, but does it work?

The question that comes from every fundraising executive at some point takes many forms, but this is frequently the hardest to answer. To do so requires a basic understanding of the Fundamental Facts of Fundraising, before explaining what RESI will and won’t do. While many entrepreneurs would enthusiastically jump at the promise of a partnering conference series offering low effort and high yield in terms of booking meetings with qualified investors and walking out with a term sheet or more, but reality doesn’t align with that story. Instead, reality aligns with the truths outlined below:

Fundamental Facts of Fundraising:

  1. Funding a startup into early-stage success and beyond is incredibly difficult and RESI won’t change that.
  2. Fundraising is a numbers game.
  3. Your best chances come from a good fit based on product and stage of development.
  4. There are strategies and best practices that set you up for success.
  5. You get out what you put in.

While not a silver bullet to any of the above, instead, RESI is a powerful tool that is:

  1. Designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs in life science and healthcare. That’s it. Every product, service, and resource are geared towards setting up scientific startups for success.
  2. A model that takes place five times each year with thirteen conferences, bringing in hundreds of investors and early-stage companies each time, creating many opportunities to book meetings.
  3. A connection vehicle that is designed for attendees to seek and target the best fits for their needs through its match-based partnering system.
  4. Equipped with an arsenal of resources set up for the early-stage entrepreneur to be successful in sourcing and booking well-fitting meetings, including free fundraising bootcamps, database subscriptions, branding and messaging services, one-day prep courses, and countless articles outlining best practices, marketing collateral, outreach strategies, and a four-step follow-up process.
  5. Rewarding to those who apply proven strategies and are willing to work.

No matter how expensive or high quality, a hammer will only build a house in the hands of a builder who knows how to use it and shows up to work. I recently connected with two CEOs – one had a very negative perspective of his RESI experience and one with a very positive one.

The first CEO stated that RESI was the “world’s worst meeting ever” and insinuated that he was more deserving of investors’ time with “hit my name in Google”. When I dug deeper, it was clear that he had sent roughly 15% of the meeting invitations of his counterparts with no attempt at follow-up. I’m not surprised he did not have a better experience.

The second CEO shared that he had had a very positive experience at RESI. He then outlined his pre-conference strategy in which he identified several investors who were an excellent fit for his company, and even prepared a secondary list of investors who were less of a match, but still may consider taking a meeting – which he inevitably used when an investor was unable to connect. He also detailed his post-conference follow-up strategy. He shared how he recognized the opportunity available to him and he was willing to work hard to make the most of it. While he didn’t ask me to “hit his name in Google”, I did anyway. His company raised a multi-million-dollar Series A shortly afterwards. Unsurprisingly, it says more about his ethic than whether a partnering conference “works”.

Like most things worth our time and effort, RESI is a valuable tool that will work if you do. Join us September 13-17 to see what it’s all about at the virtual RESI Partnering Week. Save when you register by August 6. We hope to see you virtually there!

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