Hot Longevity Mandate: Europe-Based Venture Fund

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The firm is a global investment platform specialized in the healthcare & nutrition sector. The firm is operating since 2010 as a multi-stage investment manager, dedicated to evidence-based investment in companies that are developing superior products and services within the healthcare, life science and nutrition market segments. The flexibility of its strategy will allow the firm to not only provide private funding for promising venture companies, but also operate on cross-over financings, IPOs, and offer significant equity financing to fast-growing and profitable companies within the space when they get more established. In 2020, the firm launched the a Europe Venture Fund supported by two family holdings, enjoying privileged access to sector expertise and industrial network within key segment of the Health & Nutrition market, globally. The allocation in venture capital ranges from €5M to €7M ($6M to $8M) per company. The firm invests in Europe, Israel, North America and Middle-East.

The firm is primarily focused on 4 target investments areas :

– Life Science Tools & Diagnostics: Synthetic Biology; Point of Care Solutions; High Value Diagnostics; Life science Tools; Software, system integration & data mngt; New Imaging Solutions.

– Contract Manufacturing & Pharma services: Regulatory & Compliance; Bio-Statistics & Data Analytics; Pharma / API Development & Supply; Contract Development & Manufacturing; Research/ Drug Screening Services; Clinical Trial Design & Monitoring.

– Therapeutic Intervention & Patient Management Services: Infectious Diseases; Orphan Diseases; Respiratory Disorders; Ophthalmology; Home care & Remote patient monitoring.

– Preventive Medicine and Nutrition: Medical food, Probiotics & Nutraceuticals; Food Tracking & Safety; Plant Science & Crop protection; Novel Ingredient & Alternative Proteins; Animal health & nutrition; Novel Farming & Food processing. The firm actively supports entrepreneurs and companies that bring differentiated solutions to unmet medical needs and improve access to high-value products and services.

The firm has 3 principles that guide their investments:

– Invest in people first. The firm is looking for exceptional teams with great integrity, passion and shared vision about what business model to build or expand.

– Back differentiated products and services capable of addressing poorly served clinical needs with the potential to generate substantial revenues in attractive segments of the healthcare market.

– Bring added-value to support great companies globally. The firm’s team must be convinced that its distinctive experience, sector insights and international relationships can materially help entrepreneurs succeed. The firm is performing both growth equity and venture capital investments, therefore the firm primarily interested in small / mid-size companies at different stages of development and could consider investments in public companies. The firm invests in both revenue-generating and pre-revenue 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 Subsidiary of Japanese Pharma

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The firm is a pharmaceutical company established in 1997 and is headquartered in California. The firm is the wholly-owned subsidiary of a global pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Japan, that has been in operation since 1848. The company is one of the world’s largest patch manufacturers. The firm is focused on developing innovative products in CNS, oncology, and pain management. In particular, the firm has established a strong global presence in transdermal patch products. The company has several products on the market, including a topical, transdermal patch for post-herpetic neuralgia that provides analgesia to affected nerves and relieve pain. Another product is an injection used for the treatment of cancer, and is the first non-alcohol formulation of docetaxel approved in the USA. The firm is seeking novel products for potential in-licensing and partnering opportunities to strengthen their current pipeline. In addition, the firm is unveiling a new initiative through which the company will provide equity investment to early-stage technologies for which the firm could help leverage clinical development. The size of investment will largely depend on the company’s stage of development, but the company is open to investing up to $5M in initial investment. The firm is seeking global opportunities.

The firm’s business is centered on 3 main indications: CNS, oncology, and pain management. With the new early-stage investment initiative, the firm will focus on topical pain, CNS, and dermatology.

The firm is most interested in new NCEs that can be in integrated with topical delivery technologies, as well as existing chemical entities that have applicability in patch and topical applications. The firm will consider technologies as early as in development/pre-clinical.

The firm has no specific management team requirements. The firm has a development and regulatory team that can help companies with advancing towards FDA approval as well as Asian market entry, particularly Japan. Because the firm has many resources and support to offer to early-stage companies, experienced management team and successful track record would be a plus, but not a requirement.

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

Hot Longevity Mandates: Canada-Based Venture Fund

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The firm is a Toronto-based venture capital firm that was founded in 2016. The firm invests out of its second fund, which was initially closed in October 2020 at USD 150 million. Among the 150 million, the firm manages to invest 100 million directly in companies while the other 50 million will invest in funds. The firm focuses on investments in three main sectors: Biopharmaceutical, Healthcare Platform & Services, and Technology (i.e., SAAS, Fintech). The firm provides initial investments at USD 3-5 million, and it will also reserve a further amount for follow-on financing and supports the startups in strategic partnerships. The firm is interested in pre-clinical to clinical-stage biotech companies. The firm invests primarily in North America but also opens to invest in Europe or China.

The firm is looking for new opportunities in the life science space, including therapeutics, diagnostics, and healthcare platforms. The firm’s investments to date have included companies developing in cell therapy, oncology, neuroscience, and drug-discovery platform. The firm is opportunistic in terms of sector, subsectors, and indications. The firm will also consider orphan drugs. Within medical devices and digital health, the firm will only consider companies that already have a USD 10 million minimum revenue. The firm will only co-invest and will prefer to co-invest with well-known lead investors.

The firm does not have specific requirements on companies or management teams.

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

Congratulations to Digital RESI September Innovator’s Pitch Challenge Winners!

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By Joey Wong, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Life Science Nation (LSN) has successfully concluded the 3-Day Digital Redefining Early Stage Investment (RESI) conference. One of the highlights at the conference was the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC), an opportunity for early-stage companies to pitch live to a panel of investors and industry experts. Nearly 50 companies were featured at this past IPC and over 60 investors and industry experts have participated.

During the 3-Day RESI, each company was featured on a dedicated landing page that hosted their pitch video and supplementary materials. They also participated in a live Q&A session with a panel of judges, who are active investors or industry experts in the space. We were happy to see that the live Q&A sessions have attracted attendees from around the world, many of whom cast a vote for their favorite pitches.

Congratulations to the winners who will receive complimentary tickets to future RESI conferences, and many thanks to all the IPC finalists for their hard work preparing for the event, and to the pitch judges who supported each session with their great feedback. We hope to continue the IPC as a unique opportunity to create conversations between early-stage companies and investors, and we look forward to working with other innovative companies at future events!

1st Place – Cosm Medical

Cosm is bringing personalized medical devices to women suffering from pelvic floor disorders, a common, growing and stigmatized global women’s health issue. Through a seamless digital platform that combines proprietary diagnostics, AI, cloud software, and 3D printing, Cosm is commercializing the world’s first patient-specific pessary, Gynethotics. Our aim is to improve the clinician and patient experience while allowing more women to live and age with dignity and grace.

 

2nd Place – Ciscovery Bio

Ciscovery Bio is a genomics company that enables cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) such as enhancers and promoters for drug development, precision medicine, and biotechnology. Our CRM-based approach empowers (1) screening drugs at the preclinical stage, (2) mapping the genome-drug relationship, (3) developing a novel therapeutic application of existing drugs, and (4) precise expression of transgenes in gene therapy and in Ag biotech. This will bring saving of millions of dollars in drug development, more patient-centric drug treatment, and improvement in gene therapy and GM crops.

 

3rd Place – Celero Systems

Celero Systems has developed a long-acting physiological monitoring and drug delivery capsule. The smart capsule covers a range of enabling technologies including the ability to monitor physiology from inside the GI tract of a patient, and to respond to the detected physiology to treat a range of medical conditions. The capsule resides within the upper GI for a week and is cloud enabled allowing for physiological data to be shared with physicians resulting in improved patient care.

 

UCSF’s Virtual Show is on the Road

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By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN

Stephanie Marrus, Managing Director of Entrepreneurship at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) is on a mission, one that’s been decades in the making. Starting in marketing, business development, and growing into company leadership and entrepreneurship, Stephanie has built an impressive career that sets her up to effectively train scientific startup founders to succeed. In the age of Covid, she’s taken her show on the virtual road and has impacted hundreds of entrepreneurs globally.

Life Science Nation is proud to host Stephanie and the UCSF Innovation Ventures and Entrepreneurship Program at RESI Partnering Week, September 13-17. Get to know Stephanie and the UCSF Innovation Ventures and Entrepreneurship Program in a recent interview and get started on your entrepreneurial journey with Digital RESI and UCSF! Enrollment is open until Friday, September 17. The next class takes place Wednesday, September 29. Sign up today!

1500+ Meetings at Digital RESI September

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

Life Science Nation’s (LSN) virtual events continue to be successful with a global gathering of early-stage startups, as well as the investors and strategic partners looking to invest in them. With attendees representing over 30 countries from 5 continents participating in this week’s Redefining Early Stage Investment (RESI), more than 1500 meetings were booked over the three days of the conference. Individual companies booked up to 40 meetings over the course of the conference, with more than 75% of meetings booked occurring between companies and investors.

RESI-PARTNERING-MEETING-CHART-SEPTEMBER-2021

In addition to an extremely active partnering platform, the panels, workshops and pitch sessions were well-attended and dynamic, with enthusiastic audience participation. RESI events continue to show that even in an all virtual platform, the needle keeps moving forward in the life sciences, bringing life-saving technologies closer and closer to market.

Hot Investor Mandate: Corporate VC Arm of Asian Pharmaceutical Group Invests Up to $20M in Therapeutics Companies, Helps Overseas Companies with Expansion Into Asia

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The corporate venture of a publicly listed pharmaceutical group in Asia has successfully invested and established 7 IPO companies in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The firm now focuses on strategic investments which can synergize with its portfolio companies or future business. The firm is open to consider investment opportunities globally, and is willing to help overseas portfolio companies enter into Asia through licensing or joint venture activities. Typical allocation size can range from US$3-20 million.

The firm is investing strategically in selected sectors. Within therapeutics, the firm considers in companies with technology platforms in cell therapy, RNA therapies, bispecific and ADC drugs.  Investment stage can range from preclinical to early clinical stage.  The firm is also interested in investing in early stage CDMO companies in the areas above.


The firm is looking for experienced management teams with proven track records. The firm typically requests a board seat in its portfolio company.

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