Hot Investor Mandate: China-Based Corporation Seeks Strategic Investment & Partnership Opportunities in Early-Stage Therapeutics in Cardiovascular Disease, Oncology, and More

16 Jul

Headquartered in China, a publicly traded corporation (SHA:600535) is dedicated to building a top-tier, modern, and international brand in pharmaceutical products. The firm provides modernized traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), small molecule and biological drugs. The firm is actively pursuing strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and bio-techs from domestic and overseas in the abovementioned therapeutic areas. The firm considers a board range of strategies including strategic investment, joint venture, acquisition, licensing, and co-development.

The firm is looking for strategic partnerships in chemical drugs and biological drugs. The firm is open to products at clinical to launched stages in therapeutic areas of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases, oncology, diabetes, liver disease and so on.

The firm is looking to build collaborative partnerships with experienced teams in key strategic sectors.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: Life Sciences Investment Fund Partnered with a Family Office Invests in Seed Stage Therapeutics, Devices, Diagnostics, Life Science Tools Technologies in USA

16 Jul

A life sciences investment fund dedicated to accelerating the growth of seed-stage therapeutics companies. In partnership with a family investment office, the firm seeks to make 2-3 new investments by the end of 2020, allocating up to $250,000 per company. The firm invests in companies based in the U.S.

The firm is seeking investments in therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and life science tools. For therapeutics companies, the firm prefers treatments for diseases with well-defined etiologies, as well as clear method of action that are in late pre-clinical stage. For diagnostics, device and life science tools, the firm invests in companies that are approaching clearance and/or market launch.

The firm does not have any specific company or management team requirements. The firm is a strategic as well as financial investor, helping companies develop relationships and accelerate growth.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: Taiwan-Based Investment Firm Invests Globally into Therapeutics Platforms, Devices, and Services

16 Jul

A biotech early stage investment firm headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan invests from an Evergreen Fund backed by a Family Office. The firm has a fund size of $50M and an average ticket size range from $250K to $1M. The firm mainly focuses on early-stage biotechnology and medical device companies and is looking to invest in seed to pre-A round.

The firm is looking for new investment opportunities across a wide spectrum of life science sectors. The current pipeline includes biotechnology platforms, medical devices, therapeutics and service platforms.

The firm does not have any specific requirements for companies and their management teams.

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

Hot Investor Mandate: Canada VC Firm Invests in Early-Stage Technologies that Enable Higher Quality Personalized Treatments, Open to Global Opportunities

9 Jul

A venture capital firm with offices in Canada will invest around 80% in Canada-based life science companies and 20% in USA/global companies. The firm will generally participate in Series A financing rounds and beyond, including crossover and IPO; average check sizes will be around $5-10M. In addition, the firm is also dedicated to company incubation and creation for which the firm will work with earlier stage companies and deploy smaller amounts of capital.

The firm has a general theme of investing in technologies that can enhance the quality and accuracy of diagnoses, enable more precise and personalized treatments, targeted therapies such as cell & gene therapy, technologies that leverage AI to accelerate therapeutic development, etc. In terms of sector, the firm seeks to invest 50-60% in therapeutics, 20-30% in medical devices, and 10-15% in AI/digital health/diagnostics. For medical devices, the firm prefers later stage opportunities that are close to commercialization. The firm does not focus on any particular indication area.

The firm does not have specific company or management team requirements. While the firm likes to see management teams with a successful track record and wide range of experiences, this is not required and the firm is open to working on inexperienced management teams. The firm is capable of leading or co-leading investment rounds, and is also open to co-investing with likeminded investors. The firm is very hands-on and leverages their network to actively support the growth of their portfolio companies and provide needed resources.

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

RESI 2-Day Partnering Event – Partnering Goes Live July 13!

9 Jul

By Karen Deyo, Senior Investor Research Analyst, LSN

The RESI 2-Day Partnering Event is just over two weeks away, and we are launching the Partnering Platform on Monday, July 13! With a 50% increase in registered attendees over our last Dedicated Partnering Event, with participants representing over 20 countries on 4 continents, the partnering event is a testament to RESI’s global reach, and our ability to help startups and investors connect from their home offices and keep the dialogue going. Registered companies span the 4Ds: Drugs, Devices, Diagnostics and Digital Health, and are meeting with investors. However, making the right match is essential for successful partnering. We’ve broken down our registered investors, not only to show the vast diversity available at RESI, but to help attendees narrow their search for the perfect partner. Take a look at the list of registered investors here.

Make sure to check out the following links on how to be successful at partnering, and keep an eye out for our partnering tutorials to maximize your meetings!

There is still time to register before we launch partnering, register now!

AI in Diagnostics: An Investor Perspective

9 Jul

By Rory McCann, Marketing Manager & Conference Producer, LSN

It’s commonly said in business that “riches are in the niches”, which translates to targeting a specific market for an outstanding performance. In diagnostics investment, there’s no better example of this than Greybird Ventures. We spoke with the founder and CEO, Tom Miller, on his unique approach that sets his company apart in the often-competitive healthcare investment arena.

Miller started Greybird Ventures in 2013. He added two partners, and they made their first investment in 2016. Regarding their investment theme, Miller says that Greybird is, “[a] focused, totally dedicated, and only investing-in-diagnostic-technologies venture firm – we are also the world’s smallest one of those things – because I believe we’re the only ones doing that.”

Greybird’s foundation has remained the small team of three – Tom Miller, as well as Michael Devlin and Scott Gazelle – and the diagnostics-centered portfolio companies that have since grown to five, three of which work with artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled diagnostics. While the numbers may seem small, it has been an intentional strategy by Miller, who says, “[Greybird] holds a chairmanship in every firm we invest in, and we tell our CEOs who are about to take our money, ‘If you want a passive investor, don’t touch us.’ We are very active. We get involved with business development. We will help them with clinical trials. We’ll help them recruit principal investigators, and we get deeply involved in the science… That said, money is not really our limitation for how many companies we’ll invest in, but rather our own bandwidth. You don’t get a junior person. You get one of us.”

Using oncology as an example, Miller described the necessity of AI and machine learning (ML) in diagnostics. The more doctors and scientists understand certain cancers, the more specific types there are, and the broader the diagnostic range will be. Miller says, “I think within the next decade, for certain medical disciplines, practicing medicine without computerized assistance will be malpractice because you simply can’t do it.”

While a big believer in the promise of AI, Miller is skeptical of every application in the medical field, specifically in prognoses based on patient records and its potential to blur the lines between correlation and causation. He instead works to promote technologies where AI fills in the gaps, in addition to human study and close observation. Applications such as AI-enabled radiology, locating biomarkers for human cancer detection, and motion predicters to determine drug efficacy in degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s or Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Just as Greybird’s success has grown in a specific space within healthcare investment, Miller believes that AI is the best solution for well-defined, narrow problems.

The Digital Model Works If You Do it Right!

9 Jul

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series

The summer months may look different in 2020, but what remains the same is that there’s no rest for fundraising CEOs and investors with mandates to fill in the healthcare arena. Companies in the diagnostics, drugs, devices, and digital health realms are still chipping away at their fundraising goals, but for many, the new ecosystem of digital partnering is unknown and varies from event to event. Luckily, the most successful participants have learned how to play this new game, and there’s still time to jump in before the summer ends.

The Life Science Nation (LSN) international partnering superstructure has made LSN the premier player in the early-stage deal-making arena because LSN events connect global buyers and sellers. LSN has not been sidelined by the new business climate. On the contrary, LSN has accelerated, and is eager to share the top strategies from their playbook:

Make the Right Match.

To make the most out of a digital partnering event, it is imperative to match meetings with buyers or sellers based on development stage and product fit. LSN’s partnering system keeps a detailed up-to-date profile of the constituents so that a match can be made on fit. Matching the stage of development and product keeps the dialogue going long after the right match is made. Efficient partnering avoids the pitfall of a wasted meeting and sitting at a (virtual) table and realizing the person facing you is not a fit.

Partnering is an Ongoing Experiential Activity.

Partnering cannot be done once or twice a year, as business deals do not work that way. In the life science domain, it can take 9-18 months to put a deal together. Buyers and sellers, now more than ever, need a simple, low-cost, straightforward vehicle to meet and interact together frequently in order to find new opportunities for their respective pipelines, advance a conversation, continue to vet and develop a relationship or close a deal.

Pivot to Digital. 

Pivoting and moving from onsite gatherings to a digital format has been a major hurdle for life science conferences, but it doesn’t need to slow down partnering activities. Many large firms are trying to dock the proverbial aircraft carrier into a new berth, and need to be nimble enough to change direction and adapt quickly to the new reality. Dive into this changing landscape by joining digital partnering events and taking advantage of the flexibility digital conferences offer, such as pre-recorded panels and presentations and 24-hour partnering platform to accommodate global conversations.

The Digital Model Works, but Only if You Do, Too. 

LSN has created a new model which is a combination of extending our typical onsite one-day events into three-day virtual events, which has seen a 30% increase in attendance. Companies across life science are discovering that a hybrid business model going forward can take advantage of certain digital perks, while enjoying the in-person experience we all miss.

Check out LSN’s lineup of digital partnering events at https://resiconference.com/ and its Inaugural 4D Meets AI digital partnering conference at http://4dmeetsai.com/. Don’t put your fundraising goals or your investments on hold like vacation plans, because unlike the summer months, the best deals won’t be back next year.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →