China-Based Investors are Looking West for New Products in Diabetes Care

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By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Diabetes mellitus is a global epidemic, with the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors believed to underlie the disease on the increase worldwide. Among this large diabetes market, China has a higher number of diabetics than any other country. According to a World Health Organization estimate, of all adults with diabetes, one in three is from China.

This attracts a large number of Chinese investors to investments in diabetes care. For example, in 2017, when Johnson & Johnson began evaluating whether to sell its diabetes units, including glucose meters, insulin pumps and other equipment used in diabetes care, multiple Chinese investors expressed interest in buying some or all of these business units. However, many Chinese investors are looking at early stage products in this space. LSN is in touch with nearly a hundred China-based firms that are open to considering pre-approval products in the diabetes and metabolic disease field.

Chinese investors have invested, in-licensed, acquired or formed joint ventures with multiple Western diabetes care companies in recent years – the investors are expecting to extract extra value from the diabetes market in China. According to Franck Le Deu, Hong Kong-based senior partner at McKinsey, it is possible that a Chinese company could extract more value from these technologies than a multinational since they have different expectations of profitability. Even with lower margins, a tremendous growing diabetes population makes the Chinese diabetes market very significant. In addition, Chinese investors could leverage its local capabilities and knowledge to help these companies’ growth in the country.

As Chinese investors are seeking Western technologies and startups to address the diabetes market in China, it is a great time for diabetes startups to consider building connections and working with these investors.

Hot Investor Mandate 1: Chinese Cross-Border VC Invests Up to $30M in Both Pre-Revenue and Revenue-Generating Life Science Companies

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A global venture capital firm founded in 1995 has offices in the Silicon Valley area and China. The firm recently closed a $750 million fund as well as a smaller $150 million fund. The firm invests exclusively in the life science sector and invests primarily in the USA and China, but will also invest in other regions such as Europe and Canada. Within China, the firm makes growth investments in companies that have existing revenues; in the USA and other regions, the firm makes both venture and growth-equity stage investments in both pre-revenue and revenue-stage companies. The firm’s allocations are highly varied. From the main fund, investments typically range from $10-30m, though larger investments are of interest as well; the firm’s smaller fund makes investments of typically $2-5 million, generally in financing rounds of $10 million or less. The firm is open to syndication. The firm is also particularly interested in working with companies that are open to or actively interested in seeking partnerships or opportunities in China.

The firm invests in therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare services, and clinically-oriented healthcare IT, and will consider investing in any indication area or technology subsector; however, orphan indications, dermatology/aesthetics, oncology, and blood diseases are of particular interest in the biopharma space; general surgery, neurovascular, cardiovascular, minimally invasive technologies, women’s health, respiratory care, novel diagnostics and orthopedics are of particular interest in the device space. The smaller fund focuses on early stage opportunities in biotech; from the main fund, the firm in most cases makes investments in products that have obtained market approval or are very close to commercialization, but earlier investments may be considered for highly innovative products or products that can demonstrate strong efficacy signals at an earlier stage (such as anti-infectives). For devices and diagnostics, the firm only invests in commercial-stage companies. Generally, the firm does not invest in imaging.

The firm is flexible regarding management teams, and works with both serial entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who lack industry experience. In addition to investing in private companies, The firm is able to invest in public companies by means of PIPEs or public market placements. The firm is interested in investing in companies with products that can demonstrate cost-effectiveness.

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

Hot Investor Mandate 2: Corporate Venture Arm of Large Medtech Company Seek to Invest and Partner with Medical Device Companies in Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Among Other Indications

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A corporate investment group invests strategically on behalf of a large medical technology corporate. The firm uses a variety of structures to work with early stage medical technology companies, including both licensing relationships and equity investments on a case by case basis. The firm is a flexible investor, and the firm’s allocation sizes are wide ranging. The firm invests worldwide.

The firm invests in sectors that are relevant to the corporate’s business groups – areas of interests include cardiovascular, diabetes, restorative therapies, and minimally invasive therapies. This includes interests in spinal implants, neuromodulation treatments for pain and urological disorders, deep brain stimulation, neurovascular devices, general surgery, gastrointestinal care, pulmonology, respiratory care and monitoring technologies, etc. The firm is interested in diversifying the corporate’s product and services offerings within all of these areas of interests and also in integrating new fields of information technology and services into the strategic areas, such as IT-enabled patient monitoring and contract management of provider facilities. The firm invests at a range of development stages but generally prefers to work with companies that have obtained clinical data regarding their asset.

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

Hot Investor Mandate 3: Canada Based VC Invests in Early-Stage Medtech and Digital Health Companies in North America

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A Canada-based investment firm that was founded in 2000 has two Health Tech Venture funds that invested in a total of 26 companies, mostly in Canada. The firm is currently in the process of raising its third fund. The firm invests in the health technology sector, especially medical technology and digital health. The second fund focuses on pre and post Series A investments with the ability to do follow-on funding. The investment size can range from $100K to over $1M and up to $2-4M with follow-on funding. The capital structure is flexible, especially as they are currently raising their third fund. The firm typically co-invests and will lead investments depending on the occasion and size of the round. Investment can be in form of equity, whereas convertible loan and other capital structures will be considered. The new fund looks to invest in 10-20 companies. The firm focuses on companies based in Canada, but it will also look at opportunities in the US. The firm’s investment activity has catalyzed over $200M of investment in the Canadian venture capital space.

In the life sciences, the firm is currently looking for new investments in the medical technology, diagnostics, digital health, AI applications in healthcare, surgical robotics and healthcare IT sectors with a particular interest in medical devices with a software component. The firm is interested in all classes of medical devices and is indication agnostic. The firm is focused on preclinical to clinical stage technology and is focused on technology that requires an FDA regulatory pathway. The firm will consider therapeutics companies from time-to-time, however, therapeutics is not the firm’s focus. Historically, the firm was active in a company developing blood-testing platform for infectious diseases.

The firm focuses on investments in private companies with an experienced management team and growth potential. The firm will take a board seat based on case-by-case basis, though is not the requirement.

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

Hot Investor Mandate 4: Vancouver-Based VC Invests Seed Capital in Health and Wellness Companies Across Canada and Western USA

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A Vancouver-based venture capital firm actively invests in health technology, sports technology, fitness, and nutrition businesses. The firm is an early-stage investor and focuses on investing in Seed to Series A rounds. The firm makes initial investments up to $100K through equity or convertible notes and will make 2-4 investments per year. The firm is raising a new fund that will focus on companies along the Pacific Coast of the USA and across Canada, but currently focuses on investing in Canada-based companies. With the launch of the new venture fund, the firm will invest up to $500k in first rounds.

The firm is dedicated to investing in preventative health and proactive technology solutions that optimize health, activity and longevity. As social impact and technology investors, the firm is committed to the development of technologies, products and services that both enhance and promote an individual’s ability to stay optimally healthy and active over an entire lifetime.

The firm focuses on innovative health technologies including digital health, mobile health, sport technology, wearable technology, and those that help with chronic disease management and corporate wellness initiatives. The firm is very interested in consumer-facing technologies that can enhance health and wellness, quality of care, as well as technologies that could be used in developing preventative health strategies and solutions. The firm does not have minimum revenue requirements and will consider companies in their earliest stages as long as they demonstrate high growth potential. The firm will not consider therapeutics or diagnostic companies. Medical devices subject to a 510k approval process will be considered.

The firm seeks to invest in private companies developing technologies that positively impact health and wellness. The firm can work with all types of management teams with flexibility, although strong experience and a successful track record is a plus. The firm works closely with their portfolio companies and will provide needed expertise, including access to an international network of strategic advisors to support their growth.

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

RESI Innovation Challenge Puts Many Scientists/Entrepreneurs in the Funding Circle

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By Chris Cummings, Senior Marketing Manager, LSN

RESI is heading to Toronto for the third time, and LSN will soon be reviewing applications to the RESI Innovation Challenge. This is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to win a display space at RESI and make their mark at Toronto Health Innovation Week. You have until Friday March 2nd to apply – that’s tomorrow!

The RESI Innovation Challenge covers startups in therapeutics, medtech, diagnostics and healthcare IT from around the globe. All applicants will be vetted based not only on the quality of the company’s scientific work, but also on the strength of the management team and how well-positioned the company is to receive investment.

Previous Innovation Challenge participants have proven to be successful entrepreneurs; we have seen as many as 50% of companies selected to participate in an Innovation Challenge receive funding within one year of the conference. Top competitors are able to find a balance between utilizing both the structure of RESI’s partnering system, and the ad-hoc nature of the Innovation Challenge.

On April 10th, RESI on MaRS’s expected 700 attendees will receive “RESI Cash” to allocate to the entrepreneurs whose technologies they expect will be most influential. The capital invested will be tallied up and the top three winners will receive prizes and be featured in our RESI newsletter recap that will go out to LSN’s 20,000 newsletter readership. Don’t miss the opportunity to apply.

New CFDA Regulations Already Showing Benefits for China’s Biotech Innovation

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By James Huang, Research Analyst, LSN

james-wpWithin the last few months, China has been formally rolling out their new CFDA regulations that have given startups and new technology developers in China all sorts of benefits. These benefits include allowing the submission of data from clinical trial sites outside of China, allowing more Chinese hospitals to run trials, and allowing drug makers who are waiting for the green light on a safety study to go ahead if they haven’t heard back from the CFDA within 60 days.

All these regulation changes have seen a big boom to China’s biotech innovations. In fact, many Taiwanese companies have seen this regulatory shift as an opportunity to get into the Chinese market. Companies such as Taiwan Liposome (TLC) have started joint ventures with Chinese investors in order to run trials and commercialize their products in China. With the ability to submit their clinical trial data from Taiwan and start their new trials more quickly in China, many of these companies expect to see NDA filings for their assets by the end of the year.

Another highlight of this new regulatory system is that CRISPR human trials have already started within Chinese hospitals. CRISPR in the US, on the other hand, has yet to receive any approval or the go ahead for such trials. Some describe this discrepancy as being the result of China’s lack of regulations. However, that is not necessarily the case. China’s new regulations are geared towards pushing new innovative technologies into trials and out onto market as quickly as possible and has the benefit of being a newly reformed system. In contrast, the US FDA is a much older system using regulations that have been built upon for years, resulting in a much slower and more meticulous process.

Therefore, it might be an advantageous for startups to consider working with Chinese investors through joint ventures. The benefits of having an accelerated clinical trial process with reduced trial costs may be worth the pain of forming a joint venture with a qualified Chinese partner. Of course, while the process of finding a qualified Chinese partner and working with them may be tedious on its own, it definitely should not be immediately discounted. Given how the times are changing, a global outlook towards potential partners and opportunities is becoming more and more necessary in order to succeed.