A venture capital firm with offices worldwide specialises in early stage investments in the technology and life sciences sectors. The firm accelerates commercialisation of ground-breaking innovation through investments, experienced hands-on management and the intelligent use of partnering. The firm typically invest at seed stage or before a company has been formed and develop these early opportunities through preclinical phase; at late preclinical/early clinical stage the firm gets co-investors involved. The firm prefers areas where there are multiple capital efficient routes to market, with opportunities for early proof of concept or early outlicensing or exits. The firm manages a $150M fund and makes investments from $100K to $10M, depending on the opportunity. The firm is seeking a couple of opportunities to add to its portfolio. The firm invests in companies based in the USA and/or Europe.
The firm looks at early stage biotech therapeutics. In terms of indications, the firm is interested in anti-infectives and particularly antimicrobial resistance, as well as immuno-modulatory anti-inflammatory indications and orphan and rare diseases.
The firm looks for a strong management team with track record and a ground-breaking technology addressing an unmet need. The firm seeks to take significant minority stakes and board seats. In addition, the firm will provide hands-on support from its own bench of senior execs, experts and advisors to accelerate its ventures after investment.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com
A private equity firm that was founded in 2008 and is based in California makes equity allocations between $5-$50m in medical devices and advanced biotechnologies such as synthetic biology. The firm is currently seeking opportunities globally.
The firm manages a bioventures fund that investment strategies in/around advanced biotechnologies. This focus includes scalable, portable and sustainable technologies within high human-imperative sectors such as agriculture-food, energy-resources, industrial chemicals-materials, water-environment, and defense-space. The firm also has an interest in medical devices of any size, stage, geographic location and indication area. The firm is stage-agnostic and considers from seed and venture stage products to on-market products.
The firm is seeking experienced management teams. The firm typically takes a board seat in the companies it invests in.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com
By Alejandro Zamorano, VP of Business Development, LSN
The life science partnering conference circuit provides entrepreneurs with many venues to book meetings with potential strategic partners and investors, and ultimately to build relationships that will lead to allocations. When it comes to raising funds for your emerging life science company, partnering conferences are an important aspect of a campaign. Below are 4 key lessons on how to use a partnering system effectively:
Register Early
Several advantages are derived from registering early for partnering events. Conferences typically open their partnering systems several weeks prior to the event, so by registering early you ensure that you will have access to partnering and can send meeting requests early. Due to this flurry of early activity, some investors will fill up their schedules well in advance. Registering early can also boost your chances with investors who plan their schedules closer to the event; most partnering systems order messages from first received to last, so sending a message out early will put you on top of the heap.
Leverage Partnering for Meetings Outside of the Event
A partnering portal is more than just a messaging system. A partnering system tells you which investors will be present and may provide you with detailed profiles of those investors. Knowing who’s attending and having a direct means of contact matter even more with events during JPM, as there are so many investors in attendance and they will likely have a long list of events to attend. If an investor’s partnering schedule is already full, ask if they can meet outside the event: perhaps in the evening, or the next day. You would be surprised how many people give up once investors have said their event schedule is full, instead of looking for an alternative option.
Put in the Time
Many entrepreneurs wait until the last minute to send partnering invitations and tend to spam investors with a generic message about their company that has no specific draw for the investor to which it’s addressed. They are doing themselves a huge disservice as they fail to provide a specific, compelling reason why investors should meet with them. You should spend time on qualifying and personalizing all your partnering messages. The results are well worth the effort as you’ll get more meetings, and those meetings will have a stronger basis and therefore be more productive. Remember, investors and strategic partners are there to meet companies like yours, so don’t be afraid to reach out, but do keep your outreach targeted. One well-crafted message to an investor who’s a strong fit beats ten vague messages to poor fits any day.
Contact Using Multiple Avenues
One of the most effective ways to get meetings is to email your targets outside of the partnering system and ask if they would like to meet at the event. This allows you to send your pitch deck as an attachment, and to make messages more personal. This second touch point increases your response rates, as it will reach investors who haven’t yet logged into the partnering system. The final step is a follow-up phone call to introduce yourself and ask if the investor would be interested in meeting.
For RESI, LSN’s goal is to create a dynamic partnering platform with customizable profiles and search features so that biotech/medtech companies can be matched with the investors that are a fit for their technology. This initial good fit provides a basis for dialogue and a starting point for a long-term relationship.
With partnering going live on Monday, the best time to register for the event is now, before investors begin to fill up their meeting slots. To see a demonstration of just how effective the partnering system can be at finding a match, please check out this video.
JPM turns San Francisco into an industry hub every January, and it’s strategically vital to make your company shine during the biggest and busiest yearly event attended by investors and life science entrepreneurs. While there are many conferences and receptions taking place, there are relatively few opportunities for promoting your company’s brand among qualified life science investors.
That’s why we designed the RESI Innovation Challenge to provide a better showcase for life science companies. By providing space in the RESI Exhibit Hall for successful applicants to place poster displays, the RESI Innovation Challenge puts your brand out there throughout the full-day event, keeping you on view for the hundreds of investors who will be attending RESI throughout the day. More importantly, your message will provide a talking point that can springboard conversations about your technology, your market opportunity, and your company’s progress. Even if you’re out doing a full tour of meetings, your message will still be getting out there in the RESI Exhibit Hall. If you place in the top 3 participating companies, LSN will also showcase you online in Next Phase.
With the RESI Innovation Challenge deadline coming up on December 9th, LSN would like to encourage you to put your company in the spotlight. We’ve seen some very impressive applications thus far, and we hope to receive many more by the deadline next week. We’re excited to get this look into emerging technologies, and LSN’s scientific review board will assess every application to select the 30 best entrants to be part of the RESI Innovation Challenge.
As always, we welcome a broad variety of life science startups to apply; past RESI winners have come from all over the map, including companies developing products in biotech, healthcare IT, diagnostics, and personalized medicine. With the deadline a week away, we’re looking forward to receiving your application.
The amount of capital being invested in medical technology and diagnostics is at its highest point since 2008. However, companies in the diagnostics space face some unique challenges in the fundraising landscape.
To inform your fundraising campaign’s direction, Life Science Nation is pleased to announce a panel of six investors with expertise in the diagnostics space for RESI San Francisco on January 12th. Moderated by Akhil Saklecha, Partner at Artiman Ventures, the panel will feature:
Michael Midmer, Director, Genomic Applications Programs, Genome Canada
This panel will provide fundraising entrepreneurs with an inside peak into the strategy of these diagnostic investors – including best practices for building relationships with diagnostic investors as well as advice on making sure your diagnostic company is positioned as a strong investment opportunity.
If you’re interested in listening to this panel live at RESI, you can register for RESI San Francisco now. RESI provides a great opportunity to expand your network in the life sciences and to get a better understanding of fundraising process, and January 12th will be our largest gathering yet.
A venture capital firm with offices throughout China manages about USD 1 billion in committed capital with three USD funds and three RMB funds. The firm typically invests in series A and B rounds. The firm can invest anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars up to ten million or more over a 10 year horizon. At present, the firm is looking for new investment opportunities in Greater China, while it also considers US- or EU-based companies that are Chinese-led or have a China angle.
The firm seeks to invest in a broad array of technologies including therapeutics, medical devices, IVD, healthcare big data and mHealth. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in reformulated and generic drugs. The firm typically does not consider novel drugs. Within medical devices, the firm is interested in disposable devices and products that address large unmet medical need in China. The firm is opportunistic in terms of subsectors and stage of development. Historically, the firm invested in radiology imaging, clinical cell and molecular genetics testing, POC devices, mobile health, diagnostics and genomics, and drug discovery.
The firm is looking for competent and experienced management teams. The firm typically seeks a board seat in its portfolio companies.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com
A Germany-based corporate VC with offices worldwide invests in medical technology companies that are strategically relevant to its parent firm. Investments in equity rounds range from $1-5 million, and are made worldwide.
The fund’s primary focuses within healthcare are medical imaging (including both equipment and software) and diagnostics (particularly point of care diagnostics and molecular diagnostics). In these sectors, the fund focuses on products used in a hospital setting. The fund also invests in healthcare IT solutions that add value to imaging and diagnostics, such as data-as-a-service products. The fund is potentially interested in medical robotics. The fund will invest in any medical indication area, and only invests in companies that have attained proof of concept data for their product, with a preference for companies that have a product on the market that can demonstrate traction and revenue.
The fund generally does not attach strategic rights to an investment other than the right to be informed if the company is seeking a buyer. The firm requires a board seat or a board observer in each portfolio company.
If you are interested in more information about this investor and other investors tracked by LSN, please email mandates@lifesciencenation.com
