Tag Archives: Fundraising

Global Funding Insights for Digital Health Initiatives in 2018

12 Jul

By Ashley Durrer, Marketing Manager, LSN

This week I interviewed Colin Widen, the CEO of Boston Innovation Capital (BIC), Life Science Nation’s (LSN) wholly-owned broker-dealer arm, to learn where investors are allocating funds, and the current focus on healthcare advancement within the digital health space.

BIC works alongside LSN and our network of investors to support early-stage companies in forging connections with investors, major pharma firms, and other strategic players in the life science world. By managing clients’ fundraising campaigns and connecting them to investors who are a good fit, BIC is able to address its, and LSN’s, mission of advancing new and innovative technologies to the clinic.

Interview with Colin Widen moderated by Ashley Durrer

AD: With billions of dollars being poured into digital health, why the sudden increase?

CW: “Healthcare needs to find a way to pay for digital health now that value-based care and hospital incentives are aligned to support lower costs in healthcare with improved patient care. There are new potentials for change within the telemedicine space in light of ongoing healthcare reforms and debate.”

AD: How will that turn out for those seeking funding?

CW: “Digital health initiatives will be the least impacted by changes to the American healthcare system, making them prime opportunities for investment this year.

“There is a much lower cost to creating software, virtual platforms, compliance tools, etc. than creating advances in biologics, drugs, and other life science advancements, making digital health an increasingly popular space for investors. Successfully investing in therapeutics or medical devices requires a great deal of expertise, not to mention the increased risk due to the potential failure in clinical trials. On the other hand, software is a recognizable, lower cost, and scalable business model that is often also easily adaptable when regulations change.”

AD: Where does BIC fit into global funding from client perspectives?

CW: “BIC is working tirelessly to support digital health technologies that will have a real impact on the healthcare system for our doctors, nurses, and hospitals. This year BIC is focused on digital health technologies, assets, and virtual tools, which can support doctors’, hospitals’, and nurses’ efforts with patients. However, this currently excludes consumer-based products and electronic medical record (EMR) initiatives.”

AD: What are some examples of potential best-fit clients?

CW: “Some examples recognized in the market are pill dispensers and medicinal tracking for patient compliance, health portals for patients and doctors, mental health apps, medication tracking, patient monitoring and more.”

AD: What kind of client are you seeking now? Can you share a potential client profile?

CW: “Within our LSN network of investors, feedback clearly shows there is an increasing appetite to invest in niche digital health opportunities.

“Investors are seeking companies within the top-tier of their specialization, and a proven business model within the market. Often these investors want to see that the product, software, tool, etc. are viable, which means it’s already being used within the market e.g. hospitals. This also includes an accompanying value proposition for payors and the company is receiving ongoing revenue for that service.”

BIC Global Network of Digital Health Investors are focused on:

  • Funding of $10M-50M
  • Min $3mm+ ARR
  • Niche companies within the top-tier of their specialization
  • Currently avoiding pure EMR focused and consumer-based products

The Future of Digital Health

There are innovations happening every day to help improve access to healthcare. 2018 has already seen an increase in the debate over healthcare reform, rising insurance costs, and uncertainty of coverage for millions of Americans. Advancements in technologies and virtual tools for doctors and hospitals could really help to streamline processes and reduce overall costs for themselves as well as the patients they serve.

We can’t wait to hear what new innovations are entering the digital health space.

About Colin Widen, CEO

Colin Widen, registered representative, is a seasoned executive with 25 years of sales, trading and portfolio management experience in major investment banks. Colin joined Deutsche Bank where he led a team providing consulting services about alternative asset allocation strategies to family offices and smaller endowments and foundations. In creating BIC, Colin has combined investment skills with the robust investor network of LSN to offer a unique platform. Colin is a registered representative and holds Series 7, 24, 63 and 82 registrations. His specialties include reconstructing hedge fund portfolios. analyzing private equity holdings and helping with strategy and execution of capital raise initiatives across the spectrum of today’s life science assets.

About Boston Innovation Capital

Boston Innovation Capital (BIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Life Science Nation Holdings, became a FINRA-registered broker-dealer in 2016. BIC works alongside LSN’s other two divisions (LSN’s Investor Platform and Company Platform, and the RESI Conference Group) to support early-stage companies in forging connections with investors, major pharma firms and other strategic players in the life science world.

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Marketing Collateral for Your Fundraising Strategy

5 Jul

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

If you haven’t heard, Life Science Nation provides consulting services for branding and messaging, both critical to the fundraising process. The LSN mantra is, “We echo to our clients what the investors tell us they want to see”. Through conversations with investors through the years, LSN has the knowledge to help shape your marketing collateral to address what investors are looking for, whether you meet during a RESI Conference or on your own time.

Top Three Pieces of Marketing Collateral You Need

There are three key marketing documents investors generally evaluate to form a first impression of your company: the executive summary, pitch deck, and company website. These three pieces of content have one purpose: they serve to whet the target investor/partner’s appetite and convince them to request a meeting with you and start a dialogue. Below is a list of all supporting marketing collateral you may need for your fundraising campaign. This article will go into further detail on the executive summary, pitch deck, and website and what the content should highlight.

Marketing collateral every entrepreneur needs.

If you are looking for more detailed information on defining and developing your marketing collateral, please read Chapter 6 of Dennis Ford’s book, “The Life Science Executive’s Fundraising Manifesto“.

What “value” does your business add?

One key takeaway from all your marketing collateral should be the value of your company and its technology. Investors want to easily understand your message and value-add right away, no matter what the marketing collateral. Investors tend to be very busy, but if you can pique their initial interest, you will have plenty of opportunity to provide more information as the dialogue unfolds. The investor does not want to have difficulty understanding your company value so make sure you have a clear message for them.

There is no standardization.

Many of our clients go through a learning curve due to the lack of standardization of the fundraising collateral (executive summary etc.) required by investors. This makes it extremely difficult to provide a course on the basics of fundraising branding and messaging. This has led to the service we provide, creating custom marketing collateral.

An investor can receive as many as 100 solicitations per week. Investors have become experts at skimming and looking for a spark to ignite their interest. If that is not found, they quickly move on to the next opportunity.

How to get started.

An executive summary (ES) is typically no more than 2 pages and can be accompanied by a visual PowerPoint (your pitch deck) of 10-12 slides. Usually, they are sent together when you reach out for an initial introduction as it provides the investor with key background information upfront. The goal is to move them from either document to your website for more detailed content.

Here are five main points we have learned regarding the ES and pitch deck.

  1. Send both an executive summary and a pitch deck. Some folks click on an executive summary and others click on the deck. Most investors have an innate preference for one or the other. Since you won’t know before reaching out, LSN recommends that you send out both.
  2. The executive summary is the story of your company and how you got to your current state.
  3. The pitch deck should reflect what is in the executive summary, but in bullet form, with the addition of more information that shows the value-add of your firm and product.
  4. The pitch deck is your tool to present your company position to investors, therefore replacing your voice. It needs to stand completely on its own because it is read in your absence. Unlike a standard deck used for a presentation with bullets designed to trigger your dialogue, the pitch is being read as it is. The challenge is to be able to deliver the complete message with as few, concise words as possible and no need for a presenter.
  5. Remember, it’s the investor’s first introduction to your company. The investor will not have the full context, and therefore some level of contextual detail may be necessary.

Your website represents your company brand.

Your company website is a detailed representation explaining your company and its technology. It needs to offer a “deep dive” on the company and team, more detailed than is possible in your executive summary and pitch deck. The website should provide all of the detail and context that tell the full story of your company and its value. Even so, it is necessary to maintain consistency with your language and provide a clear message.

If done right and the message comes across, then the target partner will be able to assess that you’re a good fit and decide to initiate a conversation. The executive summary, the pitch deck and the website are all created for one reason – to give enough compelling information that an investor decides to initiate the first meeting.

Remember, it’s about the buyer: a busy investor with cash to allocate. Keep in mind they will do a quick scan of your deck and executive summary. They will be looking for something that will impart enough interest that they will want to have a chat with you and your firm.

 

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Foundations as Investors

5 Jul

By Karen Deyo, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

Life Science Nation knows summertime can be a lull for fundraising, with many investors out of the office. This can make it more challenging and extend a fundraising campaign. LSN spoke with one of the investors attending and speaking at the RESI Healthtech Week this fall, asking him to share his insights into an often-overlooked resource in the fundraising process—foundations as investors.

Jim Golubieski, President of New Jersey Health Foundation and its affiliate, Foundation Venture Capital Group, LLC, will be speaking on the “Foundations” panel, sharing his insights and experience. It will discuss non-profit organizations that provide support and funding to early-stage startups.

Below are the answers to two questions asked by Life Science Nation.

What will RESI attendees learn from you?

Jim: “The most important takeaway from my session would be for attendees to know that many foundations and other not-for-profit organizations are no longer simply fundraising organizations but can also be great sources of capital funding that might be overlooked. It is also important to explore all avenues when seeking funding – attendees should research individual foundations to see what types of organizations and projects they fund, to explore if their missions and goals are compatible with their own.”

What makes you excited to attend RESI?

Jim: “From a strategic perspective, attending RESI means that all the components needed for early-stage investment opportunities are under one roof, in one place at one time, to meet with and explore the entire funding cycle. The opportunity to talk with our colleagues—investors, CEOs, scientists, entrepreneurs and potential partners— is an exciting concept.”

The Foundations Panel will be held on Day 1 – First Coast Innovator’s Gathering
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018 at 2:00 PM – 2:50 PM

Panel topics to be discussed may include:

  • What is the foundation’s preferred stage of development when supporting companies?
  • How to approach foundations for fundraising.
  • What criteria do non-profits use to evaluate opportunities?
  • What are the differences between support from non-profit investors compared to for-profit investors?

When foundations support startups, it is with an eye to their mission as opposed to profit. These missions can range from regional development to advancement of a cure or treatments for a particular disease. Foundations play an important role in the fundraising landscape, often assisting companies to grow to the level required by more traditional investors. Panelists will discuss their approach to supporting early-stage companies and how these companies can benefit from a partnership with a foundation.

To learn more and to attend the panel, sign up for RESI Healthtech Week.

James M. Golubieski

James M. Golubieski is President of New Jersey Health Foundation and its affiliate, Foundation Venture Capital Group, LLC, a company that provides pre-seed funding to new health-related startup companies founded by New Jersey researchers to help them advance toward commercialization.

Mr. Golubieski works closely with the companies in which Foundation Venture has invested, sits on their Boards and provides guidance in helping them to develop their business models.

Previously he had been CFO of Array Medical, Inc., a medical device start-up company established in 1995 that developed a groundbreaking blood test to test platelet function. The company was sold in 1999. Mr. Golubieski was also the chief operating officer and senior executive vice president of Glendale National Bank and a member of its board of directors, president of Glendale Investment Corp. and Glendale Mortgage Services, Inc. and chief financial officer of Glendale Bancorp, which was acquired by Mellon Financial. For 10 years prior he had been with KPMG.

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Fundraising Steps You Need to Take

3 Jul

By Ashley Durrer, Marketing Manager, LSN

It can be challenging to perfect your fundraising strategy in order to accelerate your work. As a past marketing and business development focused entrepreneur I’ve been exposed to the fundraising environment outside of the life science and healthcare industry. It may be counter-intuitive, but fundraising processes (as well as constructing partnerships) are similar across different industries except for their smaller nuances.  Scientist-entrepreneurs and fundraising CEOs need to know that a clear value proposition made up of your tagline, executive summary and more will be the differentiating factor in progressing your discussions with investors past the initial conversation. The ones who can share their value proposition with the most clarity, are the ones investors will move forward with for fundraising opportunities. Here are some fundamentals everyone needs to know.

Entrepreneurs know it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and funds to make a company successful. If you’re new to the fundraising sphere within the life science and healthcare industry, you may be unsure what to prioritize and where to start. Life Science Nation (LSN) is a company focused on providing resources and conferences focused on initiating new opportunities for strategic partnerships and fundraising activities. LSN makes it as straightforward and simple as possible so you can maximize your success. That means having a solid understanding of the fundraising process and knowing what steps to take in order to execute a deal or partnership.

Define Your Value Proposition

At the foundation, it’s imperative to understand your own branding and communicate it clearly to your constituents. If you don’t understand your product, services, and goals, they won’t either. This includes clearly defining your addressable market and growth potential to global investors and strategic partners. Otherwise, it will be an upward battle to convince them to support you as a partner or financially. If you then consider that it takes 6-18 months to fundraise (always longer than hoped or expected), clarity for your mission becomes crucial to speeding up the fundraising or partnership process.

LSN wants companies to be ready for the initial conversations so they can get to the next phase sooner. The next conversations are where you work through the deals and partnerships, and not stumbling over the value proposition for too long. Know your product set, it’s development stage, and how it fits into investors mandates and requirements. Make sure you have these to share verbally as well as through marketing materials: an executive summary, pitch deck, etc.

Create and Curate an Investor Database

Now that you’ve defined your company, goals, and growth potential, it’s time to create a target list of investors or strategic partners. This can be a daunting task and normally starts by networking with current, established relationships. This is a great starting point to expand your network, and will usually provide hot leads for best matches. LSN expands upon this by opening up companies and investors to their network of constituents. It is a real advantage, where other industries have to rely solely on their personal connections.

Match Your Company Product Set with Investor Mandates

If you can match you and your company with the right fit people for you, then it’s a lot easier to start having those initial conversations that lead up to deals and strategic partnerships. Since this is a challenge, LSN chose to specialize and develop its company to connect products, services, and capital to support individual efforts to target an investor audience and network with potential matches.

LSN created a two-sided platform: ‘For Company’ side and a ‘For Investors’ side. It’s intuitive search functions make it easy to use for sourcing information for deals and partnerships. At its core, it saves potential strategic partners, investors, and fundraising CEOs time on research, so they can instead focus on the important tasks of engaging in conversations that match their interests–filling the pipeline for new opportunities which in turn accelerate businesses, technology, and deals.

The LSN Company Platform (for investors and strategic partners) is the premier life science company database, covering over 50,000 companies from around the world, with a particular focus on the earliest stage companies who have been missed by traditional data providers.

The LSN Investor Platform (for companies) includes present and future-looking investor data collected and curated by LSN’s Investor Research team through ongoing dialogue with LSN’s 5,000 life science investors from around the world. The team updates the database to only include active investors who are currently allocating funds to projects and companies that fit their mandate requirements.

The Investor Platform:

  • Includes investors from 10 categories: Angels, Corporate Venture Capital, Endowments/Foundations, Family Offices, Government Organizations, Hedge Funds, Institutional Alternative Investor, Large Pharma/Biotech, PE, and Venture Captial.
  • Track goals and requirements over the next year for investors
  • Facilitates targeted deal flow so investors are a fit for you

The LSN Platforms include:

  • Portal with filters to identify potential leads for you: location, investor types, product sets, investment interest section, phases, etc.
  • LSN’s Investor Platform includes mandates, differentiating them from other databases
  • By mentioning your connection to LSN, it facilitates your connections and provides credibility

Ask LSN for a demo to learn more.

Network Face-to-Face

After completing your target list, you’ll realize warm introductions mean a lot in propelling the conversations forward, past the initial talks. That’s why Life Science Nation created the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference. LSN knew entrepreneurs and fundraising CEO’s needed a central location with access to potential global investors and strategic partners. With limited time and much to do as a startup, they need tools and resources to work efficiently. While networking is crucial to any company’s success in sourcing new opportunities, RESI is the best within the life science industry in providing such a venue.

The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference is an ongoing conference series that provides an international venue for early-stage life science companies to connect with global investors and strategic partners for new opportunities, all in one place. This includes interests across Biotech, Medtech, Diagnostics and Digital Health in order to create new relationships in these areas as well as the potential to secure funding. RESI is unique and the leading conference in partnerships due to its global network presence, unmatched by other conferences in the healthcare industry. It provides constituents with the best venue for partnering and networking.

The RESI Conference:

  • Occurs 5x per year
  • Includes ad hoc meeting opportunities
  • Partnering Forum for up to 16 scheduled meetings
  • Panels by investors, sponsors, partners discussing all things healthcare and fundraising
  • LSN 5,000 Investor network is always invited to attend

To learn more and attend upcoming events, please visit the site.

Now that you’ve learned the fundamentals for your fundraising strategies and partnership opportunities, you can start defining your value proposition, creating a target audience, and network with the right people.

 

Life Science Nation Connects Products, Services, and Capital

Our corporate structure is made up of a few different business models with the same mission to accelerate therapeutics, biotech, medtech, diagnostics, and digital health within the healthcare industry. LSN started out developing a database of investors because the company felt there was not enough accessibility for investors to discover scientists-entrepreneurs and fundraising CEOs within the life sciences. Further down the line, LSN created a conference series to further accelerate and support initial conversations between these groups so progress could be made in leaps and bounds. As we continue to develop in our current political environment, it has become more important than ever to continue supporting and facilitating advances in healthcare.

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Use RESI Innovation Challenge As Part of Your Global Marketing Plan

25 Jun

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

Market Your Life Science Startup to Investors

life science nation marketing

A fundraising campaign starts with presenting yourself and your technology to potential channel partners and investors who are a fit for your product and stage of development. As part of the Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference, attendees can apply to the RESI Innovation Challenge which, if you are selected to participate, can greatly increase exposure for your company before, during and after the day of the conference. The partners and investors who frequent RESI know that the companies selected, routinely showcase compelling technology. Attending RESI and participating in the RESI Innovation Challenge are only one part of fundraising for CEOs and scientist-entrepreneurs. Here is Life Science Nation’s step-by-step process for a successful fundraising campaign and how and why RESI plays an important role.

 

Step 1: You need a list of investors and contacts

To raise capital, an early-stage CEO needs to create a Global Target List of potential investors. There are around 400-500 relevant global early-stage investors on a typical Global Target List, spanning 10 categories of investors in early-stage Biotech, Medtech, Diagnostics, and Digital Health. This list should be sourced from a curated platform to ensure the most up-to-date information. With a vetted list of qualified investors who are a fit, the fundraising executive can be more efficient in their outreach. This will lead to a higher response rate from your phone and email campaigns and thus result in a higher number of meetings booked to initiate dialogue with your partnering targets.

Step 2: Hire the right people

A fundraising campaign is something your company can execute internally with the right staff: phoning and emailing investors, setting up meetings, and organizing the campaign follow-up takes an enthusiastic personality. While many CEOs might be tempted to look for an outside service provider to manage the fundraising campaign, my recommendation is to do it internally. Personal outreach and clear messaging are equally important when reaching out to potential investors. At the end of the day, fundraising is a numbers game and having the right staff canvassing your Global Target List and initiating dialogue causes relationships to take root. However, initiating the conversation is never enough – the follow-ups, second and third meetings are when you’re generating real interest. This requires dedicated effort to ensure proper follow-through.

Step 3: Join opportunities to network

Face-to-face meetings are best for promoting relationships – that’s why we’ve created the RESI Conference. If you come to our next RESI, you may find 20-30% of your targeted investment firms are attending to find the earliest and hottest innovators within the healthcare industry. We offer one-on-one partnering all day for all global attendees at our Partnering Forum. By taking full advantage of our Partnering Platform, you have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with up to 16 of these investors, supplemented by ad hoc meetings, especially if you are a participant in the RESI Innovation Challenge.

 

the life science executive's fundraising manifesto by dennis ford

Want to learn more about fundraising?

If you read my free book The Life Science Executive’s Fundraising Manifesto, you will see that I am a big proponent of getting a complete Global Target List and then working the whole list. Establish a dialogue, go to RESI or other events and meet them–you must network. Follow up regularly by emailing all the targets with news on your company and how it is reaching milestones and getting compelling data: investor updates are key to your success and their vested interest in your company.

If you market to this list in an adroit and cogent way you will get on the investors’ radar screen. It’s a numbers game, and when you market to your Global Target List consistently you never know who will surface and what opportunities may arise. If you are just sending out material to investors who are attending an event, why not send out to all who are a potential fit for you? It only takes one interested investor to move a deal along.

It’s hard for fundraising CEOs to avoid cutting corners to save a few thousand dollars on campaign costs, but this can lead to a lot of missed opportunities. Putting your company out there as much as possible by investing in a high-quality marketing package and web presence, hiring staff who can conduct a campaign, and traveling to major investment events will maximize your odds of getting funded.

In addition, being selected as a participant in the RESI innovation Challenge has a compelling track record of helping companies get funded. The deadline to sign up for the RESI Innovation Challenge is soon! Click here to sign up.

Additional resources LSN has created for fundraising CEOs:

[Article] When Raising Capital, CEOs Should Understand the LSN Value Proposition

[Video] “The 10 Myths of Fundraising” Presentation at Freemind Group’s Non-Dilutive Funding Summit

[Article] Life Science Nation Ecosystem – A Matching Platform for Buyers and Sellers

[Book Chapter] LSN Summer Reading Series Chapter 9: “Global Target List—Match Your Firm with Investors That Are a Fit”

[Article] 10 Steps to a Life Science Fundraising Campaign

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Fundraising Advice Straight from The Source: See the RESI Healthtech Week Panel Agenda

14 Jun

By Lucy Parkinson, VP of Investor Research, LSN

RESI Healthtech Week, a three-day event starting September 5th, will offer an expanded agenda of panels and workshops for entrepreneurs looking for advice on how to raise capital (grants, seed, angels, series A and series B rounds) for their ventures.

At the First Coast Innovator’s Gathering (RESI Healthtech Week Day 1 on September 5th), the focus will be on the very earliest stages of fundraising and entrepreneurship. Attendees can catch panels on Seed Funds, Angels, Foundations, the NIH, and Big Pharma at the Seed Stage, as well as a workshop on raising nondilutive grant funding. The goal is to set up the earliest stage companies for success by providing additional information on funding they have not previously received. Additionally, the agenda includes the First Coast Innovation Challenge, a competition for the First Coast Innovators to pitch their company to selected investors in the afternoon.

On Day 2 (September 6th), the RESI Global Partnering event will focus on panels about global early stage investments (series A and series B) in life science companies from RESI’s core verticals of therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health. The agenda includes new sessions on Impact Investors, and Investing in Personalized Medicine, as well as two sessions focused on investors from the Asia-Pacific region – Investors Leveraging the CFDA and Asia Cross-Border Investors. Also featured are many more topical sessions on the newest trends in life science investment.

The Entrepreneur’s Academy Workshop Series on Day 3 (September 7th) features a full day of entrepreneurship workshops for attendees to learn how to brand and market their company to investors, create an investor target list, and send outbound marketing within an organized campaign to raise capital. We hope you can join us for this exciting new three-day event.

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A Canadian Fundraising CEO’s Success at RESI

22 Feb

Anton Neschadim

 An interview with Anton Neschadim, CEO, ImmunoBiochem
– By Chris Cummings, Senior Marketing Manager, LSN

Chris Cummings

Chris Cummings: What is your background, and how long have you been working in the life science space?

Anton Neschadim: I am a scientist-entrepreneur. I have a very deep, multi-disciplinary science background that I ultimately combined with a business degree, all from the University of Toronto. I am a lateral thinker, and as such always strived to be a subject-matter expert across multiple areas. And so, contrary to the traditional path of specialization in academia, I wanted to become a problem solver and innovator, and sought to master additional disciplines with every degree – chemistry, physics, immunology, cancer research, regenerative medicine. I believe that being able to draw on knowledge from multiple disciplines is key to generating creative insights. I transitioned into industry eight years ago, in the final year of my PhD, and took up a drug development role in a biologics program, while continuing to work in an academic lab evenings and weekends to amass more than 25 manuscripts and patents. Three years ago, I have focused on leading ImmunoBiochem with an exciting novel biologics program.

Chris Cummings: Are you currently fundraising? What previous financing or milestones has your company achieved (that you can disclose)?

Anton Neschadim: We are always fundraising, and are targeting to close another round led by current investors and partners in March. Our first deal was with one of the RESI sponsors and helped us develop fully-human antibody molecules for our lead target, and the subsequent angel-led round allowed us to develop a lead that we showed to be both efficacious and safe in preclinical animal tumor models. This new round will take our lead molecule into large animal studies, but we are eager to get into the clinic and are looking for additional capital to get us there.

Chris Cummings: How many RESI conferences have you attended previously, and when was your first event? Was ImmunoBiochem fundraising at the time?

Anton Neschadim: I have now attended three RESI conferences with the goal of raising funds every time – two in our hometown of Toronto, and the latest RESI during the JP Morgan healthcare week in San Francisco. We have closed a deal or round subsequent to each conference, and are on track to closing another round of financing following RESI in San Francisco. RESI has been extremely helpful for connecting with smart early-stage capital and learning how to better develop and tell our story to a broad range of investors. You know you have done well when you have new investors reaching out to you to learn more.

Chris Cummings: What components of RESI do you find most valuable? Do you spend most your time in partnering, or try to attend panels as well? When you participated in the Innovation Challenge, what aspects did you find beneficial?

Anton Neschadim: I tend to spend at least half of my day in one-on-one meetings, and then network with investors free-form outside of that. Panels and different tracks can help you be more targeted with the latter. I find the half-hour partnering format to be very optimal – just the right amount of time to make a connection with the investor, tell your story, answer questions, and for you to learn more about the investor’s interests and ask for feedback. The Innovation Challenge provides great exposure and is like real fundraising. It helps to have a team and to ultimately hold as many meaningful conversations as possible.

Chris Cummings: What advice can you give to other fundraising entrepreneurs attending RESI? For example, do you have any suggestions on mastering partnering, or perhaps maximizing your visibility in the Innovation Challenge?

Anton Neschadim: Visibility and being able to highlight your novelty and differentiation are paramount. What I found to be most useful is to have a team on the ground. It is great to have at least one person to move around the event, strike up conversations and bring people to your poster, while another is taking one-on-one meetings. When it comes to one-on-one meetings: register early and start requesting meetings as soon as partnering opens or even before that – spots fill up really fast. Do your research and target the right investors, avoid generic or overly long messaging, and manage time efficiently during the one-on-one meetings. The main goal is to get a second meeting or follow up.

About ImmunoBiochem

ImmunoBiochem is addressing significant unmet needs in oncology by developing highly-selective biological therapeutics. The majority of targeted biologics, which are focused on identifying and targeting unique features on the surface of cancer cells, face the challenge of tumor heterogeneity and general lack of selective tumor antigens, particularly as more potent platforms are utilized. CAR-T therapies are very exciting, with a single CAR-T cell being able to terminate from hundreds to thousands of cancer cells, but the current generation is extremely limited by very few suitable targets, such as CD19. The second generation of CAR-T therapies in the clinic will have to find a way to derive that selectivity from other mechanisms. To circumvent these challenges of surface-targeted biologics and cell therapies, ImmunoBiochem is solving this problem by combining a highly targeted and precise therapeutics platform – antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs – and non-traditional targets in the secretome of cancer cells that are amplified in the tumor microenvironment. ImmunoBiochem has defined a novel class of targets by isolating proteins with specific properties that are necessary to achieve selective and efficacious targeting of tumors with ADCs.  ImmunoBiochem was the original inventor of this technology and has tested this concept within an academic institute, and then developed a lead human antibody molecule in collaboration with the University of Toronto. Today we are supported by multiple organizations, including Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS), where ImmunoBiochem is based, CCAB (the Centre for the Commercialization of Antibodies and Biologics), our key development partner and investor, OBIO, through membership and the CAAP program, and H2i at the University of Toronto.

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