Tag Archives: Innovator’s Pitch Challenge

Call for Innovation Challenge Applicants

17 Jul

Life Science Nation invites all eligible early stage life science companies to apply to Innovation Challenge to showcase their technologies.

Companies from all categories of life science are encouraged to apply to Innovation Challenge for RESI Healthtech Week. Eligible companies can apply to Day 1, the First Coast Innovator’s Gathering, Day 2 RESI Global Partnering or both. Applicants will have the opportunity for excellent visibility among investors and strategic partners.

LSN is now accepting applications! The deadline is July 27, 2018.

For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation will have two days of Innovation Challenge competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). The Innovation Challenge offers selected companies the chance to gain more visibility from the early-stage investors in attendance.

Day 2 Redefining Early Stage Investments

All early-stage life science companies are eligible to apply. Finalists will be highlighted in multiple outlets:

  • Your country and technology highlighted at the conference
  • All conference attendees will have the chance to “invest” RESI Cash in their favorite technologies
  • LSN Newsletter Announcement to a readership of 20,000+
  • Featured on RESI Conference website Featured in the printed and online program guide
  • Winners will be announced during the cocktail reception
  • It is FREE to apply, click here.

Day 1, First Coast Innovation Challenge

All early-stage life science companies from DC through Boston are eligible to apply. Applicants will be highlighted in multiple outlets:

  • 10 finalists will be selected to pitch to a panel of investors
  • Applicants present a poster of their technology
  • All featured in the printed and online program guide
  • Attendees have access to partnering platform
  • Attendees have access to early-stage investor panels
  • Attendance on Day 1 for companies is $300, click here.

9 Hamilton Place, Suite 2B, Boston, MA 02108 +1 617-600-0668 | resi@lifesciencenation.com

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RESI Healthtech Week Announces the First Coast Innovation Challenge on September 5th, And the RESI Global Innovation Challenge on September 6th

21 Jun

By Samuel Rubin, Business Development Manager, LSN

For the first time this fall, Life Science Nation (LSN) will have two days of competition as part of the RESI Healthtech Week (September 5-7, 2018). Day 1 will feature the First Coast Innovation Challenge, where the top 10 ranked companies of the First Coast tech hubs will present their technology as a 10-minute pitch to a panel of early-stage investors. Day 2 features the traditional RESI Innovation Challenge, where the top 30 companies who apply are chosen to showcase a poster on the RESI Global Partnering Conference Exhibit Hall.

LSN is proud to now include presentation opportunities for top technologies from the First Coast that have recently moved out of the lab and are ready to target grant, angel, and seed funding. The First Coast Innovation Challenge on Day 1 complements the RESI Global Innovation Challenge on Day 2, offering greater investor exposure to companies from the earliest stage to more established startups that are looking globally and seeking funding from institutional investors.

Applying for the Innovation Challenge at RESI Healthtech Week Will Boost Your Exposure with Investors

Those selected to be Innovation Challenge finalists will have the potential to dramatically increase the number of meaningful investor relationships they build. The objective of most early-stage companies and tech hubs attending RESI Healthtech Week is to have one-on-one meetings with investors who are a fit for them. The Innovation Challenge expands on the RESI Partnering Forum, providing an avenue to directly showcase to the whole investor audience, in addition to booking formal one-on-one meeting opportunities. Investors attending RESI Healthtech Week know that Innovation Challenge finalists are selected based on credentials for success and will be inclined to engage with these companies.

First Coast Innovation Challenge VS RESI Global Innovation Challenge

All registered attendees who qualify for Day 1 – First Coast Innovation Challenge are also eligible to apply for Day 2 – RESI Global Innovation Challenge. You must be a Qualifying First Coast Day 1 registrant to apply for the First Coast Innovation Challenge.

Qualifying Day 1 First Coast Innovation Challenge participants are the constituents of northeast corridor incubators, accelerators, tech transfer offices, university translation initiatives, hospitals, and research labs. Day 2 is open to all global attendees – scientist-entrepreneurs, fundraising CEOs, and the First Coast.

Selected finalists on Day 1 will pitch to global investors, while the selected Day 2 finalists will showcase their poster in the exhibit hall and will be eligible for the prizes awarded to the top Day 2 participants.

Innovation Challenge Application Open Now!

The online application for the Innovation Challenge officially opens today! We welcome applications both for Day 1 – First Coast Innovation Challenge, and Day 2 – RESI Global Innovation Challenge. The application deadline is Friday July 27, 2018 for both competitions.

If you are accepted as a finalist, we will notify you by Thursday August 9th, and you will have until Thursday August 16th to confirm your participation and register for RESI Healthtech Week.

The LSN Review Team and the 300+ investors attending RESI Healthtech Week look forward to learning more about your unique technologies!

 

 

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RESI Innovation Challenge: Meet The Asia-Based Startups That Took The Top Spots At RESI Boston Summer

7 Jun

By Jessica Yang, Investor Research Analyst, LSN

On June 4th, more than 700 scientist-entrepreneurs and investors entered the exhibition hall at Boston Marriott Copley Place to participate in the RESI conference. They were greeted by 30 Innovation Challenge finalists across therapeutics, medical device, diagnostics, and digital health sectors. The 30 companies, evaluated by LSN’s expert system and scientific & commercial review team, competed directly on merits of innovation and commercial viability. We wish all our finalists the best in bringing their products forward toward commercialization, but there could only be 3 top prize winners.

First Prize: Taiwan Resonant Waves Research Corp.

Taiwan Resonant Waves Research Corp. (TRWR) was founded in 2010 in the capital of Taiwan – Taipei. Integrating innovative bioelectronic technology with non-invasive medical devices, we are dedicated to helping patients with chronic diseases better manage health-related challenges.There is unlimited promise in the application of Bioelectrical medicine in the treatment of chronic diseases. Designed and developed by TRWR, Microcurrent Electrical Nerve Stimulation technology (MENS) is currently being used as a non-invasive, physical approach to treating and alleviating symptoms associated with diabetes (such as decreasing HbA1c of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patient). Our vision is to lead the world in groundbreaking research and development in electroceutical technology as a means of enhancing quality of life, without the adverse side effects of conventional approaches.

Natasha Eldridge, Director of RESI Conference Series, LSN | Lucy Parkinson, Director of Investor Research, LSN | Chris Chen, Business Development, TRWR | Ann Chiu, COO, TRWR | Kuo-Chuan Huang, Doctor, TRWR

Second Prize: The Wave Talk

Our laser-based sensor is many times more accurate than conventional laser and is able to detect even low concentrations of bacteria based on its movements in real-time. Even though our first application targets water, we have managed to decrease antibiotics susceptibility test from 10-15 hours to less than 1 hour.

Natasha Eldridge, Director of RESI Conference Series, LSN | Lucy Parkinson, Director of Investor Research, LSN | SeungA LEE, Marketing, UX, The Wave Talk | YoungDug Kim, CEO & Founder, The Wave Talk

Third Prize: Taipeibio

Taipeibio is an R&D-driven company with core technology derived from Harvard and MIT; which focuses on tissue regeneration and repairs various bone defects including alveolar bone, bone, joint, ligament and cartilage. Taipeibio has comprehensive global IP protection in over 45 countries (Fish & Richardson; Cesari & McKenna). Taipeibio has established 3 core labs and 5 research arms to support product development with 2 governmental funding programs . Taipeibio has accumulated over 160 successful clinical cases with 14 years stress-bearing data to prove safety and efficacy. The cartilage regeneration product has been proved to repair large articular cartilages and difficult TMJ defects in a rabbit model. Relative scientific reports were published in high-impact SCI journals. The products will be made in U.S.A. and aiming FDA approval.

Natasha Eldridge, Director of RESI Conference Series, LSN | Lucy Parkinson, Director of Investor Research, LSN | Dr. Thomas Wen-Fu Lai, TaipeiBio | Jim-Pei Chu, CEO, TaipeiBio

It is worth mentioning that the proportion of Asia-based startups at RESI is the highest it’s ever been. LSN worked closely with both Development Center of Biotechnology (DCB) from Taiwan and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).  Of the over 100 startups that applied to be finalists in the RESI Innovation Challenge, more than 30% were from Taiwan or Korea.  This is also the first time that Asia-based companies won all three top prizes. The first and third place winners were two Medtech companies from Taiwan, Taiwan Resonant Waves Research Corp and TaipeiBio respectively. The second place winner was THE WAVE TALK, one of the Korea-based companies sponsored by KOTRA. Check out how RESI collaborates with KOTRA.

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RESI Boston Summer Presents Innovation Challenge Finalists From Around The World

24 May

By James Huang, Research Analyst, LSN

james-wp

We are excited to showcase the top RESI Innovation Challenge startup applicants, who will be taking part in the poster presentation showcase at the second annual RESI BIO held in Boston this year, alongside the BIO International conference. These handpicked companies represent the key sectors of the healthcare space including therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and digital health, and were selected based on their scientific/technical merit and commercial viability. Additionally, this Innovation Challenge will feature select companies from Korea and Taiwan to showcase innovation that is also occurring overseas.

The Innovation Challenge companies will compete for each attendee’s RESI Cash tokens throughout the day, which serves as a vote of their potential. The top 3 companies will win additional RESI tickets to events of their choosing and a feature in the LSN newsletter (20,000 readership), giving them access to hundreds of additional investors and ultimately enhancing their likelihood of securing an investment. Make sure to visit the exhibition hall to meet the RESI innovators and “invest” in your favorites!

Biotech

Diagnostic

MedTech Device

Digital Health

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How to Use the RESI Innovation Challenge to Build Success for Your Company: An Interview with RESI Winner Steven ten Holder (Acorn Biolabs)

3 May

Steven ten Holder

 An interview with Steven ten Holder, COO, Acorn Biolabs

– By Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN

Greg Mannix

This year’s 2nd place finisher at the Innovation Challenge at RESI on MaRS was Acorn Biolabs. LSN interviewed COO, Steven ten Holder and got some key takeaways on how Acorn used the RESI Innovation Challenge effectively:

  • The Acorn team used their design and marketing skills to attract attention, rather than focusing purely on presenting scientific data
  • The team used the Innovation Challenge to create ad hoc meetings with 40 investors
  • Acorn is working to build on their success with press releases and investor follow-up after the event.

Acorn Biolabs is a Toronto-based company working out of the actual MaRS facility that has developed a novel non-invasive at-home kit to collect and viably transport cells and cryopreserve these cells as a way to ensure people will always have access to their own young therapeutically-capable cells.

Steven and Acorn’s CEO, Drew Taylor, registered quite late for RESI and didn’t have much time to set up meetings in advance. So they took more of an Ad-Hoc approach to the conference and looked to network with investors and strategics around their participation in the Innovation Challenge. It looks like it worked pretty well for them, as they placed second in the IC!

Greg Mannix: Congratulations Steven on placing second in the IC! How did you manage to get so many attendees to invest their RESI cash in Acorn Biolabs?

Steven ten Holder:  There were a couple of things that seemed to work pretty well. We put a lot of thought into our poster, keeping in mind that most of the investors passing by are probably not experts in our particular field, so we tried to keep it not too scientific, having a good balance of text and images with a nice graphic design. The goal was to be able to explain the poster to anybody who stopped by in about 2 minutes, and I think it worked.  It also helped that we had a good location, catching people as they came in.

GM: So it sounds like you spent much of the day at the actual poster. Did you get a lot of Ad-Hoc meetings there?

STH: Absolutely! I think I must have spoken to at least 30 or 40 investors at the poster. By engaging them in conversation and understanding what their interest was, I could explain our technology in more or less detail. Many of them ended up investing their RESI cash in us, so that was great!

GM:  Do you think any of those meetings will turn into a future opportunity for Acorn?

STH: Yes, I can think of 3 investors in particular who are very interested in our company and we are already following up with them.

GM: What else did you find useful about RESI?

STH:  The information on the investors in the Partnering Platform was really useful. I didn’t really have time to attend the panels, but both Drew and I did some great networking at the cocktail reception, especially after having won second prize!

GM: So what’s next?

STH: We’re definitely going to do a press release on our success at RESI.

Steven ten Holder, COO, Acorn Biolabs

– Lead Team of Bioengineers to International iGEM Competition

– Publisher Author in Novel Uses of Synthetic Biology

– Designed and Created CRISPR Viral Immunity System in Plants

Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN

Greg Mannix is Vice President of International Business Development at Life Science Nation. After graduating from the University of California, he moved to Europe where he began a career in the life sciences and obtained a Master’s degree from IE Business School in Madrid. He has extensive experience in sales and marketing management in the medical devices field. He has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Latin America and he speaks English, Spanish and French. Greg’s role at LSN is to provide international early-stage companies with the tools and strategies to succesfully fundraise and to facilitate cross-boarder investments, licensing and M&A transactions.

About Acorn Biolabs

People’s own cells have and will continue to become the foundation of the most important future biomedical therapeutics and regenerative medicine strategies. Aged cells, however, are highly mutated and deteriorated versions of our current cells. Precisely when people will need high-quality cells the most, their cells at that time will be at their worst. Acorn Biolabs has developed a novel non-invasive at-home kit to collect and viably transport cells. Acorn cryopreserves these cells as a way to ensure people will always have access to their own young therapeutically-capable cells. The value potential is immense; customer’s preserved cells are a life-long living resource, retrievable for direct use with advanced cell-based therapeutics, and analyzable for personal genomics, epigenomics, proteomics and beyond.

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Interview with Kouris Kalligas, Winner of the Innovation Challenge in RESI Toronto

26 Apr

Kouris Kalligas

 An interview with Kouris Kalligas, Founder & CEO, Therachat

– By Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN

Greg Mannix

The San Francisco digital health startup Therachat came in 3rd at the RESI on MaRS Innovation Challenge in Toronto. Therachat is a mental health platform which simplifies homework in therapy for therapists & psychologists & their clients. Therapists & Psychologists can customize the homework experience for their clients via a simple web application and their clients can do their homework on an easy-to-use, HIPAA Compliant, mobile application. We believe that homework needed a simpler way and that’s what we have built!

CEO Kouris Kalligas registered early for the conference and put a lot of time and effort into his partnering strategy. When he was notified they would compete in the IC as finalists, he decided to bring along his colleague Sajid Reshamwala so they could maximize their presence at the conference.

Greg Mannix:  Kouris, how did you prepare for the RESI conference?

Kouris Kalligas:  I actually spent several solid days preparing our company profile on the RESI Partnering Platform and then reaching out to as many investors as possible who looked like a fit for us. The RESI Partnering is the best match-making platform I have seen! I could get a good idea of what each investor was looking for so I could decide who to request a meeting with.

GM: That’s great! How many meetings were you able to book?

KK: I was able to book 16 meetings! And what was really cool is that 10 investors who couldn’t meet with me at RESI gave me their emails through the messaging system, so I was able to contact them afterwards. I have been doing that since I got home. Fantastic!

GM: Wow! That’s impressive. Why do you think you got so much traction with investors?

KK:  I actually used 3 different messages and tried each one out on a handful of investors. I saw right away the one that was getting the most responses, so I focused on that message with the rest of investors I reached out to.

GM:  That is a great approach Kouris! I take it Sajid spent most of his day at the Therachat poster talking to people. How many Ad-Hoc meetings did Sajid have?

KK: I would guess about 20. Also, I sent every investor I spoke to check out our poster and invest their RESI cash in us! That’s so important:  Don’t be shy, just ask them to invest. I guess it was a good strategy!

GM: What would you say is the thing you liked most about RESI?

KK: That’s a tough one because we had a super productive day. But I would have to say it is the Partnering Platform. It really allowed me to identify the target investors I wanted to meet with and I could communicate with them through the messaging system. I probably sent out 200 or 300 messages!

Kouris Kalligas, Founder & CEO, Therachat

CEO & Founder of Therachat. I am passionate about technology & mental health. I have already one product under my belt called Addapp (check addapp.io) which I drove to 100k downloads and 10k daily active users. I believe that mental health is important and underserved. Technology can be a big enabler in the revolution that is coming to improving our mental health!

Greg Mannix, VP of International Business Development, LSN

Greg Mannix is Vice President of International Business Development at Life Science Nation. After graduating from the University of California, he moved to Europe where he began a career in the life sciences and obtained a Master’s degree from IE Business School in Madrid. He has extensive experience in sales and marketing management in the medical devices field. He has worked extensively in Europe, North America and Latin America and he speaks English, Spanish and French. Greg’s role at LSN is to provide international early-stage companies with the tools and strategies to succesfully fundraise and to facilitate cross-boarder investments, licensing and M&A transactions.

About Therachat

Therachat is a mental health platform which simplifies homework in therapy for therapists & psychologists & their clients. Therapists & Psychologists can customize the homework experience for their clients via a simple web application and their clients can do their homework on an easy-to-use, HIPAA Compliant, mobile application. We believe that homework needed a simpler way and that’s what we have built! Check www.therachat.io to find out more!

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Meeting Investors Through the RESI Innovation Challenge

19 Apr

By Chris Cummings, Senior Marketing Manager, LSN

The RESI Conference offers a unique platform for scientist-entrepreneurs to meet investors. For selected companies competing in the RESI Innovation Challenge, the platform expands exponentially. Participating in the Challenge opens a new universe of potential meeting opportunities, well beyond the 16 time slots available in Partnering.

The objective of most fundraising companies attending RESI is to maximize the number of investor meetings they obtain; playing the numbers game gives an entrepreneur the best shot at closing an investment deal. LSN designed the Innovation Challenge with this concept in mind. Utilizing a poster presentation format that encourages one-on-one interactions, as opposed to simply sending companies on stage to pitch to a disengaged audience, entrepreneurs can dramatically increase the number of meaningful investor relationships they build.

Entrepreneurs who are outgoing and engaging have demonstrated the ability to meet upwards of 25 to 30 additional investors on top of the 16 pre-booked meetings available in partnering. Many companies elect to bring two representatives in order to take advantage of both ad-hoc and scheduled meetings. This strategy has proven to be quite effective, as the list of successful companies who participate in the Innovation Challenge continues to grow.

Below are some of the previous Innovation Challenge winners. If you are a fundraising entrepreneur, you can apply for the RESI Boston Summer Innovation Challenge here. The application deadline for the Innovation Challenge is May 4th. Also, don’t forget to register for the conference as well – prices increase on Friday, April 27th!

RESI on MaRS 2018 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI San Francisco 2018 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI New York City 2017 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI Boston 2017 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI San Diego 2017 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI on MaRS 2017 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI San Francisco 2017 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI Boston 2016 Innovation Challenge Winners

RESI on MaRS 2016 Innovation Challenge Winners

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