Boston is known for being the hub of the biotech world. But as software is eating the world, innovators are finding new avenues for digitization of healthcare. Some are tackling inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the healthcare delivery system; others are using big data algorithms to explore biological processes, make new discoveries, or find new signals in population health data.
RESI Boston will feature two panels that explore this collision between software and health. The Healthcare IT session will look at the current landscape in digital health investment. What kind of solutions are investors excited about, and how do they assess startups in this increasingly crowded sector?
Moderated by Michael A. Greeley, General Partner, Flare Capital Partners, the panelists are:
In Big Data in Healthcare, RESI will take a laser focused look at the new possibilities that data science is creating in biotech and health innovation. Five investors will explore what they’re looking for in a big data opportunity. The participants will be:
Boston is often called the center of the global biotechnology industry, and it’s therefore no surprise that investors are flocking to RESI Boston to meet with early stage drug development entrepreneurs. LSN has gathered a panel of 5 top investors in therapeutics to share their tips and insights on the assessment of novel therapeutic technologies.
These five panelists will be sharing their expertise with RESI’s audience:
Mark Day, Senior Director, Corporate Development, Alexion
The panel will cover the challenges of raising capital for early stage drug development. It’s a high-risk, high-reward investment sector, and these five investors have a wealth of experience in searching for the strongest early stage opportunities. Representing diverse groups, from foundations to VC to pharma, these investors will explain how you can position your company to work with them. If you’re interested in catching this panel live, you can sign up for RESI Boston now.
Incubators, accelerators, and other organizations are increasingly emerging as conduits for early stage life science companies to plug in to pre-existing networks, infrastructure, and capital. Entrepreneurs may find themselves faced with choosing whether to participate in such programs, and weigh and evaluate the benefits a given program may offer in helping them achieve their goals. At RESI on MaRS, five panelists from different groups in this sector discussed the topic from their own unique positions, each presenting the specialties and area of focus of their organization.
Gordon Kurtenbach, Senior Director of Research, Autodesk
Linda Maxwell, Founder and Managing Director, Biomedical Zone
Each model has a unique value proposition which lies in its approach to network-building
Across the board, incubators, accelerators, and other models act as hubs for connecting startups to a wide range of entities; but which entities? Christopher Kim (KSL) shared how he brings in experienced Entrepreneurs in Residence to work with management teams on their project, as well as interfacing with potential customers through his contacts in Big Pharma. Linda Maxwell elaborated on the outbound offering of Biomedical Zone, where the “focus is getting clinicians involved with the technology, to not just look at the clinical outcomes, but the business case validation.” BioMedical Zone helps companies execute pilot programs to deploy products in their partner hospitals such as St. Michael’s, where traction is gained with the people who will ultimately champion the products. Autodesk’s approach, described by Gordon Kurtenbach, is “positioning ourselves in a community, opening up our doors, and establishing a social relationship to find out what is interesting to all of us.” Dianne Carmichael said that MaRS Discovery District adds value through providing expertise and preparation to companies, as well as exposure to investors and partners – so that when entrepreneurs finally pitch to a good fit investor, they are prepared and polished. “Gone are the days when fundraising CEO’s are thrown in front of organizations that have no intention of partnering or investing in them”, she said.
Elevating the early stage ecosystem
“With incubators and accelerators, there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 7500 of them in North America”, said Carmichael. She described how with this, there are many resources to “help companies that are starting…but I would argue that many of them don’t last.” At MaRS, a major focus is elevating the reputation of the entire early stage model ecosystem by carrying out due diligence on potential portfolio companies, and ensuring that the technology and management teams are well developed and prepared for talks with investors. Maxwell, herself an advisor to MaRS, described “working towards a new investment model, where investors are other hospitals, where we develop technology or pilot technology that people are mutually interested in.” This would result in “broadening the landscape for piloting and demonstrating clinical and business case validation.”
International collaboration is important at the earliest stages
For many companies, the “next stage” of success lies on penetrating international markets – particularly the US and Asian markets. Bringing in international investors is an excellent way to gain early exposure to global markets, competitors, and networks. For this reason, international collaboration is a key theme for firms like KSL and innovation hubs like MaRS. The relationship between people and hubs in the US and Canada are emphasized by Carmichael and Maxwell. “It’s easier to start a company in Canada than it is virtually anywhere else in the developed nations, but we have a real problem with scaling,” said Carmichael. Maxwell went on, “until we develop our own infrastructure for really adequate scaling of companies, early stage companies are going to go to the US” for that purpose.
Final Remarks
The early stage ecosystem is ripe with resources for entrepreneurs. There are a variety of models, some more hands-on than others. These will be the models that perform diligence, and bring in/coordinate with outside expertise and investors with a customized approach for their portfolio companies. Other models are more “open door”. Companies would not be expected to achieve milestones or need to wait for diligence, but should not expect the same level of guidance and support network that more rigid programs offer. Entrepreneurs should evaluate whether there is alignment between their goals and the specific “value proposition” of a given model.
It’s well known that big pharma firms are often looking to partner early. Many major medical device companies are also looking outward for innovation, and at RESI Boston, five experienced corporate investors will explain how they use early stage device investments to strategic effect. This panel will cover how medical device entrepreneurs should approach a larger company for an investment or development partnership, and what kinds of investment these major players are currently focused on.
These five panelists will be sharing their expertise with RESI’s audience:
Due to their recent trend toward making direct allocations (as opposed to fund investments) family offices have certainly caught the attention of biotech and medtech entrepreneurs, with many early stage companies keen to add one to their cap table.
Viewed as deep-pocketed, patient capital sources, entrepreneurs tend to have a lot of misconceptions surrounding family offices. Family offices are notoriously heterogeneous; they come in many shapes and sizes and no specific investment characteristics apply to them all. At our most recent RESI event at the MaRS Discovery District, representatives from four different family offices spoke to how they like to be approached, what they look for in an entrepreneur and the importance of the relationship, the types of deals they like to do and what they avoid.
Tailor your message based on who you’re approaching – do your homework
This point goes for all investors, but goes a bit deeper and is even more important for the family office. First off, you want to make sure you are talking to the right investor or else you’re wasting everyone’s time – it’s unlikely that an investor whose only ever played in the therapeutics space will be interested in looking at an investment opportunity in a medical device or health IT project. That being said, if your technology isn’t in the same sector but is addressing the same indication as one of their portfolio companies or there is synergy between your project and a portfolio company, this should be noted in the outreach. These types of things can go a long way and can’t be uncovered if you don’t research the investor you’re targeting.
A strong relationship is crucial to securing funding from a family office
Some family offices have professionals manage their money and add structure to their investment process while others are more informal. Either way, since the money is not coming from an institutional fund and family offices typically have longer investment timelines, it is key that the entrepreneur and investor have a good relationship. One investor added that a lot of the deals he’s done begun with a dialogue with the entrepreneur long before the deal was formally presented as an investment opportunity, mentioning that it takes a while to get to know someone and naturally people like to do business with people they like and trust.
Finding a family office takes work
Family offices are a highly sought after investors for good reason and typically don’t always advertise their investment activity thus uncovering which groups are family offices is not as easy as finding angel groups and VCs. As one investor puts it, “You can’t just expect to wake up and know which family office is interested in the sector you are in.” He further notes that the best way to find a family office is by going to relevant conferences and networking events.
It is well known that early stage therapeutic companies require a significant source of funding due to the long road of development. Despite therapeutic companies’ high-risk development timeline, many investors continue to remain focused on investing in biotechnology with a steadfast belief in the potential of the space.
For RESI on MaRS (June 23rd), LSN has assembled five highly experienced investors particularly interested in biotech therapeutics. Held in the heart of Canada’s healthcare innovation hub, MaRS Discovery District, the Early Stage Therapeutic Investors Panel will be moderated by Cynthia Lavoie, Partner of TVM Capital, and will be joined by:
Jennifer Hamilton, Senior Director, New Ventures (Canada), Johnson & Johnson
The panel will serve as an educational opportunity for scientist entrepreneurs to better understand the trends in investment in therapeutics, the investor’s perspective when approaching a deal in a high-risk space, and the best approach to initiate dialogue with them.
This is a tremendous opportunity for biotech life science entrepreneurs to meet and develop relationships with potential investors.
Incubators & Accelerators
It’s a huge challenge to launch a healthcare startup, but an increasing number of incubators and accelerator programs are stepping up to support early stage entrepreneurs and provide services, facilities and capital to speed their paths to market.
Leaders from five of these organizations are gathering at RESI on MaRS to share their experience of working with very early stage companies, and to explore how a startup can work with an incubator or accelerator partner to get ahead on their development pathway.
The moderator, Rebecca Yu, Head of JLABS @ Toronto, will be joined by:
Large pharma companies are increasingly looking to early stage companies to fill their future pipelines. These firms have a variety of means of engaging with early stage companies, including in-licensing, collaborations, equity investments, and M&A. At RESI@TMCx, four senior external sourcing staff from the pharma world will explain what their firms are looking for, how they work with early stage companies, and how an emerging biotech company can position themselves to make a big pharma deal.
The firm is focused on therapeutics companies and does not invest in medical devices, diagnostics, or digital health. The firm is open to considering assets of very early stages, even those as early as lead optimization phase. The firm considers various modalities, including antibodies, small molecules, and cell therapy. Currently, the firm is not interested in gene therapy. Indication-wise, the firm is most interested in oncology and autoimmune diseases but has recently looked at fibrotic diseases and certain rare diseases as well.
The firm is opportunistic across all subsectors of healthcare. Within MedTech, the firm is most interested in medical devices, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mobile health. The firm is seeking post-prototype innovations that are FDA cleared or are close to receiving clearance. Within therapeutics, the firm is interested in therapeutics for large disease markets such as oncology, neurology, and metabolic diseases. The firm is open to all modalities with a special interest in immunotherapy and cell therapy.
A strategic investment firm of a large global pharmaceutical makes investments ranging from $5 million to $30 million, acting either as a sole investor or within a syndicate. The firm is open to considering therapeutic opportunities globally, but only if the company is pursuing a market opportunity in the USA and is in dialogue with the US FDA.
The firm is currently looking for new investment opportunities in enterprise software, medical devices, and the healthcare IT space. The firm will invest in 510k devices and healthcare IT companies, and it is very opportunistic in terms of indications. In the past, the firm was active in medical device companies developing dental devices, endovascular innovation devices, and women’s health devices.
A venture capital firm founded in 2005 has multiple offices throughout Asia, New York, and San Diego. The firm has closed its fifth fund in 2017 and is currently raising a sixth fund, which the firm is targeting to be the largest fund to date. The firm continues to actively seek investment opportunities across a […]
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