One of the greatest difficulties in raising early stage financing in the life sciences is that many investors balk at the development timelines involved in biotech and medtech opportunities. VC investors in particular are driven by short term fund lifecycles; particularly if you are receiving an investment late into a fund's investment period (which may extend 2-3 years after the fund is closed), the VC will be often looking for the possibility of an exit in under 3 years. Angel investors and evergreen funds may also operate under similar horizons, as they rely on successful exits to generate capital to make further investments. Beyond structural constraints, from an investor's perspective, time is money; their rate of return is directly governed by how long their capital is tied up in your company.

Everyone knows that it takes a long time to develop and commercialize a new drug, medical device or diagnostic. It's estimated that it takes 11-14 years to move a drug from preclinical testing to the marketplace. Yet many investors step into this marketplace with a 2- or 3-year investment horizon. Early stage companies must therefore learn how to get in step with investors when it comes to timelines...

READ MORE  

Agriculture is the base of modern society, and makes up nearly a third of the global carbon footprint. Many current sociopolitical conversations revolve around GMOs, use of pesticides and antibiotics, and the future of sustainable food in the face of an ever-growing population. Biotechnology has increasingly sought to step up to these challenges of sustainability, though not always as successfully as anticipated (biofuels) or without controversy (GMOs), and in the back seat compared to biotech's role in therapeutics. Yet, innovation in this space still sees strong interest from investors - 152 investors mention an interest in agbio in their mandates on the LSN Investor Platform. A majority of the investors LSN tracks that are interested in Agbio are open to investing as early as the seed stage...

READ MORE

Numerous Asian-based venture firms have created investment offices in the states to uncover U.S. technology that fills an unmet need back home. These investors are looking to acquire an early stake and shepherd innovative products through the unfamiliar regulatory agencies/process, business environment and healthcare system at large.

LSN has recently recognized this trend with a dedicated track to explore these investor's specific appetite and first-hand insight into cross-border deals, and we're excited to bring these panels to the West Coast where there is a large amount of such activity.

Asia Pacific Investors panelists will include the following:

READ MORE