BioCap 2024: bringing investors and investees together
Published on 27/09/2024
BioCap 2024 saw a great turnout of 155 delegates, exhibitors, speakers and investors at the conference itself as part of a three-day programme comprising of the digital pitching competition on 24th September with a shortlist of 10 finalists all presenting to a panel of online investors, the investor mixer on 25th September and the main event on 26th September. The conference featured keynote speakers, panel discussions and one-to-one partnering meetings, along with the announcement of the overall winner of the pitching competition, selected from the top three.
The panel sessions covered a range of topics, with expansive and informative discussions around opportunities for the sector, these included the state of the nation, IPO explained, securing investment and northern growth initiatives.
Inspirational company journeys were shared, with Quotient Science’s Alnwick Site Managing Director, Paul Ryan, discussing how he and Ian Shott co-founded Arcinova, financed it, and eventually secured a trade sale to Quotient Sciences under whose ownership the Alnwick site continues to thrive and grow. GMP Healthcare’s CEO, Giby George, also talked about the company he has built based in Hull, and how GMP has transformed an old Seven Seas site into a state of the art 21st century manufacturing facility for a range of pharmaceutical and healthcare products, with the belief that the UK can aim for a $1 trillion Life Sciences industry.
The keynote speeches were kicked off by the UK Bioindustry Association’s CEO, Steve Bates OBE, who commented on the need for investment funding, but put the onus on the northwest life sciences sector, professional services and investors to come together and promote the region’s offer and fully celebrate the successes as much and as widely as possible.
In an upbeat and inspiring presentation, it was also noted that the Government are supportive of the sector, especially life sciences growth in the northwest, but more investment is needed for the region to realise its potential.
Dr Avi Spier, Executive Director Search and Evaluation at Novartis Institutes, continued the theme of collaboration with his views on reimagining medicine through partnering. The speech touched on the importance of partnering as a key to success, by enabling external innovation, bringing novel therapies to patients, combining expertise and capabilities, and creating mutual value. Novartis’ intention to partner to deliver high-value medicines and support the success of drug candidates was also a theme of the presentation, with the company looking to collaborate through a variety of deal structures, echoing the CEO’s aspiration for the company’s “innovation to be 60-65% internal, 35-40% external”.
The final investor keynote, conducted by LifeArc’s Investment Principal, Chris Baker, commented on the state of the investor’s inbox (!), with a brief overview of LifeArc being a charity supporting translational research often in underserved areas and LifeArc Ventures’ role as investors in global “breakthrough” opportunities to generate returns for LifeArc.
Key takeaways from the investor’s inbox included fewer cell and gene therapy companies being shared, neurodegeneration leading to neuropsychiatry, and the need for university-linked funds and to focus on USP over the competition, with the unmet patient need sometimes not being enough.
Pitching competition winner
After being shortlisted from an exceptionally high-quality batch of submissions, the 10 finalists were each asked to present an eight-minute pitch to a virtual judging panel during the BioCap Digital Pitching Competition on 24th September.
The finalists who took part were AI Rehab, Alcyomics, Brain+, CCI Photonics, ClotProtect Therapeutics, EarSwitch, ErebaGen, ESP Diagnostics, OCUWELL and Thymotec.
After much deliberation, the judges then decided on a top three: EarSwitch, ErebaGen and OCUWELL.
The overall winner was OCUWELL, with the award being given to CEO Rania Maklad by Alan Boyd. Congratulations!
View all 10 of the shortlisted company profiles here and the video pitches here.
Geoff Davison, CEO of Bionow, commented: “It’s always great to see companies and individuals from both sides of the investment investment table getting together and taking advantage of the networking opportunities on offer. As always, it was a day of discussion, insights and collaboration, which is so important to the industry.
Huge congratulations to the winner of the BioCap Pitching Competition, OCUWELL, whose pitch was presented by CEO Rania Maklad, with a special mention to EarSwitch and ErebaGen in an especially closely-fought contest!”
BioCap 2024 was sponsored by STFC, Mills & Reeve, Boyds, Bruntwood SciTech, RSM UK and Appleyard Lees.
The panel sessions covered a range of topics, with expansive and informative discussions around opportunities for the sector, these included the state of the nation, IPO explained, securing investment and northern growth initiatives.
Inspirational company journeys were shared, with Quotient Science’s Alnwick Site Managing Director, Paul Ryan, discussing how he and Ian Shott co-founded Arcinova, financed it, and eventually secured a trade sale to Quotient Sciences under whose ownership the Alnwick site continues to thrive and grow. GMP Healthcare’s CEO, Giby George, also talked about the company he has built based in Hull, and how GMP has transformed an old Seven Seas site into a state of the art 21st century manufacturing facility for a range of pharmaceutical and healthcare products, with the belief that the UK can aim for a $1 trillion Life Sciences industry.
The keynote speeches were kicked off by the UK Bioindustry Association’s CEO, Steve Bates OBE, who commented on the need for investment funding, but put the onus on the northwest life sciences sector, professional services and investors to come together and promote the region’s offer and fully celebrate the successes as much and as widely as possible.
In an upbeat and inspiring presentation, it was also noted that the Government are supportive of the sector, especially life sciences growth in the northwest, but more investment is needed for the region to realise its potential.
Dr Avi Spier, Executive Director Search and Evaluation at Novartis Institutes, continued the theme of collaboration with his views on reimagining medicine through partnering. The speech touched on the importance of partnering as a key to success, by enabling external innovation, bringing novel therapies to patients, combining expertise and capabilities, and creating mutual value. Novartis’ intention to partner to deliver high-value medicines and support the success of drug candidates was also a theme of the presentation, with the company looking to collaborate through a variety of deal structures, echoing the CEO’s aspiration for the company’s “innovation to be 60-65% internal, 35-40% external”.
The final investor keynote, conducted by LifeArc’s Investment Principal, Chris Baker, commented on the state of the investor’s inbox (!), with a brief overview of LifeArc being a charity supporting translational research often in underserved areas and LifeArc Ventures’ role as investors in global “breakthrough” opportunities to generate returns for LifeArc.
Key takeaways from the investor’s inbox included fewer cell and gene therapy companies being shared, neurodegeneration leading to neuropsychiatry, and the need for university-linked funds and to focus on USP over the competition, with the unmet patient need sometimes not being enough.
Pitching competition winner
After being shortlisted from an exceptionally high-quality batch of submissions, the 10 finalists were each asked to present an eight-minute pitch to a virtual judging panel during the BioCap Digital Pitching Competition on 24th September.
The finalists who took part were AI Rehab, Alcyomics, Brain+, CCI Photonics, ClotProtect Therapeutics, EarSwitch, ErebaGen, ESP Diagnostics, OCUWELL and Thymotec.
After much deliberation, the judges then decided on a top three: EarSwitch, ErebaGen and OCUWELL.
The overall winner was OCUWELL, with the award being given to CEO Rania Maklad by Alan Boyd. Congratulations!
View all 10 of the shortlisted company profiles here and the video pitches here.
Geoff Davison, CEO of Bionow, commented: “It’s always great to see companies and individuals from both sides of the investment investment table getting together and taking advantage of the networking opportunities on offer. As always, it was a day of discussion, insights and collaboration, which is so important to the industry.
Huge congratulations to the winner of the BioCap Pitching Competition, OCUWELL, whose pitch was presented by CEO Rania Maklad, with a special mention to EarSwitch and ErebaGen in an especially closely-fought contest!”
BioCap 2024 was sponsored by STFC, Mills & Reeve, Boyds, Bruntwood SciTech, RSM UK and Appleyard Lees.
