Last Wednesday Biotechs and the City Summer took place in Central London; a networking forum co-organised by Capital Cell and Biotech and Money, and hosted by CMS, which turned out to be a great success.
Around 100 senior life science executives, investors and entrepreneurs came together for a pre-summer networking event and enjoyed a relaxed 3hr session with their peers and protégés, together with timely and pertinent presentations and panels.
The audience were welcomed by Biotech and Money, then introduced to Capital Cell and the growing sector of life science equity crowdfunding by Laura Ferguson, Capital Cell’s UK Director. Sam Robinson from CMS presented his take on the expected changes in the FCA regulated field of equity investment, before an interesting panel discussion began.
Ian Tomlinson, Chairman of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst and Apollo Therapeutics Fund led the discussion, titled ‘Drawing a crowd: what can crowdfunding bring to traditional life science investment syndication?’ with 5 industry experts.
Daniel Oliver, Capital Cell CEO had the pleasure of debating the ins and outs of crowdfunding with Sarah Haywood, MedCity CEO – whose Angel syndicate are partnering with Capital Cell; Fuchsia Curry, Syndicate Manager at Deepbridge Capital – who are setting up their own crowdfunding platform for co-financing their portfolio companies; Claire Brown, Investment Manager at Biocity Group Ltd – a groundbreaking healthcare and bioscience innovation and incubation centre; Ajan Reginald, CEO of Celixir – a UK-based regenerative medicine company who closed a record breaking crowdfunding campaign for the business.
Following the insightful panel session, Ajan Reginald took to the podium to share his experience of crowdfunding for Celixir, also outlining some important tips and rules to follow in order to run a successful campaign. In 2014, the company set a record by raising £670k in 10 days from over 300 investors and at a £75m valuation / £37 per share. Three years later they offered a partial exit to investors at £101/share, which 90% of investors declined, and kept their shares! Celixir are now preparing for a potential IPO.
The evening concluded with pitches from 6 innovative life science companies:
. Tharos – a microbiome company with an equine scientific feed targeting prevention of colitis and laminitis.
. ThinkSono – a med tech company with software to automate DVT diagnosis from hand-held ultrasound scans.
. AI Discovery – a drug discovery platform based on machine learning with existing big pharma partnerships.
. MediSieve – a platform technology to revolutionise the treatment of blood-borne diseases.
. OR Productivity – a medical device allowing single-surgeon keyhole surgery to improve efficiency in operating theatres.
. Absynth – a therapeutics company with a vaccine pipeline to prevent bacterial infections and reduce antimicrobial resistance.
An interesting evening was had by all; investors and entrepreneurs alike continued to discuss the evening’s topic of crowdfunding and syndication late into the night over a glass of wine.
We’re already looking forward to organising the next one!
If you attended the event (or couldn’t make it this time) and are interested in receiving digital copies of the Investment Opportunity Sheets for the companies who pitched, as well as those currently raising funds on the Capital Cell UK platform, please request the pack by contacting info@capitalcell.co.uk.
