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How can you invest in the future of health?
How can you support projects that will change lives?
How can you be a part of projects that have great social impact?
… by investing in biotechnology and healthcare!
When talking about investing in biotech projects it is impossible to look at numbers alone. Investing in this sector goes far beyond economic profitability (which is actually quite ‘healthy’: biotech is the most profitable investment sector in the world since 2008).
It is also about supporting projects with the potential to have a great impact on society. It is about supporting companies that can bring to the market new treatments against childhood cancer, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia or multiple sclerosis, to name just a few.
An inspiring example of how one can be part of such projects, comes from Bionure, a biotech company developing a novel first-in-class drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This neurodegenerative disease affects around 2.5 million people worldwide and more than 600,000 in Europe alone. To date there is no cure.
Earlier this year, Bionure raised more than €1M. Their record-breaking crowdfunding campaign ‘#estamosaesto’ (‘we are this close’) spiraled into an extremely popular raise, achieving the largest amount raised by a life science company through equity crowdfunding, to date, in Spain. More impressive than the total figure they received, is knowing that this capital has been key in progressing their drug development plan – their next step was to start clinical trials in humans. Thanks to their hugely successful campaign and the contribution of 240 investors, Bionure has already, just three months later, received authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to undertake their first clinical trial on healthy volunteers.
As with many of the companies raising funds via crowdfunding, it was the focus of Bionure’s development work that captured the interest of an heterogeneous ‘crowd’ of investors. “We were contacted by multiple sclerosis patients, and by their relatives and friends, who saw this as an exceptional opportunity to help” revealed Daniel Oliver, CEO of Capital Cell, the equity crowdfunding platform where Bionure hosted their funding round. Additionally, due to the impressive business plan and clear direction from CEO Albert G. Zamora, “the campaign also captured the interest of big investors who saw the high social impact but also the potentially high profitability of their investment”, added Daniel.
Investors of all shapes and sizes, each with different motivations, contributed according to their financial abilities. €1M is the sum of many contributions, some as small (yet significant) as 100 euros.
Bionure is just one example among many. During the last 3 years the Capital Cell platform, the first in Europe to specialise in biotech and health projects, has successfully closed 15 investment rounds, of which all the companies continue to operate and grow. The platform has helped raise more than €4.4M for research and development in various branches of life science, including biotechnology, medical devices, therapeutics, genomics and drug discovery.
Currently on its two platforms (operating in Spain and the UK) there are 8 projects of high social impact looking for funding; including Sense4Care, OvuSense or Antikor.
Sense4Care seeks funds to market PARK-IT, a medical wearable device that identifies and records motor symptoms of patients with parkinson’s disease, aiming to improve their safety and quality of life.
OvuSense, from the British company Fertilty Focus, is a fertility monitor capable of predicting ovulation, with high accuracy and 24 hours advance notice. They’ve already helped thousands of couples successfully start, and grow, families.
Antikor, part of the Stevenage BioScience Catalyst, is developing antibody fragment drug conjugates for the treatment of solid cancer tumors. Their state-of-the-art technology has shown promising results with high efficiency and reduced side effects for patients.
Sense4Care is live on the Spanish platform, www.capitalcell.net
While OvuSense and Antikor are featured on www.capitalcell.co.uk
They all sounds great don’t they?
So, how can you become part of projects like this?
The simple answer is, equity crowdfunding. Become an investor and you can own shares in companies like these, helping them to reach their goals and advance scientific development.
Equity investment is a way of buying shares in privately owned companies that are not yet on the stock market. The company gets the money it needs to grow, while the ‘crowd’ can invest their money in a project they believe in and receive equity in return.
It is a model of alternative financing based on cooperation and it represents the democratisation of investment: the paradigm that only great fortunes can invest is finally becoming a thing of the past. Anyone can now support and help an idea become a reality.
Unlike other funding models, in equity crowdfunding, investors not only help projects to grow, but also have the added bonus of receiving potentially significant financial returns if a company achieve their forecast and exit goals. Investing is always risky, but the financial rewards for investors of start-ups can be significant, and the social impact of investing in life science start-ups in particular can affect the lives of millions.
Thanks to crowdfunding platforms such as Capital Cell, investing in biotech companies is now possible. Anyone can become a crowdinvestor and be part of a project as promising and of such high impact as Bionure.
Discover the opportunities now:
www.capitalcell.co.uk
