Heidelberg, 01.03.2019
Are you actively raising capital? Do you know how long it takes? Do you know how much it costs? These are the three questions that kicked-off yesterday Startup Boot Camp in the Conference Center of the Technology Park in Heidelberg. Dennis Ford and Greg Mannix (Life Science Nation - LSN) and Patrik Frei (Venture Valuation - VV) trained 12 startups about best strategies to raise money for their company.
Raise money for a startup is hard work, it takes nine to 18 months in time and it is successful only if a good story about the company/product is ready, in order to intrigue investors and build a progressive dialogue with them. The experts agreed that companies need to proactively speak to investors some time before they need the money.
In order to negotiate “fairly” an investor deal, companies need to know their value. Patrik Frei (Founder and CEO of VV) presented their tool and strategy to valuate a life science startup. Traditional methods unfortunately do not apply to the field and only well-done assumptions, will leverage the valuation method chosen.
Dennis Ford (Founder and CEO, LSN) during his talk was able to debunk at least 10 of the top Myths in fundraising. If you still believe that the scientist is the rock star and does not need a business developer, and the science or technology behind the product is the only think that matters to investors, it is time to get an update.
Investors buy you, your team and your technology. It is imperative to showcase you and your team in marketing material as well as the science or technology.
The Boot Camp has been organised and hosted by BioRN, the Technology Park Heidelberg and the Life Science Accelerator Baden-Württemberg.
About BioRN
BioRN is a life science research and industry cluster dedicated to the development of cell-specific, molecular and personalised innovative treatments. The BioRN Cluster stands for the development, networking, representation and promotion of the life science region into one of the leading life science clusters in Europe. The cluster-members include renowned academic research institutions such as the Universities of Heidelberg, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and big pharmaceutical companies such as AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Roche, und Sanofi-Aventis, and about 80 small and medium-sized biotech enterprises. Beyond the members registered in the cluster, BioRN gives access to a wider network via partnerships and collaborations. In terms of the use of clusters for the internationalization of companies, BioRN has founded, together with Leuven (Belgium), Maastricht (Netherlands) and Copenhagen (Denmark), an alliance for the enforcement of biomedical innovation in Europe, called the Health Axis Europe.