JULY 2022LIFE SCIENCES REVIEW9For a project to receive VC funding a lot of things need to line up ­ it's not just about the scienceIn terms of raising venture funding for a start-up, here are some other tips for researchers:- Know your investor audience. Study their other investments to determine at what stage they typically invest and what types of disease indications they have invested in. This can vary between funds.- Be realistic about your role ­are you a CEO, CTO or scientific advisor? Being a CEO requires a different skill set to that of a scientist.- Sell the science and technology ­ don't over-explain it - avoid too many data slides in the initial pitch- R&D is about risk management, so have a clear sense of the first major de-risking (=value uplift) point- Focus on value-critical milestones ­ getting to a value inflexion point with minimal investment; think about what is "needed to know" versus "nice to know".- Have a credible development and finance plan. Get external expert input (most budgets we see are 100% underestimated)- Have realistic valuation expectations ( research spend)- Make sure your proposed team has relevant experience- Be open to feedback and don't take rejection personally rather that the technology is too early and risky to justify an investment. To receive investment, a project must have the potential for large returns due to the large number of failures and that generally means meeting an unmet medical need in a growing, large and definable market that a pharma partner will want to enter. For a project to receive VC funding a lot of things need to line up ­ it's not just about the science.As investors, we often see a disconnect with when academic scientists consider a discovery to be venture ready compared to when an investor sees it as being ready for investment. Whereas academic scientists may consider a project to be investment ready at the target identification or the drug design/chemistry stage, investors such as Uniseed want to see a putative novel lead molecule with a patent filed for the composition of matter, supporting in vivo data in a relevant disease model and some information on the drug exposure and dose response (i.e. pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics). In addition, an understanding of the mechanism of action is also important; that is an understanding of the target engagement. Most early stage programs we see have gaps in the data, which is not unexpected in an academic program, and in most cases we provide funding to close these gaps. However, at a minimum, investors will want to see initial proof of concept data (in vitro and in vivo).In our experience repurposing drugs is also difficult (i.e. finding a new use for an existing drug, as obtaining a strong commercially defensible patent position is quite difficult). There may be a few exceptions in a niche or orphan indication, but as a general rule they make difficult venture investments. Platform technologies are also difficult, as you need a specific application (e.g. drug delivery).
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