Corporate venture capital firms are an important source of capital for early-stage companies. Many major pharmaceuticals and large corporations have set up a corporate investment arm to identify early-stage companies. Strategically and financially driven in varying degrees, the implications of working with CVCs are huge, as the resources, network, and guidance provided by the CVC and the associated parent company are incredibly valuable to an entrepreneur who is actively growing their business. This panel will discuss the following topics and more:

• How are CVCs different from traditional VCs?
• How strategically vs. financially are CVCs driven, and how does this affect their decision-making process?
• How closely does the CVC communicate with the parent company?
• What does working with a CVC entail?

Panelists will discuss each of their investment mandates and how they relate to corporate interests, and how they have been sourcing opportunities during COVID. Panelists may also explore current trending areas of interest, and what they see as emerging fields in the near future.

The most successful entrepreneurs are always the best storytellers. Finding a way to naturally formulate your company’s unique story and portraying this through multiple modalities whether it be a 1-minute elevator pitch or a 12-slide pitch deck is one of the most effective ways to get potential investors and partners on board with your value proposition. This bootcamp will cover the importance of entrepreneurial agency, finding your voice and developing a compelling narrative for the different players that will emerge along a deal chain, and language tools to refine your hook. Investors always bet on the team, not just the technology, and if every member of your startup can tell any strategic partner a consistent story of your company and technology, you are on the right track to building successful relationships.

Funding in Women’s Health has increased over the past few years, with technologies ranging from therapeutics to diagnostics to digital health platforms designed to address problems facing women. This increase in funding has also played a role in increasing the funding in women-led startups, as one report found that more than 70% of startups in Women’s Health have at least one female founder. Topics discussed may include:

• What is unique about investing in Women’s Health?
• What areas of Women’s Health need more focus?
• What do investors look for in technologies relating to Women’s Health?

Women’s Health issues expand beyond fertility and reproductive health, as a large number of widespread issues, such as stroke or cardiovascular diseases, either affect women more frequently or differently, and there is a large disparity in treatments that address the way these diseases affect women specifically. Panelists will discuss their interests in this space, and their investment strategy in these technologies.

Did you know you can receive non-dilutive support from the federal government without writing grants?! This interactive panel will have biotech leaders and federal lab representatives discuss non-dilutive support strategies apart from rolling the dice with grant submissions. Topics will include:

• Partnerships providing indirect/in-kind support – for which federal labs expend monies, expertise and capabilities on your behalf
• The wide range of company and technology development stages that can benefit
• Utilizing indirect support to achieve value inflection points
• Leveraging these relationships to impact burn-rate

Each year, NIH, Department of Defense and other federal agencies enter into technology development and commercialization partnerships with hundreds of healthcare companies around the globe. This panel will provide important insights on strategy, lessons learned and best practices.

Investing in medical devices has become more complex with time. While standard medical devices are still a mainstay, there are an increasing amount of combination devices, software-enabled devices and diagnostic devices that require investors to have expertise in multiple sectors. Panelists may discuss topics such as:

• Areas that are currently popular and expected to grow in 2024
• The benefits vs. risks of devices that cross sectors
• Regulatory hurdles / challenges
• Amount/type of data they want to see before investing

Panelists will discuss how to meet the challenges of raising financing for a new device and advise startups on how to make the investment case for their novel technology. Panelists will also explore what technology areas are of top interest to them and how a startup can make themselves stand out in the crowd.

Once you are ready to embark on your fundraising campaign, how do you know whom to target? What investors are a best fit for you, how do different investors invest and partner, and how do you get in touch with them? Identifying investors, learning about the differences between investor types, accessing a database to provide you with key information to filter your best fit investors, and finally, using a CRM to manage your fundraise are critical to an efficient and successful fundraise.

Since 2015, the US regulatory, public/private payor, and clinical research environments have implemented sweeping changes to the policies and requirements governing healthcare innovation targeting the pediatric patient population. Despite these changes, funding for pediatric innovation remains exponentially lower relative to the nature of the commitments being made to adult indications, especially troubling in light of nearly 40% of the world’s population will be under the age of 21, yet less

than 15% of all healthcare investment is targeting pediatric indications. This panel will explore several topics including:

• What are the specific gaps in pediatric patient engagement?
• How and why are current novel treatments under development superior to historic care options?
• What are the challenges that impact the efficiency, effectiveness, and successful commercialization of scientific innovations targeting the pediatric patient population?
• What changes need to be made to incentivize and motivate global healthcare manufacturers to increase their pediatric healthcare R&D budgets respectively?

Panelists will discuss topics relevant to all areas of pediatric care and the importance of addressing an underserved population, and how improvements to pediatric care can save long-term costs for the healthcare industry long after these patients reach adulthood.

This workshop provides a deep dive into term sheets for life sciences transactions, including collaborations, fundraising, IPOs, licensing, M&A, JVs, and SPVs. Attendees will explore typical material terms, the balance of binding vs. non-binding provisions, and strategies for negotiation. Topics include exclusivity, cost coverage, break fees, and managing commercial term changes during negotiations. We’ll decode fundraising jargon – like liquidation preferences, anti-dilution mechanisms, and board/shareholder rights—and discuss tools such as SAFEs, CLNs, and ASAs. Learn how to navigate the interplay with financial advisors and banks, ensuring alignment on transaction definitions and processes. Legal advice at this stage is crucial; this session offers insights into market norms and practical negotiation tactics to secure better outcomes.

Big pharma companies are actively looking outwards for innovative new therapeutics to add to their pipelines. This panel brings together speakers from various big pharma companies discussing topics such as:

• How big pharma sources assets
• The evaluation process
• Key factors and areas of interest
• How early-stage big pharma is willing to look

These panelists will shed light on the process that big pharma goes through when sourcing early-stage assets and advise startups on how they can best make a case for themselves. Panelists will also explore various trends within the therapeutics marketplace, what assets are of interest to their company, and what they think will be big in the future.

The industry has quickly adapted to a “new normal” – entrepreneurs and investors meet virtually over digital platforms to discuss potential investment opportunities, and it is not uncommon to see entrepreneurs raise capital from investors they have never met before in person. That said, there is no doubt that the fundraising journey continues to be challenging for many. In this panel, you will be able to hear fellow entrepreneurs share their experiences, from successes to challenges. This panel will discuss the following topics and more:

• What are some of the greatest challenges entrepreneurs have faced, especially during the pandemic, and how were they overcome?
• How did entrepreneurs identify investors that fit their technology?
• What are some misconceptions entrepreneurs had about the early-stage investment landscape?

Furthermore, entrepreneurs will share unique tips and insights they have gained from their fundraising experiences, and how others can work their way towards a more successful campaign.

This panel is a discussion on topics relevant to investment in current innovations in the oncology space. Topics of discussion can include:

• The technologies/approaches that investors find the most compelling
• Whether platform technologies or single assets are preferred for investment/partnerships
• What criteria do investors use when assessing companies for their portfolio or pipeline

Panelists can discuss the industry-wide changes currently seen, including the advance of personalized medicine and the rise of new therapeutic approaches (CAR-T, oncolytic viruses etc.), and how that is affecting the investing landscape.

Valuation is a key aspect of fundraising. An average value assumption for each company in a specific financing stage just does not do it anymore. For entrepreneurs, as for investors, its important to understand the value drivers of a company. We are looking at the financing trends of the last years, discuss dos and don’ts when speaking with investors and look at how to value a life science company with no revenues.

By 2030 1 in 6 people in the world will be over 60 years of age. Globally, the senior population is rapidly growing and the opportunities in the agetech space abound. But this niche market has its intricacies. Hear from longevity investors on their predictions for what’s next, what they’re looking for, and trends they see sticking.

BullFrog AI has launched BullFrog Data Networks®, a customized solution for drug discovery and development, focused on enabling success for companies including early-stage biotechs that need to advance to their next funding milestone. We will describe what we see as the industry-wide challenge in selecting and validating drug targets based on relevant data. Our Data Networks solution creates and analyzes networks of biological and clinical data including multiomics, imaging, lab values, RWD, and published literature to gain insights into causal gene relationships, cellular pathways and function, target druggability, and patient stratification. We will discuss how we have used this approach for both our internal programs as well as for partner companies, including a live demonstration of a resulting Data Network.