People often ask me why life sciences are so important.
For me, important things are those which have a clear impact on the future. Things to be addressed now rather than later. Things such as using life sciences to help address some of the medical and environmental challenges we face in our world.
Emerging life sciences technologies help address a major problem in our society; with an ageing population and a dramatic rise in chronic diseases, our healthcare systems are no longer sustainable. The working population is no longer able to support those not working. Without biotech advances to improve diagnostics and cures and IT advances to improve efficiency, we have an important problem. We need to discover ways to keep people healthier for longer, detect diseases earlier and manage those diseases better.
Biotech and life sciences advances reach beyond the medical world and impact other critical areas of our future. They include the drive for more efficient food production, growing crops more successfully without fertilisers or pesticides, developing biodegradable plastics and producing cleaner energy to name a few.
But, in addition to the benefits to society, investing in life sciences can offer attractive financial returns. The total market for Biotech is set to reach $272bn by 2025, which makes the life sciences sector an interesting and appealing place to invest.
n Biotech assets outperformed the S&P500 from 2008 to 2017 by a multiplier of almost three.
n Biotech has been the most profitable investment sector in the world by ROI between 2008 and 2016.
n Healthcare VC investment reached $15bn in 2017 (18% of overall VC investment).
n Q1 2018 saw more than $10bn invested into healthcare and the sector is heading for another record year.
n Time to exit in BioPharma deals hit an all-time low in 2017, at three and a half years after Series A
n Nearly 40% of Biopharma deals hit an IPO valuation of more than $100m.
n Biopharma products achieve astronomical sales in the market. The top 20 pharma products have sales in excess of $4bn each year, with up to 25% royalties going to investors.
A quick look at these figures tells us that investing in life sciences can offer shorter exit times, higher exit valuations and the realistic possibility of investing in game-changing new drugs. No wonder savvy investors are in on it.
Where does Capital Cell fit into all of this?
Back in 2015 we noticed a bizarre problem with life sciences startups: despite offering a tempting return and a decent survival rate, over and over again their CEOs failed to generate any significant funding interest. Despite investment forums and pitching events, many great ideas were left unsupported and unfunded. It surprised me because they were often the most interesting companies in the room with bags of exciting potential.
The issue it seems was that the average life sciences investment pitch was incomprehensible to the average human. An overabundance of technical terms mixed up with data and obscure graphs overwhelmed non scientific investors paralyzing their decision making, and the CEOs were oblivious to this.
That’s why we founded Capital Cell. We created a platform where science and its impact on the capital you invest could be explained with the clarity to make it understandable (and tempting) for non-scientists.
With Capital Cell all deals are screened and backed by our network of top scientists and doctors. Our specialists evaluate the opportunity, unravel the jargón and translate the relative merits into an offering more easily digested by potential investors.
That is how Capital Cell is built. We combine the technical knowledge of world-class scientists with the legal and financial knowledge of an expert investment team and offer opportunities to invest in deals using our secure online platform. We give everyone access to the kind of highly complex, highly profitable and socially rewarding investment that life sciences offer.
Some 25 investment rounds later, we continue to help scientists shape up their investment propositions (often translating them into plain English). We continue to gather expert knowledge to find the best possible investment deals and the scientific ecosystem continues to value Capital Cell as central to the early-stage financing of life sciences deals.
We’re helping early-stage companies whose innovative solutions will transform healthcare, create new ways to recycle, reduce pollution and create green energy.
Our values as a company are those of equality, honesty, progress, integration and innovation and we are deeply committed to them. We are closing the distance between science and the general public; helping people to understand how their money is related to the society they live in and opening up profitable investment opportunities to all.
It’s important for all of us that we do