The Venture Leaders Biotech dive into the Boston ecosystem 

17.11.2021 07:01, Isabelle Mitchell

The Venture Leaders Biotech roadshow 2021 brought eight entrepreneurs to Boston for a week-long roadshow—six weeks after the medtech team explored the city's innovation hubs. The selected startups strengthened their entrepreneurial network through exchanges with their peers and benefited from valuable market exposure, pitch sessions with investors and experts, and hands-on business development.

Following in the footsteps of the Venture Leaders Medtech team that traveled to Boston at the end of September, the Swiss National Biotech Startup Team traveled to Boston from November 8 to November 15  for a sector-dedicated roadshow. The selected startups improve disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment through innovative solutions covering areas such as RNA-sequencing, precision medicine, gene editing, and gene therapy.  
 
The week started with expert workshops on tuning the pitch towards US investors, particularly the financial topics. Feedback sessions with industry experts provided great perspectives and insights on the best ways to approach US markets and investors. A reception with the Swissnex CEO and Consul of Switzerland, Benjamin Bollmann, at the Consulate of Switzerland in Boston added networking opportunities. 
 

Expert pitch and feedback session 
 
“There is nothing like being on-site with the team and interacting directly with the experts,” emphasized Jordi Montserrat, managing partner of Venturelab. “Our goal is to stay at the heart of the action: Even if the pandemic is still present, we can feel the vibes of how dynamic the market is, with Boston experiencing record investments in startups.”  
 
The roadshow continued with pitch and feedback sessions with several investors and partners such as Sanofi Ventures, Puretech Health, Gurnet Point Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, and SmartLabs. The investors and experts shared additional dimensions to consider and potentially opened the doors for future relationships with some of the startups.

An essential component of establishing a business in the US is to ensure solid strategies for the legal, regulatory, and intellectual property elements, which were addressed during the session at Morrison and Foerster. 
 
Legal, IP, and regulatory session at Morrison and Foerster
 
After a long day of learning, the Venture Leaders cleared their minds by attending an ice hockey game of the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden. Watching the game live was a great moment for the entrepreneurs and, of course, the Bruins, who defeated the Ottawa Senators in an intense game 3:2.  
 

Go, Boston Bruins!  

“Being back and present ‘in reality’ with a team of great entrepreneurs allowed for concentrated feedback and exchanges like we haven’t had since the pandemic started,” commented Maximilien Murone, co-founder and CEO of Avrion Therapeutics. “Adding to this are the connections with investors, exchanges with experts or potential partners, and the opportunity to dive into the more technical aspects of setting up business in the US. The Venture Leaders Biotech roadshow was really a booster to push startups to the next level.”  

The Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 in Boston  
 
Venture Leaders alumni comprise high-flying biotech startups such as Covagen (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Redbiotec (Redvax acquired by Pfizer), KB Medical (acquired by Globus Medical), SimplicityBio (acquired by Precision for Medicine), and AMAL Therapeutics (acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim). NBE-Therapeutics participated in the Venture Leaders program in 2003 and was acquired for EUR 1.18 billion by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2020. 
 
Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 is organized by Venturelab in partnership with Swissnex and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, VISCHER, and the Canton of Zurich.