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QMB announces successful Biotech Investment Forum in London
Report on the event
Document: QMB Investment Forum Press Release (100 kb)
Press Release: 11th October 2011
QMB Innovation Centre
(“QMB” or “the Innovation Centre”)
QMB announces successful Biotech Investment Forum in London
in association with One Nucleus
On Wednesday 5th October Queen Mary BioEnterprises (QMB) Innovation Centre, London’s newest high-specification incubator facilities for start-up and early stage life science businesses, hosted its first Biotech Investment Forum. The event was designed to bring together a host of biotechnology start-ups looking to raise up to £5m with early-stage venture capitalists with an investment remit in life sciences. The event was held in association with One Nucleus, the membership organisation for international life science and healthcare companies,
The day long event, one of London's largest investment forums, was attended by over 120 people and offered 11 early stage biotech ventures a platform to pitch for seed stage investment (up to £1m) or series A financing (up to £5m).
Out of 25 companies that applied, 11 were chosen based on criteria that included sector, market space, technology value proposition, management team experience, use of funds and existing investment in these companies. Together these innovative and entrepreneurial companies covered a wide range of fields, from paediatric ophthalmology to companion diagnostics to cancer diagnosis.
One of the companies was Atlantic Healthcare Limited, an emerging international healthcare group. Commenting on the forum, Toby Wilson Waterworth, Chief Executive of Atlantic Healthcare, said "We received lots of interest from the QMB event. The quality of investors was extremely high and the company is already in discussions with investors from the event with whom it can close this round of investment."
Andy Hill, CEO of Intelligent Ultrasound, another pitching company, added "The inaugural QMB Biotech Investment Forum was a great new networking opportunity with a good mix of panel discussions, presentations and company pitches. I look forward to future participation and watching it develop from year to year - I'm sure it will go from strength to strength."
One of the attending investors Kate Bingham, Managing Partner of SV Life Sciences said “The conspicuous success of the first QMB Biotech Investment Forum shows that innovation is flourishing in the life sciences sector. For larger venture capital investors like SVLS, we aim to fund the clinical development of novel products and technologies, that come from thriving university labs such as QMB. SVLS welcomes the energy and success of QMB Innovation Centre.”
Alongside the pitches, the event hosted a number of panel discussions and case studies. The panels covered thin markets & funding gaps, later stage financing & M&A and an evening event covered “Does the UK need to create more public life science companies?” Case Studies looking at Commercialising IP and Company Formation were interspersed throughout the day.
Simone Reid, Business Development Director of hosts QMB, concluded: “We are delighted with our first Biotech Investment Forum. All the component parts of the day were a success, the points addressed and discussed were incredibly thought provoking and an attendance by so many Tier 1 investors complimented this. This type of high-quality event is central to the Innovation Centre’s ethos, to create an active hub and living culture of life sciences in London. This will be of benefit to both tenants of the Innovation Centre and the rest of the life science community. “
-Ends-
Pictures of the event can be found at the end of this press release below
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About Queen Mary Bioenterprises Limited
The QMB Innovation Centre provides state of the art, customisable laboratory and office space within minutes of The City of London.
QMB provides business incubation support for new ventures and aims to become a hub for science and technology entrepreneurs in London. It provides all its clients with access to the wide range of professional services required when spinning a company out of academia and supports them through the critical phases of their development. The Innovation Centre’s proximity to the City of London means that it is well placed for clients to meet with the UK investment community and other advisers.
The 39,000 square foot facility comprises three floors of flexible work space for R&D focussed companies, from start-ups to larger 'follow on' companies. The labs have a computer controlled air handling system that allows tuning of lab air pressure regimes The labs also have pre-positioned above ceiling ducting to ease the connection of fume cupboards.. This makes QMB an ideal location for a broad range of companies, stretching from biotechs to pure chemistry plays. The Innovation Centre has a 120 seat lecture theatre and regularly hosts seminars and conferences which aim to promote the growth of the biotechnology industry in the UK.
QMB’s keystone tenant is Retroscreen Virology Ltd, a virology contract research organisation, whose bespoke facilities in the Innovation Centre include laboratory space and capacity to run clinical trials. QMB has recently signed its second tenant, iGene which will be housed on the first f