Case Studies

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

In the buildup to RESI Boston 2022, LSN embarked on a hybrid version of the 3-day education course, ‘Preparing for your Global Fundraising Roadshow’, with over 20 companies and 30 participants from the National Institute of Ageing. The participants were from minority backgrounds and the companies ranged across the sectors of therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. The companies also ranged from those scientist-entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their company journeys (just ideas and technology concepts) to actively fundraising executives looking for Seed capital and development partners.

The format of the course entailed 2 pre-course digital sessions followed by 2 days of intense in-person mentoring and lectures leading up directly to RESI Boston. The 2 pre-course digital sessions were focused on setting context, providing a thorough introduction to LSN and what would be covered during the in-person days, as well as a comprehensive tutorial of the unique partnering platform that is used to match early-stage companies, investors, and licensing partners during the RESI conferences. The 2 days of in-person education were more focused on delivering the bulk of the course content, which included tactical elements of launching a global fundraising campaign and in-depth branding & messaging, and mentoring the participants in preparation for RESI Boston.

As part of the education course, each company was able to attend RESI Boston and experience the full conference which included attending relevant investor panels, booking meetings with active early-stage investors and licensing partners, and networking with strategic partners. Several of the companies also went on to pitch in the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC), RESI’s pitch competition, which allowed companies to deliver a 4-minute pitch followed by 8 minutes of Q&A to a panel of relevant investor judges with dozens of active investors in the audience. All in all, the course that was delivered to the NIA was a resounding success and was an excellent pilot to LSN’s new in-person educational offerings designed to equip fundraising executives with the skills and tools necessary to successfully launch global partnering campaigns.

Course Highlights

• Average of 5-8 investor meetings per company, with many more advanced companies securing 12+ meetings
• Suma, one of the participating companies, won the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge which features over 65 actively fundraising professional early-stage companies seeking Seed to Series B capital – a testament to the strength of the mentoring delivered prior to the conference
• Comprehensive introduction to several core components of partnering campaigns including building a Global Target List (GTL) of investors, canvassing the international landscape, and building a professional set of marketing materials

Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA)

The first international cohort of early-stage companies to participate in LSN’s new entrepreneurial immersion program were from Brisbane, Australia, sponsored by the Brisbane Economic Development Agency (BEDA). Over the course of 10 online 2-hour sessions, ranging from the months of October – December, LSN engaged with 12 medtech-oriented firms from the Seed to Series B stage with some firms having only raised $2-3M USD and other having raised over $20M USD. The theme of the first 10 sessions, which encapsulated the first 2 days of the 3-day ‘Preparing for your Global Fundraising Roadshow’, was to help the companies finesse their marketing materials in preparation for the RESI JPM San Francisco and understand what was required to take their regional fundraising campaigns to the global competitive landscape and connect with major US investors and strategics.

The course culminated in a special in-person day of pitch-oriented education the day before RESI JPM San Francisco (2023). The morning constituted a series of lectures and panels surrounding pitching successfully and dispelling some of the myths of fundraising, while the afternoon featured a live Shark Tank with active investor judges. The cohort participated in the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) at RESI JPM San Francisco, so this comprehensive day of pitch-oriented education gave the companies a unique competitive advantage when participating in the IPC. This became clear during the in-person day of RESI when it was revealed that Field Orthopedics and Max Kelsen, two of the pitching companies from BEDA, placed 1st and 3rd in the IPC respectively. This was in competition against over 50 other pitching companies at RESI JPM San Francisco and once again demonstrated the power of the education delivered by LSN.