NextGen Venture Partners, a young, Washington, D.C.-based venture firm that’s quarterbacked by a handful of investors but fueled financially by a network of hundreds of part-time investors who help with its portfolio, has raised $22 million for its debut fund. (This if you don’t count a $1 million pool of capital that it raised from its network in 2015.)
We had a quick chat with Jon Bassett, one of the firm’s five partners, late last week to talk about what NextGen is trying to create. That conversation has been edited for length.
Many global cities want to be named the next tech innovation hub. But who’s really in the running?
It’s a question on which there are myriad perspectives and theories — the latest taking the form of a survey by professional service company KPMG. The company recently released part one of it’s yearly technology industry innovation survey (now in its fifth year) — a survey of over 800 “global technology industry leaders” in which KPMG asks about the changing landscape of tech. Part one the survey explores “the rise of new ecosystems of incubators, accelerators, and venture capital alongside government incentives across the world.”
The Next Step: VC Investment Update
Entrepreneurs, investors and others: Join the NVTC Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee for the second part of this practical series on raising investment capital. This expert panel will feature some of the most active VCs investing in Greater Washington region companies. The panelists represent active venture investors who have participated in venture rounds in the last year in Greater Washington and are looking to make more investments. The panel will discuss their recent experiences, their desired investee profiles and offer practical advice on raising venture stage capital.
Moderator:
Norm Snyder, CPA, Partner, Aronson LLC
Speakers:
J.S. Gamble, Co-Founder, Blu Ventures Todd Klein, Managing Director and CIO, SWaN & Legend Ventures Adam VeVerka, Director- Business Development, NewSpring Capital Kristin Gunther, Vice President, Revolution Growth
REGENXBIO Inc. (RGNX), a leading biotechnology company focused on the development, commercialization and licensing of recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy based on its proprietary NAV® Technology Platform, today announced that Kenneth T. Mills, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Cowen and Company 37th Annual Health Care Conference on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 10:40 a.m. ET at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston. In addition, REGENXBIO representatives will be holding one-on-one meetings at the conference.
A live webcast of the presentation can be accessed in the Investors section of REGENXBIO’s website at www.regenxbio.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available on the same website for approximately 30 days following the presentation.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) 9700 Great Seneca Hwy Rockville, MD 20850
Recent, high-profile hotel hacks have brought increasing attention to the hospitality sector and its cybersecurity challenges. While hospitality organizations have long supported the internal flow of information and data (e.g. allowing a hotel guest to charge dinner from the hotel restaurant to his/her room), technological improvements and customer demands have pushed hotels to offer increasing amenities, such as free Wi-Fi or mobile check-in. Through collaboration with the hospitality industry, the NCCoE is developing an example solution to help organizations strengthen the security of their property management system to better protect the business against network intrusion, data breach, fraud loss, and damage to reputation, while continuing to allow customers and guests to utilize and appreciate a hotel’s technological amenities. Join us for a lively discussion on the unique trends and challenges to improving cybersecurity in the hospitality sector.
Wed, April 5, 2017 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research 9600 Gudelsky DriveRockville, MD, Maryland 20850
From patient engagement to data analytics, the Health IT space is one of the hottest sectors in healthcare today. Join our next SoPE event and learn from developers, investors and entrepreneurs how to best get your innovative idea from inception to consumers while anticipating and avoiding the common pitfalls you are bound to encounter along the way.
Moderator: Jeffrey N. Hausfeld MD, MBA, Founder and Chairman – Society of Physician Entprepreneurs, Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Officer – BioFactura, Inc.
You thought the Shark Tank was tough? The second annual BioHealth Capital Region Crab Trap is now accepting applications!
Submit your application for a chance to be named the company with the most commercial potential at the BioHealth Capital Region Forum.
Grand Prize: $10,000, Incubation Space in Prince William County, VA or Montgomery County, MD, Business Mentoring
Deadline for entries is March 31st – Finalists will be announced by April 7th
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today launched DrugCostFacts.org, a new interactive web tool designed to help healthcare stakeholders gain a better understanding of the true facts surrounding drug costs, spending and value.
The site features a series of commonly asked questions—ranging from “Why are some drugs expensive?” to “What role do PBMs, insurance companies and wholesalers play in determining what patients pay for their drugs?”—and then answers these questions using infographics, videos and interactive tools. The site also has additional research and reading materials for those who want to dive deeper into these issues. The tool is mobile responsive, allowing users to access information on their phones and tablets.
Scott Gottlieb, a former deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the agency, according to an emailed statement from the White House.
Gottlieb, 44, served in several senior positions at the FDA during the George W. Bush administration. He has talked extensively about how to lower the cost of prescription drugs by modernizing the agency’s approval process and speeding cheaper generic competitors to market.
American University’s Business In the Capital Initiative (BCI), in cooperation with BioHealth Innovation, Johns Hopkins University, MedImmune and area governments and universities, is conducting a study of BioHealth Exports in the Washington Region. As part of the study, BCI is seeking input from area life science companies which are either currently exporting products or services– or are not exporting but would like to do so in the near future. The study goals are to increase exports of life science products and services into the global health care markets, and to identify and remedy the barriers to entry to the global healthcare markets for BioHealth Capital Region companies.
To make this exercise a success, we are seeking life science companies in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. to participate in a survey. Participating companies will be interviewed either in person or via voice. Confidentiality of companies and the information they choose to provide is assured. To participate, contact Prof. Erran Carmel at carmel@american.edu or 202-885-1928.
This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by BioHealth Innovation, VirginiaBio, Paragon Bioservices, Inova, University System of Maryland and MedImmune/AstraZeneca. Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.
We are excited to bring you an exceptional line up of speakers. The program will feature sessions that focus on Advancing Science and Accelerating Innovation.
At University of California Berkeley researchers have developed an innovative new way of delivering vaccines that may one day be an option over scary, and slightly painful, needle injections. The MucoJet device is a pill that, when pushed against the cheek, releases its cargo in the form of a microjet. The pressure generated is enough to push large molecules through the mucosal layer and into tissue that’s usually highly concentrated with immune cells.
The conviction that competitive differentiation will require effective digital initiatives has led many life-sciences companies to create a new leadership role, chief digital officer (CDO), to guide their digital initiatives.
To understand how these leaders see the digital future and how they are managing for success, we spoke to CDOs and their equivalents at ten pharma companies. These conversations suggest three imperatives for digital efforts: focus on the team applying the tools, not on the tools themselves; make bold, disruptive bets; and optimize the portfolio of initiatives to achieve company priorities, while taking finite resources into account.
The Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) today released new data showing record growth in entrepreneurial activity at the state’s universities as part of its Illinois Innovation Index, which reports on the key metrics of the state’s innovation economy. The report found that during the past five academic years, students and faculty at Illinois universities created 804 startups through technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs, competitions and other university initiatives. A record number of these startups, nearly 500, are also staying in the state.
USDA ARS and the USDA SBIR program formed a partnership to encourage USDA SBIR applicants to develop research collaborations with ARS scientists and/or to license ARS technologies. The purpose is to increase the likelihood of success by providing both money and technologies to small U.S. businesses. The relevant language in the SBIR’s “Request for Application” states: “Additional factors that will be considered in the review process include whether an application involves a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a USDA laboratory, or a license to a USDA technology, or is a resubmission.”
This webinar will include an overview of the USDA SBIR program and crafting a competitive SBIR proposal. Also an overview of ARS and how to develop a successful research collaboration (CRADA) with an ARS scientist and/or license an ARS technology will be discussed. The webinar will address coordinating the statement of works in an ARS CRADA and a USDA SBIR proposal.
When Subra Suresh was tapped to lead the National Science Foundation (NSF), in 2010, he saw that many of the pathbreaking discoveries developed through the agency’s grants weren’t finding their way to the marketplace, so he sought to foster better links between government and industry.
This, of course, was not an entirely new idea. Over the years, there have been numerous efforts, ranging from the Bayh-Dole Act, of 1980, to numerous initiatives to revamp technology transfer offices within government agencies, but nothing really seemed able to speed new discoveries out of the labs and into the marketplace.
Knowledge of an individual’s skin condition is important for pressure ulcer prevention. Detecting early changes in skin through perfusion, oxygen saturation values, and pressure on tissue and subsequent therapeutic intervention could increase patients’ quality of life drastically. However, most existing sensing options create additional risk of ulcer development due to further pressure on and chafing of the skin. Here, as a first component, we present a flexible, photonic textile-based sensor for the continuous monitoring of the heartbeat and blood flow. Polymer optical fibres (POFs) are melt-spun continuously and characterized optically and mechanically before being embroidered. The resulting sensor shows flexibility when embroidered into a moisture-wicking fabric, and withstands disinfection with hospital-type laundry cycles. Additionally, the new sensor textile shows a lower static coefficient of friction (COF) than conventionally used bedsheets in both dry and sweaty conditions versus a skin model. Finally, we demonstrate the functionality of our sensor by measuring the heartbeat at the forehead in reflection mode and comparing it with commercial finger photoplethysmography for several subjects. Our results will allow the development of flexible, individualized, and fully textile-integrated wearable sensors for sensitive skin conditions and general long-term monitoring of patients with risk for pressure ulcer.
The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) today announced the release of its 2016 annual data report, offering an in-depth look at trends and metrics for the cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering and broader global regenerative medicine sector.
Using data provided by ARM’s data partner Informa and compiled and analyzed by ARM’s staff, the report details industry-specific statistics and trends from more than 730 leading cell therapy, gene therapy, tissue engineering and other regenerative medicine companies worldwide. Key features of the report include total financings for the sector, partnerships and other deals, clinical trial information, major clinical data events, current legislative and regulatory priorities and ARM’s strategic priorities for 2017.
One of the most important and difficult jobs for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs is raising money. This workshop is built on the foundations of Pitch Creator, an online self-paced learning resource for CEOs to develop their pitch. Join us for an in person experience to ask questions, get feedback, meet the experts and build your strongest pitch. Over a two-part series we will guide you through an efficient process of developing an effective pitch, while also explaining the “why” behind many of the topics so you will be able to adapt your presentation to your audience and over time as your business changes.
Objectives
Participants will:
Develop a concise and impactful opening sentence to communicate what is most important about their business
Create an Investment Summary (“Read Me” pitch) to provide to investors in advance of presenting
Understand that the Investment Summary is a highly distilled business plan that covers the topics potential investors are most interested in, and serves to summarize that information in a way that makes it easy for investors to quickly read and comprehend key aspects of your venture
Formalize a Foundation Slide Deck (“Listen to Me” pitch) in a purposeful order that makes the most sense to the investor
Understand the “why” of each slide and the order they are in
Join us at the Sinai Hospital BioIncubator in Baltimore on March 23rd for 2 great events. First hear from Yair Flicker, CEO of SmartLogic, who will share advice on hiring your first 10 employees. Then, stick around for some great networking at the BioBuzz event. Come for one, or come for both, just don’t miss it!
Event Details: 4-5:30 pm: Distinguised Speakers Series featuring Yair Flicker Topic: How Not to Hire Your First 10 Employees: Lessons from the Trenches (Sinai Hospital Board Room)
5:30-7:30 pm: BioBuzz Networking @ the Sinai BioIncubator Location: Sinai Cafeteria
