BIOCITECH, Seine-Saint-Denis CCI announce winners of first BIOCITECH Funding Day

BIOCITECH, the city complex for healthcare and biotechnology businesses and the Seine-Saint-Denis Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), today announce the three winners of the first BIOCITECH Funding Day. Taking place in BIOCITECH’s fully refurbished auditorium, this one-day event for start-ups and SMEs in the healthcare and biotechnology sector is a chance for entrepreneurs, leading players in funding and sector experts to engage in discussion and debate.

The winners of the pitching competition were announced during the evening and prizes were awarded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Crescentia consulting, EY, Granrut and La Simple Agence. To begin with, 25 of the businesses that registered on the website were selected to make a poster presentation of their business to investors. Nine of them were given the opportunity to pitch at a plenary session. To conclude the day, a panel made up of members from each round-table session selected three winners:

• Phycopharma: development prize, creates drug candidates based on microalgae for the treatment of resistant tumors
• Kallistem: seed-funding prize, develops innovative cell culture technology in reproductive biology
• HPE Ingredients: emergence prize, aims to develop nutrition and heath ingredients from food processing of snails.

The winners will benefit from:

• Project evaluations carried out by Ernst & Young
• Legal counsel (corporate, social and fiscal law, IP-IT) by Granrut
• Business development consulting by Crescentia
• Communication advice with La Simple Agence
• Free access to and use of a prestigious room at the BnF for a business event

Organized by BIOCITECH and the Seine-Saint-Denis CCI, the event aims to clarify the expectations of businesses from financial backers and vice versa, ensuring a shared understanding of the keys to funding. It also provides insight into the funding hurdles that healthcare and biotechnology businesses can face at every stage of their lifecycle, including:

• Funding for the growth of mature businesses
• Funding for initial phases of development
• Seed funding

The inaugural event featured speeches from political figures such as Claude Bartolone and from players in innovation and funding for innovation, such as Christian Lajoux, chairman of the Medicen Paris Region healthcare competitiveness cluster. There were also presentations from BIOCITECH resident companies, including Galapagos and Pherecydes Pharma; on their experience of funding, from fundraising to crowdfunding and stock market listing.

“Businesses in the healthcare and biotechnology sector offer a rich seam of growth and employment opportunities. Biocitech residents are no exception,” said Pierre-Antoine Gailly, chairman of the CCI for the Paris-Ile-de-France region. “Many of them need access to significant ongoing funding, in view of the high levels of risk and the lengthy development time associated with the sector. These businesses now have to muster considerable energy and resources for their fundraising to be successful. This event gives them the chance to meet a large number of potential investors in just one day.”

“We are very pleased with the success of this first BIOCITECH Funding Day, organized jointly with our partner, the CCI for Seine-Saint-Denis. The event was a tremendous opportunity for our resident businesses and for the other businesses present to meet and engage in dialogue with the leading players in funding. Dialogue and round-table discussions focused on the keys to successful fundraising and the secrets of funding for growth,” said Jean-François Boussard, chairman of BIOCITECH. “We will continue to organize this kind of event at the BIOCITECH city complex as it fits perfectly with our purpose; supporting our residents in their development and growth. Please join the discussion on the blog. I look forward to seeing you next year, for the second BIOCITECH Funding Day.”

“I wanted to take part in this first BIOCITECH Funding Day as the new chairman of Medicen, since we are working to enhance the appeal of the Ile-de-France region and the vitality of the healthcare sector, reflecting the vitality of the BIOCITECH city complex. This kind of event helps to provide players in the healthcare sector with the keys to funding and gives them access to expert advice to accelerate their development,” added Christian Lajoux, chairman of Medicen Paris Region.

In the life sciences sector, the Ile-de-France has a concentration of 300 public and private sector research laboratories, 11,800 researchers, including 4,400 in industry, and prestigious, world-renowned organizations such as the Institut Pasteur, the Institut Curie, the Institut Gustave Roussy, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Inventors for the Digital World (INRIA), and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).

• Nearly 200 businesses and 400 jobs, or 50% of France’s biotechnology businesses are based in the Ile-de-France
• 57% of French pharmaceutical companies, equating to 324 businesses and 32,257 jobs in the pharmaceutical industry
• 360 businesses, accounting for 10,500 jobs in medical technology
• Nine universities and 20 graduate schools
• Europe’s largest hospital network
• World leaders in biotechnology, medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry

Source: http://www.biocitech.paris/