The New Jersey Economic Development Authority will welcome investment professionals from the life sciences and healthcare sectors to anticipate what the future of the entrepreneurial ecosystem might hold in a panel discussion and Q&A supported by the New Jersey Affiliate of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, or BioNJ, and the Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs, the latter of which will host the event at 303A College Road East on Tuesday, July 25, from 5 to 7 p.m.
In a press release, NJEDA described “Navigating the Current Life Sciences Investing Environment” as a forum for the speakers to engage with each other and weigh in on their knowledge in three key areas: fundraising strategies, where attendees will “discover effective techniques for attracting venture capital investment and capturing investors’ attention,” investor perspectives, to provide “a deeper understanding of the investor’s mindset, criteria, and decision-making processes,” and challenges and solutions, which focus on the best practices to “overcome common fundraising challenges and learn how to navigate due diligence and valuation negotiations.”
Register online for free admission at the Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs’ EventBrite page.
Kara Moore, NJEDA’s sector lead for life sciences, begins the two-hour session with a summary of the NJEDA initiatives geared towards this area of focus before the state entity’s senior venture officer, Lexie Demirali, moderates the conversation with fundraising experts who will speak to their business engagements, development patterns, and obstacles experienced in 2023.
One of the individuals featured is James “Jim” Gale, the founding partner and managing director of Signet Healthcare Partners, a New York-based growth equity firm and investment service geared towards supplying growth capital for healthcare entities. According to his biography on the Signet website, Gale has “over 35 years of healthcare investing and finance experience” and serves on the board of directors for various Signet portfolio companies.
He is the chairman of the board at BionPharma, a Princeton pharmaceutical business specializing in the manufacturing and sale of generic medications, which, according to its website, is a leading supplier of soft gel capsules in the United States for both prescription and over-the-counter markets.
Panelist Squire Servance is the founder and managing partner of Syridex Bio, a life science firm that seeks to solve systemic inequities in the medical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological fields and invests “in therapies that treat diseases disproportionately affecting underserved communities” to target “the world’s greatest health disparities,” its website states.
Servance is also an advisory board member for Drug Hunter, a resource that “distills the science behind emerging drugs and technologies into an easy-to-read and simple-to-search reference” for easier research and development.
With an academic background that includes experience in biomedical engineering, cell biology, and neuroscience from Rutgers University, Servance previously served as the SVP, general counsel, corporate secretary, and CCO at the Repligen Corporation, “a bioprocessing-focused life sciences company,” and as a legal advisor for Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in Princeton.
The final speaker is Mark Kolb, a partner at Tech Council Ventures described in his website biography as an “entrepreneur turned venture capitalist focused on the healthcare industry” working for the Summit-based company that “invest[s] in early-stage technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.”
Prior to his current position, Kolb was the CEO of companies such as BK Health and Bergen Medical Products, receiving patents at the former for developing a physical therapy robotic device for joint rehabilitation with partner Robert Boyette.
The last half hour of the NJEDA program is reserved for networking opportunities and a closing reception.
