Pitching And Fundraising In The New Norm

Raising money for a startup biopharmaceutical company is a task that never ends, even during a pandemic. This is good. Because while some industries experienced significant financial collapse last year, biopharma was perfectly positioned to provide COVID-19 solutions, which it has at an unprecedented pace (i.e., two vaccines granted emergency use authorization [EUA] by the FDA). In the first half of 2020 alone, the biotechnology industry raised roughly $12.6 billion in funding, representing a 73% increase over the same period in 2019. And, as COVID-19 lockdowns were implemented in the U.S. beginning in mid-March (2020), this means the majority of all funds raised last year were done virtually. Now, had you informed biopharma execs pre pandemic that virtual pitching would prove a viable platform for conducting such financial business for the long term, many, if not most, would have scoffed at such a notion. Afterall, fundraising had always been done in person. But necessity spurred adoption. And from those first virtual pitches that may have been just a little bit “wonky,” biopharma execs have actually become quite proficient at the process and the platforms. Sharing some best practices of the virtual pitch in this executive virtual roundtable (EVR) are:

• Josh Brumm, CEO, Dyne Therapeutics
• Keith Vendola, M.D., Head of Strategy, Rezolute
• Markus Warmuth, M.D., CEO, Monte Rosa Therapeutics