Talentmark’s Chris Coe reports back from the LSX World Congress

In mid May, leaders from the life sciences industry gathered in London for the annual Life Science eXecutives (LSX) World Congress. Now in its ninth year, LSX brings together C-suite executives, from innovative start-ups through to multinationals, and key players from the sector including investors, business development & licensing teams, R&D leaders, and top-tier service firms.

Talentmark also hosted this year’s LSX networking evening at the Gherkin in London

We get the lowdown from Chris Coe, head of Talentmark’s global search practice who was there with the Talentmark team.

What were your thoughts about the investment landscape for life sciences heading into LSX?

One of my main concerns going into LSX was how the current macroeconomic climate would affect investor sentiment going forward. Like elsewhere companies in the sector, have been caught up in the economic turmoil caused by the war in Ukraine, the response to Covid and other factors. I wanted to see whether my conversations with investors and companies looking for funding would reflect the general reticence to invest that’s becoming evident in the global financial markets.

The good news was that during several days of intense networking, myself and the Talentmark team heard some very engaged discussions between investors and investees. It was great to see people talking in person again after the virtual conference environment of last year. My sense from the buoyant mood at the event is that given the right opportunity, there’s a real willingness from venture capitalists and early private equity people to invest.

Investment success will also be down to those companies with a compelling leadership structure that the investors recognise.

Are the investors still looking for the same things?

It’s about companies with a credible and professional story, that hasn’t changed. Investors may be more demanding and they may be looking for better metrics. But even if the markets are down, if you’ve got a technology that can change people’s lives, whether that’s biotech, medtech or healthtech, then that has a monetary value. Potentially, it is investable.

Investment success will also be down to those companies with a compelling leadership structure that the investors recognise. A fantastic business development or finance person is going to be worth their weight in gold. At times like these it’s often those functions in the organisation, which are sometimes taken for granted, that become absolutely pivotal to closing a round or repositioning an organisation.

Did you notice any difference in the type of investment on offer?

Traditional venture capital still dominates. But it was very interesting to see venture debt being used more openly at an earlier stage – normally debt will come in when a firm is revenue and EBIT positive. The signs from LSX are that providing there’s a really solid venture capital investor involved, lenders will match that VC investment. That’s provides access to short-term rapid growth money that firms had less access to in the past.

On a slightly different point, one other thing I noticed was the number of companies that didn’t look like a ‘real’ company yet in terms of their personnel. What I mean here is that when it comes to the investors’ due diligence, the organisational chart for these firms doesn’t match investors’ expectations. That’s a factor they will need to address as it’s likely to prove a big constraint on them attracting funding.

We’re working with one company that believes it can reduce the cost of research by 90%! That’s game changing.

What struck you at LSX in terms of tech trends?

After its introduction as a separate subsection last year, interest continues to grow in healthtech. But to some extent. investors are still trying to figure out how you fund it, grow it, and monetise it. Judging by conversations I heard at LSX, however, there’s no question about its potential. Just look at how computer simulation is shaking up conventional approaches to clinical trials and drug discovery. Bioinformaticians and biostatisticians are using deep data to transform classic methods. We’re working with one company that believes it can reduce the cost of research by 90%! That’s game changing. Drugs that were prohibitively expensive suddenly become affordable.

The data revolution seems to be at the heart of many new transformative technologies in this space

At one point I spoke with the developer of a healthtech smartwatch app that is one of a number of firms leveraging data cloud diagnostics, the blockchain and digital coins. In this case the firm hopes to help users diagnose and treat anxiety, depression and immune problems. But they also want to monetise the personal health data they produce through cryptocurrency. At the other end of the spectrum, there was a presentation from a global pharmaceutical giant highlighting the important role of data strategy in terms of accelerating drug development outcomes and why the data function needs to report directly to the CEO.

What else stood out?

It was obvious from the quality of the interactions the difference it makes being at a person-to-person event. It was a huge uplift to everybody’s psyche. It’s something we’ve needed that’s been missing for a while. There was It was also good to see a strong representation from female entrepreneurs, something the sector’s struggled with traditionally.

If you were to sum up your overriding impressions of LSX this year?

I was particularly struck by the upbeat mood at LSX around investment opportunities, despite a difficult start to 2022.

There were promising technologies, and an investment community that was listening more wholeheartedly. I came away with a good feeling about investment and technology being matched. That’s something I’m hearing from other investment events too. So overwhelmingly positive – but we will have to wait to see over the next year whether that optimism translates into actual investment.