The 8th Annual Biotech Showcase™ 2016 - January 11–13, 2016, San Francisco
The Biotech Showcase™ is in its eighth year in an investor conference providing private and public biotechnology and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to, and meet with, investors and potential strategic partners during JP Morgan week. This conference has multiple tracks of presenting companies, plenary sessions, workshops, networking, and a system for scheduling one-to-one meetings. Last year the conference had 232 company presentations, 2,100 attendees and scheduled 4,277 one-on-one meetings.
Biotech Showcase is produced by Demy Colton Life Science Advisors and EBD Group. I have personally presented at the Biotech Showcase in SF as well as attended as an Angel Investor, and found it to be well organized with an effective meeting scheduler, but the multiple tracks mean that despite a large attendance, the audience for your company session may be smaller than you might expect, so you still need to hustle to get attention from investors.
The 9th Annual OneMedForum 2016 – January 11–13, 2016, San Francisco
The OneMedForum conference is making a transition this year to a more private and selective investment conference for clients of OneMed Research, and is also moving from a multi-track to a single track format. The conference will present a limited group of exceptional companies and facilitate one-on-one meetings between investors and the companies.
In conjunction with the conference, OneMedResearch conducted a broad survey of its network of investors to identify the most promising and least known companies. These will be featured in the publication of OneMed 40, which describes companies that have great potential but are in their early stages.
I have personally presented at OneMedForum, co-Chaired the 2015 meeting and remain an advisor. I have also attended as an Angel investor. I liked that OneMedForum had fewer tracks than other conferences and expect the single track format to improve the investor exposure for each company during their presentations.
The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference 2016 - January 12, 2016, San Francisco
Relatively new to the JP Morgan week is Life Science Nation’s Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference. LSN holds RESI conferences 4 times a year in various locations in the US and Canada and has wisely located its January conference to coincide with JP Morgan.
The RESI Conference is for early stage life sciences companies to source investors, create relationships, and eventually, get funding. The RESI Partnering Forum is their version of a meeting scheduler, matching life science investors who fit the company's technology sector and stage of development, including family offices, foundations, academic institutions, and philanthropic organizations.
This conference also has an extra opportunity for early stage companies generating proof-of-concept animal data or early stage clinical data: the RESI Innovation challenge. The 30 most innovative applicants will be hand selected by Life Science Nation’s internal scientific review board to be part of the RESI Innovation Challenge, presenting their technologies in an exhibition-style format throughout the full-day conference. Presenters will gain additional exposure to investors and potential partners by showcasing their companies and products in a poster format.
StartUp Health Festival – January 11-12, San Francisco
The StartUp Health Festival bills itself as “a 2-Day Experience for Healthcare Transformers and Investors during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.” They expect more than 60 StartUp Health Companies from 11 countries to attend. StartUp Health launched its mission in 2011 to transform healthcare by organizing entrepreneurs passionate about reinventing health and wellness. StartUp Health has assembled a portfolio of digital health startups with 120 companies, built a global network of over 30,000 innovators, industry leaders and investors, and united Healthcare Transformers committed to reimagining health and wellness.
11th Annual Non-Dilutive Funding Summit – January 13, San Francisco
The 11th Annual Non-Dilutive Funding Summit is a full day of non-dilutive funding activities at organized by the FreeMind Group. This is a premier international consulting firm specializing in assisting life science organizations secure non-dilutive funding from US Federal Agencies and Private Foundations. This year the summit features presentations and panel discussions with NIH representatives from NIAID, NIBIB, NINDS, and NCI and DoD representative as well.
Of course whether or not you do one of more of these events, there are still several long evenings of cocktail parties and networking events that week so don’t knock off after the networking cocktails at the conference. Find others to attend late into the night and bring plenty of business cards.