WIB-San Francisco Bay Area: Navigating Funding & Investment – How to Attract Investors

Our April panel discussion, Navigating Funding and Investment: How to Attract Investors to Your Biotech Startup, spotlighted innovative women founders and investors in the biotech industry. The event was attended by 85 visitors at Bakar Bio Labs, located on the University of California, Berkeley Campus. Moderated by investor and board member Ameena El-Bibany (Range Biotechnologies), the panel featured an incredible lineup of speakers: Partner at Foreground Capital, Alice Zheng, MD/MBA/MPH; Co-Founder/CEO/Chair of PinkDx, Inc., Bonnie Anderson; Partner at Breakout Ventures, Dana Watt, PhD.; Senior Associate at Aditum Bio- Helen Siaw, PhD.; Founder/CEO of Siolta Therapeutics, Nikole Kimes, PhD. Each panelist shared their unique journey, whether it was as a founder, investor, or both.

Some questions asked by audience members included: “Which pools of funding are most relevant to pursue? How do you establish your roadmap and milestones? What are some red flags as an investor that made you walk away from a potential partnership with a founder? What are some mistakes you have made on your fundraising journey?” The panelists provided excellent insights into their journeys and useful advice on how a woman founder can get started in biotech. Thank you to our event host, Bakar Bio Labs, and Kaspar Mossman, QB3 at Bakar Bio Labs, for being fantastic partners who helped bring this event to fruition.

Submitted by Gabriella Gaje