What a difference a year makes.
Last February, the 20 startups that participated in the Southern California Biomedical Council’s annual investment conference made their cases for funding during the waning but still frenzied days of tech-investing mania.
Now, as the Biomedical Council gears up for its third annual investment conference this week (Feb. 15-16), the unlimited promise of the New Economy seems but a distant memory.
Still, the harsher venture landscape won’t deter a slew of nascent firms from pitching their hearts out at this year’s investment conference, being held at UCLA Sunset Village.
A total of 25 biomedical firms all handpicked by a Biomedical Council committee are expected to make presentations at the conference. Like last year, the firms hail from all over Southern California, with the heaviest concentration from Los Angeles County. And like last year, they include a healthy dose of university spinoffs from Cal Tech, USC and other institutions. Ahmed Enany, executive director of the Biomedical Council, said it’s hard to tell what effect the slowing economy will have on the conference.
“It’s not true that there isn’t any money. Venture capitalists are still raising a tremendous amount of money, but the question is, ‘What is the best market segment to invest money in?'” he said.
On the list
Among the firms at this year’s conference is Cell Matrix, a Los Angeles-based USC spinoff that is hoping raise $10 million in the next six months. It has already raised and burned through $3.4 million since it was started in October 1999.
Cell Matrix is working on a new therapy for treating cancerous tumors that cuts off a tumor’s blood supply by blocking angeogenesis, the mechanism in the body that creates new veins and arteries.
Carolyn Siegal, the company’s senior vice president for business development, said she does not believe a more cautious attitude among investors will hurt her company’s chances.
“I think the investors we are seeking are very knowledgeable about biotech, and were probably not heavily invested in other areas. The important thing is to find the investor who has interest in our business and enthusiasm for our science,” she said.
Insert Therapeutics, a Pasadena-based Caltech spinoff, has developed a sugar-based platform for gene therapy that the company claims does not have the toxicity and immune-response problems of other platforms.
Mark Farbstein, the company’s president and chief executive, said the year-old firm, which raised $3.5 million in initial funding, is seeking another $5 million to $10 million.
The money would be partially directed toward fulfilling contracts the company has already signed with two pharmaceutical giants.
Other businesses invited to make presentations at the conference include 4Therapy Network, a Culver City-based company that provides Web-based marketing and other support to mental health professionals; Digital Sphere Inc., a Los Angeles-based company with a Web service aimed at improving ethical reviews of clinical trials; and IntraMedical Imaging LLC, another Los Angeles company, which has developed nuclear medicine detectors and cameras for use in various surgical settings.
