A common practice across universities that hold equity in a company that IPOs is to sell all of its shares as soon as the lock up expires. But do the best returns necessarily come from selling all your stock immediately? When is the right time to sell stock in a therapeutics company?
It’s hard to work, write, or think about anything without the context of COVID-19 these days. Living at the intersection of academic institutions and new ventures, I have daily insights into the plethora of programming at universities intended to advance scientific discoveries and see them translated into practice, especially through the activities of the technology…
When a university licenses technology to a startup, a grant of equity is a likely consideration offered by the licensee. To receive the equity, the university will review and negotiate a Stock Purchase Agreement – a legal agreement made between the corporation (startup) and the university that governs the transfer and sale of the corporation’s stock to the university and often related financial terms, which can impact the university’s potential returns.
As 2019 came to a close, Pitchbook presented some deceptive data: VCs had invested a record high $17.2 billion in US-based startups with at least one female founder. While impressive upon first glance, look at these numbers from a different perspective: US-based startups that were founded solely by females only made up 6.7% of all VC deals and 2.7% by total capital invested. These percentages are all-time highs, but still very low compared to their male counterparts. And, what do the numbers look like for female academic founders? What can universities do to foster more female entrepreneurship?
It’s Spring, which means it is once again time for OUP’s annual financing trends webinar. Which sectors have had the greatest amounts of investment and which are facing funding challenges? How do these trends apply to advancing academic technologies? What does the beginning of 2019 imply for the rest of the year and what lies over the horizon?
Therapeutics remain the primary focus for life science venture investments. As we all know, pre-clinical development of therapeutics is complicated, time consuming, and capital intensive. In the early stages of development, multiple aspects of a therapeutic product need to be optimized to enhance its drug-like properties. However, given the limited time and resources in the academic setting, what aspects of development should inventors focus on? Before diving into drug development, inventors should ask themselves: What is feasible in an academic setting? What is valued more by the investors? Should it be performed in-house or be out-sourced? How much would it cost?
We’re almost halfway through 2018, which means it is once again time for OUP’s annual financing trends webinar. Which sectors have had the greatest investment and which are facing funding challenges? How do these trends apply to advancing academic technologies? What does the beginning of 2018 imply for the rest of the year and what lies over the horizon?
Cyber threats and attacks have arrived in full force. More than ever before, they threaten not only individuals, but corporations and nation states. Within corporations, the types of cyber threats and the various methods of protection have exploded. At universities, the level of research around security detection, prevention, and encryption has significantly increased. This webinar aims to decipher the increasingly complicated cybersecurity space from a startup and investment perspective. OUP will provide a brief introduction to the market and investment activity for the past 15 years, followed by a conversation and Q&A with Amir Ben-Efraim of Menlo Security and Jake Flomenberg of Accel Partners. Our panelists will cover current areas of interests for investment, provide an informed analysis of the cybersecurity market dynamics and trends, and offer their suggestions on how to advance university-originated cybersecurity concepts, inventions, and startups.
While investments in biotech have reached record highs in recent years, investment in the diagnostics sector from traditional VCs has cooled. This is despite a rapid decline in the cost of sequencing and increased public interest in the potential of precision medicine. In this webinar, Osage University Partners explores the unique challenges facing diagnostics with Garheng Kong, a Managing Partner at HealthQuest Capital, a LabCorp director and active diagnostics investor, and Doug Fisher, CBO of Sera Prognostics and partner at InterWest Partners, also active in diagnostics.
This workshop will focus on teaching you how to help investigators focus their technology disclosures, funding pitches, and other presentations on the three key factors crucial to gaining interest and commitment: commercial potential, technical merit and investigator willingness to assist.