Mario Grande is co-founder of Nowture, a risk capital driving the growth of biotech and life science companies. Great, entrepreneur, executive and investor in projects biotechnology, believes that the sector is not so much a refuge as a strategic one. For Grande, good projects don’t need marketing to go with them, but “strong intellectual property”.
Question: Is the health and life sciences sector in Spain an investment paradise?
Reply: You have to separate the risk capital and the private equity what are listed companies. In Spain, the biotech market for risk capital it is still small. In 2021, 250 million euros were channeled to the sector in the country and, of this amount, one hundred million euros came from abroad. It is not a safe sector, I would speak more of a strategic and long-term sector, in which good projects do not have marketing behind them or are the result of a passing trend, but rather a very powerful intellectual property.
Q .: Spain is able to capitalize on science and projects biotechnology?
A .: There seems to be a consensus that Spain is in the superior five o superior eight global generations of science. The main outbreaks are Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country. Science is very good, but we have an ecosystem that can’t guarantee that technology transfer and turn that science into business. There isn’t a great entrepreneurial spirit and the bureaucratic or legal structure doesn’t help much. Investments in Spain are still modest; In the end, there are five or six major funds that specialize in risk capital in the health sector.
Q .: Is it easier to invest in health now than it was five years ago?
A .: There is now greater visibility of the projects. Twenty years ago, 90% of all therapeutic projects or developments were carried out within the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, 60% are inorganic acquisitions of small companies that develop a therapy, drug or technology and when they reach a Phase II license their advances or sell. Each time science costs less and that is why various initiatives are born as seeds. Time-consuming development costs are reduced.
Investments in Spain are still modest; In the end, there are five or six major venture capital funds in the healthcare sector.
Q .: How else can you attract funding?
A .: When you talk to investors you get the feeling that there are no good projects and when you talk from the point of view of the company, on the contrary. There is a mismatch between investors and product developers. It is necessary to speak the same language and sometimes the managers and the management of a company are not ready to receive the money.
Q: Why?
A .: There is still a very scientific profile at the head of the projects. Many times it is the same scientist who is committed and is surrounded by a management team. The hard part is doing science, but running a business can be done by anyone. Sometimes companies are unwilling to offer sufficient guarantees to the investor or are unable to explain well how they will manage the project.
Q .: Does the healthcare company compensate for the risks in the sector?
A .: Once you get to a candidate and a discovery and you can start with a preclinical phase or a phase I, if you have done it rationally, the likelihood of it working is greater than a few years ago, when perhaps you came for trial and mistake. The main problem of the sector has to do not so much with science, but with commercial interest. Most of the time they are not real problems. The real problem is what the industry really wants to solve.
The main problem of the sector has to do not so much with science, but with commercial interest
Q .: Does the growth of small companies in the sector always arise from collaboration with large groups?
A .: The most interesting model for companies that develop advanced therapies and with very high production costs is that of co-development. Set up the company, start capitalizing, but don’t just spend. The company, born, goes hand in hand with a large multinational that guides it towards its commercial interest.
Q .: How can cohesion between public and private initiatives be improved?
A .: There is good will, but there is still a lot to do. Soft loans with a duration of two years do not help much in this area. After two years you will have to repay that loan with another loan or a capital increase. It is a sector where companies do not invoice, in fact if all goes well they never invoice. The day the product is practically ready to be sold, a large farm and buys you
Q .: Is it optimal that health care companies are run by? strangers?
A .: It is very important that in the company there are those who know and who are in charge. Who knows is the scientist and whoever commands manages. Both must be hyper-connected or connected.
