Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio yesterday. If you
Speaker 1: were listening, we hope you were. If now, you should
Speaker 1: check out our podcast feed because we talked with Maroon
Speaker 1: Gribbitts Confederancy of Inner Cosmos, which is a neurotech company
Speaker 1: creates a brain computer interface to really rebalance the brain.
Speaker 1: They're really looking at a new way of treating UH
Speaker 1: and alleviating cognitive disorders. Well, it does feel like overall, Tim,
Speaker 1: a lot is brewing when it comes to disruption and
Speaker 1: innovation in the healthcare and life sciences space. And our
Speaker 1: next guest company invest in growth stage life sciences technology companies.
Speaker 1: So let's get to it. Michelle dip is co founder
Speaker 1: and a managing partner of Biospring Partners. As Carol mentioned,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a company that invests in growth stage
Speaker 1: life sciences and tech companies. Michelle joins us via zoom
Speaker 1: from New York City. Michelle, how are you. I'm doing
Speaker 1: really well. Thank you so much, Tim, and thanks to you, Carol.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to be with you today. It's really
Speaker 1: incredible because we've approached life sciences investments from a few
Speaker 1: different areas. We've talked about it on Bloomberg Bus this
Speaker 1: week a lot when it comes to real estate, because
Speaker 1: it's one area of corporate real estate that's actually booming
Speaker 1: right now. And I'm wondering, from your perspective, what are
Speaker 1: the trends that you're seeing right now when it comes
Speaker 1: to investing in these types of companies. Yeah. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: mean we're really excited by the way that technology is
Speaker 1: completely changing and of course improving healthcare. Um. Really, the
Speaker 1: three main themes that we're looking at right now is
Speaker 1: ways that technology is improving R and D or research
Speaker 1: and development. The second way is manufacturing, and the third,
Speaker 1: of course is delivery of healthcare. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of us have maybe even use telemedicine in the last
Speaker 1: couple of years during the pandemic. Yeah, I gotta say
Speaker 1: I have. And what a treat because when you think
Speaker 1: about sometimes you just can't get to the office, and
Speaker 1: sometimes it's over something little that maybe you don't need
Speaker 1: some kind of exam or what have you. Um, and
Speaker 1: it's just amazing what can be done. UM. Having said that, UM,
Speaker 1: you talk about technology improving R and D, what specifically,
Speaker 1: what are the kind of companies that you're looking for. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean we're looking for companies frankly that are using
Speaker 1: genomics to UM change R and D and oftentimes what
Speaker 1: they're doing is they're improving the efficiency of clinical trials.
Speaker 1: So you probably know the human genome was sequenced over
Speaker 1: twenty years ago and we were all waiting for a
Speaker 1: tools revolution to come because of that, and it didn't
Speaker 1: happen because we really needed the cost of genome sequencing
Speaker 1: to decline. We also needed to be much faster than
Speaker 1: it had been once it was discovered. But now we're
Speaker 1: using genomics to diagnose and treat diseases like cancer. You know,
Speaker 1: ten years ago we used to talk about lung cancer
Speaker 1: in terms of small cell non small cell. Now it's
Speaker 1: characterized by using about thirty genetic mutations. So it's really
Speaker 1: just changed tremendously, and so you know what does that
Speaker 1: mean for patients. It means more accurate diagnosis, earlier treatment,
Speaker 1: better prognosis. So we're specifically focused on companies UM that
Speaker 1: are using uh, you know, software, machine learning and genomics.
Speaker 1: It just like you know, we talked about this UM Michelle,
Speaker 1: but the personalization of medicine, and we you know, we've
Speaker 1: talked about it certainly on air when it comes to autism, right,
Speaker 1: there is we know this a spectrum, but that is
Speaker 1: true too for some major diseases. It's not you know,
Speaker 1: a cookie cutter, uh, you know way of treating people,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to cancer. It's all kind of very,
Speaker 1: very different and needs to be in many cases kind
Speaker 1: of catered to the individual. You're absolutely right, and that's
Speaker 1: something that we're only just now starting to tease out
Speaker 1: and the human genome has just really elucidated a lot
Speaker 1: of that. And it's important, right because, Um, it means
Speaker 1: that you know, to your point in terms of an
Speaker 1: autism spectrum, for other diseases as well, it may completely
Speaker 1: change the type of treatment that you get, uh number one.
Speaker 1: Number two, of course, you can diagnose much earlier. Hey, Michelle. Um,
Speaker 1: we've talked a lot about telemedicine and technology changing the
Speaker 1: way that people experience healthcare. But I do wonder about
Speaker 1: what this all means for a consumer from a consumer perspective,
Speaker 1: because I think people over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: they've gotten used to speaking with doctors either smartphones, but
Speaker 1: there are still doctors that you have to visit in person,
Speaker 1: Like I can't imagine ever going to the dentist virtually. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'm wondering what this looks like years from now.
Speaker 1: I mean, could we go to the dentist virtually, Well,
Speaker 1: that's a great question. Um, I'm not sure about the
Speaker 1: dentist specifically, go to the dentist in the metaverse? There
Speaker 1: you go. I mean that you probably need someone much
Speaker 1: higher tech than than me to talk about the metaverse,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. But um, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: things that we've heard you might have seen. The HHS,
Speaker 1: you know, did a study specifically on telemedicine, and they
Speaker 1: said that the use of telemedicine rose by sixty three
Speaker 1: times during the pandemic. So one of the things that
Speaker 1: people are looking out for is does that actually reverse
Speaker 1: or decline now that, um, you know, the COVID pandemic
Speaker 1: seems to be under control. Um, certainly there are all
Speaker 1: kinds of new ways to use technology. I mean you
Speaker 1: probably mean we're using zoom right now. I mean this was, um,
Speaker 1: you know, not something that we would typically use in
Speaker 1: the medical world, but certainly it's being used for dermatology
Speaker 1: trials for example. So a dermatologist can pretty easily diagnose something,
Speaker 1: um you know, via Zoom or um you know, using
Speaker 1: another telemedicine type platform. The other thing that's being used
Speaker 1: more and more is of course wearables. Right, so now
Speaker 1: you can track all kinds of things from heart rate
Speaker 1: right the way through to atrial fibrillation. Other things can
Speaker 1: be diagnosed. And so while it may not be I mean,
Speaker 1: clearly some diseases need surgery and so that's not going
Speaker 1: to be something that's going to be possible through tele telemedicine,
Speaker 1: but certainly diagnosis is going to be a key area
Speaker 1: UM that will certainly you know, has already been advanced
Speaker 1: and certainly will continue to. We want to get back
Speaker 1: to Michelle Dips. She's co founder managing partner of the
Speaker 1: venture capital firm Biospring Partner. She is still with us
Speaker 1: on Zoom from right here in New York City, and
Speaker 1: you had a question do you want to go? Yeah, Michelle,
Speaker 1: We we talked to venture capitalists right and they're thinking
Speaker 1: about okay, cloud technology or cybersecurity, and they're making bets
Speaker 1: on companies that can help protect other companies from hackers. Uh.
Speaker 1: We know that that technology is needed and that technology exists,
Speaker 1: and it's still a challenge for them because they have to,
Speaker 1: you know, bet on the right horse. But I feel
Speaker 1: like when it comes to growth stage life sciences technology companies,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a different animal. It seems, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit harder to to try to make a
Speaker 1: bet on something that might not even have proven technology
Speaker 1: at this point. Can you take us through how you
Speaker 1: how you separate the good companies from the ones that
Speaker 1: you pass on? Sure? Absolutely so. One of the one
Speaker 1: of the things that we do is we try to
Speaker 1: identify themes that we think will be long term and durable,
Speaker 1: and then within those themes, we actually get to know
Speaker 1: our companies for a number of years before investing in them.
Speaker 1: So it's a little bit less riskier, you know, as
Speaker 1: you're you point out, it's very hard to determine whether
Speaker 1: or not a fundamental technology is going to work or not,
Speaker 1: so we actually typically wait a little bit um for
Speaker 1: there to be a little a bit more proofd So
Speaker 1: we're looking for long term, durable themes. We invest in services,
Speaker 1: tools and software. We invest in companies that already have
Speaker 1: a customer base, and we're looking for things like customer
Speaker 1: uptape customer diversification, revenue diversification. We want those companies to
Speaker 1: have ten million of top line revenue or more. They're
Speaker 1: typically growing by top line by or more, and there's
Speaker 1: a path to profitability. Hey, Michelle, what do you think
Speaker 1: is driving innovation in the life sciences UM space and
Speaker 1: life sciences technology? Is it cost? Is it efficiency? Is
Speaker 1: it access? Is it true innovation? Is it better modalities
Speaker 1: of treatment? Like? What is it? Because you know, life sciences, healthcare,
Speaker 1: that whole community, it's pretty entrenched, right, It's quite an
Speaker 1: infrastructure that's there. And I'm not saying that they not
Speaker 1: open to innovation, but I do wonder what will ultimately
Speaker 1: drive the innovation and what will determine kind of where
Speaker 1: these investment dollars go. Yeah, that is just an excellent question.
Speaker 1: And you know, really it's a combination of all of
Speaker 1: those things. But you probably have heard these numbers, especially
Speaker 1: given COVID pharmaceutical companies spend about two hundred billion a
Speaker 1: year on research and development. That two hundred dollars spend
Speaker 1: is growing at about a three to four percent cager,
Speaker 1: and so anything that they can do to improve efficiencies
Speaker 1: is something that they're you know, really focused on. So
Speaker 1: if you can improve, for example, um, the efficiency of
Speaker 1: your clinical trial or the effectiveness of your clinical trial,
Speaker 1: you're going to use that technology to help you do that.
Speaker 1: You know. One of the companies that were invested in
Speaker 1: is called path Ai. They use software, machine learning, and
Speaker 1: AI to scan a biopsy slide. So it's probably obvious
Speaker 1: to you that instead of doing that manually, right, you
Speaker 1: can use software and then it'll be you know, more accurate,
Speaker 1: more effective, and of course it's a lot cheaper and faster.
Speaker 1: All of that translates into a more effective clinical trial.
Speaker 1: They sell that as a service to pharmaceutical companies who
Speaker 1: then better place patients into a clinical trial. Arm But
Speaker 1: all of those things matter. It has to be accurate.
Speaker 1: It also needs to be faster and cheaper, So being
Speaker 1: better isn't enough anymore. It also needs to translate into
Speaker 1: dollars saved. How do we prevent another therapness from happening?
Speaker 1: Good question? You know, that is a good question. UM.
Speaker 1: I actually never met Pharaonis and I don't even know
Speaker 1: another healthcare firm who has UM. I think many of
Speaker 1: us really go through a pretty rigorous diligence process. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, certainly at biospring. I mean, we're focused on
Speaker 1: diligence NG first and foremost the technology, the service or
Speaker 1: the product. UM. Of course you are looking at market competition, UM,
Speaker 1: the team, the business model, the commercial model, the financials,
Speaker 1: and and you're looking for audited financials as well. So
Speaker 1: I think that UM, those firms who are going through
Speaker 1: those you know, typical diligence processes and are looking for
Speaker 1: audited financials prior to investing in companies, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: are usually pretty well protected. Can you give us an
Speaker 1: example of a company that you passed on that you
Speaker 1: regret passing on and why you passed on it? Oh? Boy,
Speaker 1: that's a go I'd love to ask capitalists this question. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: only about thirty second I was like this, Dimond's actually flown. Yeah, absolutely, so, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a company out there, and one
Speaker 1: of the reasons that we passed on it it was
Speaker 1: just way too early in terms of revenues. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of us do that where it doesn't
Speaker 1: quite fit our investment criteria and so UM, and they're
Speaker 1: just not there yet. And then of course you wait
Speaker 1: too long and then the company you know, completely takes off,
Speaker 1: and so UM, I mean, you know, I can certainly
Speaker 1: give you ten examples of where you know we waited
Speaker 1: too long for the for the proof to be there
Speaker 1: in mix Cele Well, this was a pleasure. Stay in touch.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear about future investments. Michelle dipp, co
Speaker 1: founder managing partner of the venture capital firm Biospring Partners,
Speaker 1: joining us on zoom right here in New York City.
Speaker 1: You know these VC websites they always have like the
Speaker 1: companies that they've invested in, but you never hear about
Speaker 1: the ones they pass on. So I love ask him no,
Speaker 1: it's an interesting take right like and understand how they
Speaker 1: do it.