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Biotech startups benefit from collaborations between experts, big pharma & financiers

Foreign investor Versant Venturesone of the most active foreign investment firms in our country’s reviving biotech industry, just backed another Canadian biotech startup. Montreal-based Repare secured US$68 million in early-stage financing to support the development of “precision oncology” drugs that target cancerous tumours. 

 

This is the sixth firm in Canada to be created, incubated, and financed by Versant Ventures, the firm that, since 2003, opened three incubators in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, largely supported by Toronto-based regenerative medicine developer BlueRock Therapeutics and Bayer AG. According to The Globe and Mails Sean Silcoff, the Canadian firms backed by Versant have raised more than a combined CA$600-million since.

 
The Repare story is a great example of the importance of collaboration between field experts, investors, and pharmaceutical companies to fuel innovation that positively impacts our world. 
 
As goes Silcoff’s report, “[Versant] isn’t just a financier but a company creator, staffed by doctors and researchers who build firms around science and scientists in partnership with global pharma giants.” A sound investment requires good business sense, not to mention capital – but equally importantly, deep industry insight.
 
We here are Romich are incredibly excited for what’s to come in the area of biotech innovation and believe that Canadian startups have a large role to play – so long as investors have access to adequate expertise to identify high-potential firms and bring forward the capital these emerging firms need to make their mark.

 

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