The day was filled with insightful presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions and invaluable networking opportunities. Companies shared their growth stories while investors and business leaders engaged in lively discussions on how Swedish innovations can be made attractive on the global stage and thereby foster early-stage innovation.
Attract international capital
One of the panel discussions was called “Unlocking Global Investment – A deep dive into making Swedish biotech appealing to international investors."Here we heard Ester Sklarsky, Principal at Sound Bioventures, share a venture capitalist's perspective, Oscar Bosson, VP and Head of IR & Communication at BioArctic who told what has been the key to success in the company's respective stages of development, and Christopher Klerfalk, CEO of Life Science Invest, who spoke for the investor collective in his position on the largest network of angel investors in Sweden.
The discussion was moderated by Jenni Nordborg, who is currently the head of international relations at Lif, and previously the Swedish government's life science coordinator, where she was responsible for strengthening the global position of the Swedish life science industry.
Promote innovation
Another panel, called “Nurturing Innovation – A focus on early-stage investments that can drive groundbreaking medical advances,” did just that, providing insights into how capital can foster life science innovations and enable their journey to market. Thomas Gidlund, sales manager at Spotlight Stock Market, moderated the panel. He dove deep into the topic alongside three prominent panelists: Linda Spahiu Elvesjö, investment manager at Karolinska Development, with extensive experience in venture investments in early development stages; Christer Nordstedt, chairman of WntResearch and serial entrepreneur with a background in both big pharma and small biotech companies, with experience in raising capital for multiple projects; and Anders Hedlund, CEO and co-founder of Nolsterby Invest, with core investments in growth-stage medical technology companies, with clear clinical applications.
Investment strategies
During the day we also learned about what factors institutional investors consider when evaluating an investment case's growth potential and what they then do to support the desired development. What aspects are crucial for a company to be relevant for this type of investment?
Dawid Myslinski, Partner at Vator Securities who specializes in capital markets, moderated a panel discussion called “Scaling Up – Strategic Investments for Accelerating Growth and Facilitating Global Market Presence."
On stage he was joined by Karl Tobieson, CEO of Linz, a product-oriented investment company in life sciences; Karl-Fredrik Johannesson, founder of NV and visionary investor; and Shamim Dadvar, a physician who became a venture capitalist in life science and is now a Medical Associate at HealthCap.
Company presentations
In addition, we were able to take part in a strong starting line-up of company pitches, including Abarceo Pharma, Annexin Pharmaceuticals, BioArctic, CYTO365, Elicera Therapeutics, Expression Biotech, Initiator Pharma, IRLAB Therapeutics, Magle Chemoswed, PainDrainer, Prolight diagnostics, Promimic, Spago Nanomedical, Zerion Pharma and Ziccum.
Thanks to all the speakers, panelists, and attendees who made the event such a success! The conversations will undoubtedly shape life science initiatives in the region going forward.
For those who missed it, you can watch all the presentations and panels on our YouTube channel by following the link below.
