Redefining Early Stage Investments Conference Review

Pete Lomas, Managing Consultant for Product Realization, attended the Redefining Early Stage Investments conference to meet like-minded device experts in the med-tech industry and build new partnerships.

The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference series continued on September 21 - 23 in Boston. This time it was an in-person event following two years of virtual conferences. RESI Boston featured two days of in-person partnering, panels, workshops, and the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge. The event brought together early-stage investors, strategic partners, and life science and healthcare entrepreneurs. RESI is designed to connect early-stage companies with the capital, licensing, and channel partners that are a fit for their product and stage of development.

Also in attendance were service providers and tech hubs, each with stands set up in the exhibitor hall, looking to connect with potential new clients. Broughton attended the event to showcase its Product Realization, Analytical Testing, and Regulatory Consultancy services with a particular focus on Technical Due Diligence support. This service offers an independent assessment of a new product, technology, or innovation to help determine its commercial readiness and define the regulatory pathway required to bring it to market. It is aimed at early-stage start-ups and potential investors to give them a clear picture of a product or technology’s readiness for commercialization and to flag up any potential roadblocks or issues.

During the conference, there were interesting panel discussions, including entrepreneurs sharing their success stories and investors explaining what they expect to see from start-ups looking for funding. Venture capitalists and investors expect a start-up looking for investment to have conducted thorough due diligence into their offer in advance and to present the findings as part of their ‘pitch’. Investors want to see evidence of commercial readiness as well as the proposed route to market, including timelines, costs, and potential regulatory hurdles. A start-up needs to have done its homework and present this in detail, with evidence that the information has been independently verified by an expert to ensure credibility and success.

Most of the start-ups at RESI had progressed to the stage where they were ready to pitch for investment, but there were also several tech hubs from universities, incubators, and accelerators, who typically deal with early-stage start-ups who are looking for advice on the next steps in product development and early level funding. These kinds of tech hubs were looking to grow their portfolio of services providers who can assist the early-stage start-ups they are working with which is a great fit for Broughton.

RESI was a great opportunity to network with like-minded people in the med-tech industry. It was exciting and motivating to see all the innovative ideas out there and know there is certainly a huge appetite from investors to identify the next big thing.