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Start-up Festival 2024
The BIA are delighted to announce the return of the Start-up Festival in 2024, which will take place in person in May.
The event will bring together the best of rising talent in the sector for a day of informative sessions designed to build on your existing knowledge and allow you to learn from peers and established industry experts alike.
Attendees will be able to meet with both peers and potential advisors during the day.
Please note: The Start-up Festival is intended for the leadership of early-stage companies to learn from each other and from invited thought leaders in the sector. In order to ensure a critical mass of startup entrepreneurs, we are limiting numbers of service providers, beyond those sponsoring and supporting the event.
09:00 - 09:45 Networking and registration
09:45 - 10:00 BIA welcome
- Jane Wall, Managing Director, BIA
10:00 - 10:45 Panel 1: Partnering dos and don'ts
- Paul Ashley, Director, Data Science External Innovation, J&J Innovation
- Amir Hasan, Chief Operating Officer, Ultromics
- Jelle Penders, CEO, SPARTA Biodiscovery
- Hannah Sore, CEO, Co-Founder & Board of Directors, PharmEnable
- Marcus Vass, Partner, Osborne Clarke
10:45 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 Masterclass 1
- Mairi Dillon, Ecosystem Manager UK & Ireland, Kadans Science Partner
12:00 - 12:45 Panel 2: Building skills within a lean team
- Kate Barclay, Skills Strategy Consultant, BIA
- Marc Daigneault, Venture Building Lead, Medicines Discovery Catapult
- Martin McGurk, Deputy Director, Business Growth, Innovate UK
- Ionna Mylonaki, Preclinical R&D lead, Sixfold Bioscience
12:45 - 13:45 Lunch
13:45 - 14:30 Masterclass 2: IP Strategy for Life Science start-ups to maximise investment and returns.
14:30 - 16:30 Investment session: Start-up financing in 2024
- Danny Bosch, Angel Investor and Start-up Advisor
- David Ford, Life Sciences Angel Investor, New Atlantis Ventures
- Oliver Hardick, Entrepreneur In Residence, M Ventures
- Anne Horgan, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital
- Matthew McCann, Investor Relationships Manager, CPI
- Elizabeth Klein, CEO and Founder, Klein-Edmonds Associates
- Nelli Morgulchik, Investor, Hummingbird Ventures
- Jonathan Nash, Investment Principle, LifeArc
- Sunil Shah, CEO, o2h Ventures
16:30 - 16:45 Keynote
- Bruce Lynn, CEO, Queen Square Analytics
16:45 - 17:00 Closing remarks
17:00 - 19:00 Networking and drinks reception
Paul Ashley
Paul Ashley is Director, Data Science External Innovation, and is located at the EMEA Innovation Centre in London, UK. In this role, he is responsible for the development and maintenence of Data Science relevant partnerships and business opportunities with biotech companies, venture capital, academic, and governmental institutions in Europe. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson Innovation he was Head of Licensing and Ventures at Oxford University Innovation and has previously worked in a business development role at AstraZeneca and as the CEO of a spinout company based on technology developed at the UK’s Defence Science Technology Laboratory. He holds a PhD in behaviour and physiology and a BSc Hons in Zoology.
Kate Barclay
What does your role at BIA involve?
As an experienced Biochemical Engineer, Kate leads skills and talent programme development across STEM industries using over 30 years of experience within large pharma and small company networks. Working with BIA, she represents the sector ensuring access to the incredible talent and addressing skills gaps to start, grow and scale innovative life sciences and biotech organisations.
Previous experience & achievements
In addition to her role at BIA, Kate works as an independent consultant supporting organisations to develop their skills and talent strategies. She has oversight for quality governance of technical and professional education as IfATE Non-Executive Director and is a Board member of North Hertfordshire College. Kate holds MBA from Open University and a PhD in Bio-Chemical Engineering from UCL. As a Chartered Engineer (CEng FIChemE), she held previous senior leadership roles across diverse pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D portfolios including Solid Dose, Parenteral & Inhaled Devices.
If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why?
Rosalind Franklin, as she made contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA and RNA. She studied science at a time when few women attended university and led pioneering work on multiple viruses. Kate would love to know what she thinks about what we know now!
Danny Bosch
As an Angel Investor and Startup Advisor based in London, UK, I bring a wealth of experience from the startup ecosystem, with a particular focus on the life sciences and technology with a bit of edtech. My investment footprint spans the UK, Australia and Europe given my past experience and connections in those cities. My 14+ years of international experience have been characterized by a hands-on approach to fostering startups, driving transformative growth, and spearheading innovation. My passion lies in empowering early-stage companies, providing them with strategic guidance and operational insights that are crucial for navigating the challenging startup landscape. With a track record of building successful businesses from the ground up, I am adept at energizing companies and maximizing their potential with limited resources. I welcome connecting with ambitious founders, pioneering scientists, co-investors and growth-focused executives to determine how we can drive success together.
David Ford
David is an Oxford-based life sciences investor with 25 years of global investment experience, latterly as Head of Research for ICG plc in London. A member of Cambridge Angels, he is an active angel investor and sits on the Boards of ViaNautis Bio, VisusNano, and Cognitant, all early-stage life sciences ventures. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Foresight VCT plc.
Oliver Hardick
Oliver is seeking re-election to the BIA Board for a second term to continue supporting the BIA in securing the UK's position as a global hub in life sciences, by supporting company inception, scaling and value creation, built on the backbone of leading innovative research & development. In 2013 Oliver founded Puridify, a biotech tools company, based at the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. In 2017, after leading the company through two rounds of venture capital funding, rapid growth, and preparing for product commercialisation, it was acquired GE Healthcare (now Cytiva). The disruptive purification technology platform was based on Oliver’s doctoral research at UCL in the department of Biochemical Engineering, where he remains as an honorary lecturer and regards industry-academia links as critical for the development of our industry. Oliver has been fortunate to participate in the BIA’s manufacturing advisory committee for 8 years, seeing that community grow and provide a pivotal contribution to the BIA’s mission. While continuing to support MAC he has also been fortunate to Co-Chair the BIA Skill Working Party which has a crucial role to play in supporting the BIA through membership engagement & strategic initiative planning, to ensure we are able to find, train and support the people that will be required to deliver the growth vision for the UK’s life science sector.
Amir Hasan
Amir has had a number of roles at Philips Healthcare ranging from marketing, business development, R&D and product management over the past 20 years. In his last role before joining Ultromics he was a Business Unit General Manager, leading a 300 person global team in Cardiology Informatics. Ultromics is a disruptive startup that utilizes AI to diagnose heart disease from Echocardiographic scans of the heart. They recently partnered with both J&J Innovative Medicine and Pfizer to bring a new diagnostic to the market for the detection of Amyloidosis for which both companies have a therapeutic. His experience in both large and small companies gives him a unique perspective on how to collaborate to drive innovation.
Anne Horgan
Anne Horgan is a Partner focusing on Life Sciences investments. Prior to joining CIC Anne was a Partner at Advent France Biotechnology (now AdBio Partners), a Paris-based venture capital firm specialising in Life Sciences seed investments and company creation, and Senior Associate at Sofinnova Partners. Anne brings over 20 years’ experience in the field of Life Sciences innovation, acquired as a Business Development Executive at Cancer Research Technology (now Cancer Research Horizons) and Senior Medicinal Chemist at Cambridge Biotechnology Ltd (now part of Benevolent AI). Anne’s experience includes equity financing, technology transfer and scouting, business development, drug discovery and biotech R&D. Anne carried out postdoctoral research at Yale University after her PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Bristol. She holds a diplôme d’ingénieur (Chemistry) from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Rouen, authored several peer-reviewed papers and is an inventor on eight patent families. Anne manages CIC's investment in Complement Therapeutics and Mosaic Therapeutics.
Elizabeth Klein
Prior to founding her own consultancy, Elizabeth was an award-winning and highly-rated senior research analyst focused on the Life Sciences and IP Commercialisation sectors. Over 15 years at N+1 Singer, Teathers, Bridgewell, R.W. Baird and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson she developed an extensive network of client relationships and worked closely with a number of businesses in these sectors. She was the Starmine Healthcare Stockpicker of the Year in both 2006 and 2013, and was highly rated in the Extel survey over much of her career in investment banking. In 2015, Elizabeth founded Klein-Edmonds Associates, advising organisations in the biotechnology sector on their engagement and interaction with investors. She has consulted with Bioscience Managers since June 2017. Other clients: The BioIndustry Association, Radnor Capital, and Biotech & Money, and small businesses (Angel to pre-IPO) on corporate and investment strategy. Elizabeth is also a Trustee at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (at Stanmore) Charity. Elizabeth has a 1st Class BSc in Applied Biology with Genetics from the University of Liverpool, an MBA from Imperial College Business School and an MA (Merit) in Medicine, Science & Society (History of Medicine) from Birkbeck, University of London.
Bruce Lynn
Bruce Lynn’s career has focused on advising and nurturing technology spin-outs from companies such as BP, BBC, Microsoft, Mars, and Blue Cross. Most recently his focus has been working with UCL on med tech start-ups such as SmartTarget, Motilent, and LEAF. He is currently part-time CEO of UCL venture, Queen Square Analytics, which does advanced neuro-imaging and was in the KQ Labs cohort 3. He also serves as the Royal Society Entrepreneur In Residence hosted by the Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) at UCL.
Matthew McCann
Matt is responsible for deal origination and investor relations at CPI Enterprises, the ventures arm of CPI, where he sources investment opportunities at pre-seed and seed across AgriFoodTech, Energy, Materials, HealthTech and Pharma. Alongside his day job, Matt supports the non-profit Science Entrepreneur Club where he founded and heads up the BioCapital Network, a community of over 260 life science investors that represent over 160 unique funds and several Angels, all actively investing in UK-based life sciences. Prior to his current roles, Matt worked on refining commercial strategies for a number of university spin-outs, an incubator and a VC fund and has previously worked in start-up recruitment and talent consultancy. Matt holds a BSc Biology (Industrial) from the University of Leeds and an MPhil Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.
Martin McGurk
Dr Martin McGurk works for Innovate UK (IUK), the UK’s innovation agency (part of the UKRI family), as Deputy Director - Business Growth, he leads a team developing IUK’s innovation and growth at scale agenda, leading and managing the Innovate UK Business Growth Service. The service supports the UK’s most ambitious innovators to grow and scale whilst also supporting the development of the UK’s Innovation and growth ecosystem more broadly, within the wider Innovate UK/UKRI value proposition, aiming to maximise our societal and economic impact for “UK Plc”. He is also immediate past president of the trade association Technology Innovation International (TII) and a member of several British and ISO Standards Committees e.g. IMS/1 & TC 279 drafting BS ISO 56002 et seq (the Innovation Management standards family). Previously he spent 13 years at RTC North Ltd, working to develop innovation, design, investment and internationalisation support services regionally, nationally and internationally alongside consultancy work with both businesses and government agencies, project evaluation/key expert "stuff" for the European Commission etc, rising to the role of Business Development Director. A graduate in mechanical and materials engineering from Newcastle University, he has a PhD in Wear Resistant Coatings. Prior to RTC North, he worked as an engineer for PSA Peugeot Citroen and Schott Glaeverbal before moving into the world of SMEs: first as a lean consultant, then managing steel fabrication/construction and latterly factory process automation businesses.
Nelli Morgulchik
Nelli invests in early-stage biotech at Hummingbird Ventures fuelled by her passion to find out-of-the-box thinkers and doers who are revolutionising the bioeconomy. Prior to joining Hummingbird, she led life sciences venture building programmes at Pioneer Group, coaching early-stage founders on navigating their route to market. She has honed her expertise and enthusiasm over the last five years supporting pharma and biotech executives and entrepreneurs in their commercial strategy. She holds an MRes in Drug Discovery and Development from Imperial College London and an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Ioanna Mylonaki
Dr Ioanna Mylonaki is a drug delivery expert developing biomaterials for the administration of genes, cells and small molecules. She is a UKRI Future Leader Fellow and heads the preclinical team of Sixfold Bioscience, a London-based biotech that develops RNA delivery systems. Ioanna is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. Throughout her career she has secured in total over £10 million in funding from public sources, private foundations, and industrial partners. Previously, Ioanna worked as a Research Associate at the Molly Stevens group at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London. She developed stem cell delivery formulations for regenerative therapies, silicon-based biomaterials, bioreducible polymeric nanoparticles and exosomes for the intracellular delivery of gene therapies. She obtained her PhD from the University of Geneva and is studying towards an executive MBA at the London Business School.
Jonathan Nash
Jonathan joined LifeArc as an Investment Principal at LifeArc Ventures in 2024. He is responsible for new investments and managing existing portfolio companies. Prior to joining LifeArc, Jon was an Associate with the Biotechnology team at M Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Merck KGaA, where he was responsible for new investments and existing portfolio companies with a focus on therapeutics and life sciences. Prior to this, he was an Associate at UBS in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group in London, as well as a Life Science Specialist at L.E.K. Consulting. Jon started his career as a doctor in London and holds Degrees in Medicine and Neuroscience from Imperial College London.
Jelle Penders
Dr. Jelle Penders is the CEO of the recent Imperial College spin-out company SPARTA Biodiscovery. He received his BSc degree from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and his MSc degree from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He finished his PhD research in the group of Prof. Molly Stevens FRS FREng at Imperial College London in 2019, specializing in novel methods for nanoparticle and nanomaterial characterization using Raman spectroscopy and Electron Microscopy. He has worked for several years as a postdoctoral research associate further developing his co-invention of SPARTA®-Single Particle Automated Raman Trapping Analysis- in the Stevens group and co-founded the spin-out company SPARTA Biodiscovery in 2022 to commercialize it. The research on SPARTA® has been published in leading journals such as Nature Communications, ACS Nano and Advanced Materials as a transformative novel analytical modality for nanoformulations such as lipid nanoparticles, polymersomes and exosomes.
Sunil Shah
Sunil has now served on the Board of the BIA for more than 2 years, and worked with other board colleagues to support the Executive team navigate the challenges of COVID and served to strengthen the biotechnology ecosystem. Sunil is a serial entrepreneur having begun his career in the Life Sciences team at PA Consulting group followed by co-founding Oxygen Healthcare Ltd which was fully acquired by Piramal Enterprises Ltd (BSE: PEL) in 2013. Since this time, Sunil has co-founded the o2h Group and is CEO of o2h Ventures which are building an ecosystem to support early-stage Biotech Therapeutic companies. Sunil is highly passionate about building and investing into early stage biotechnology. For more than two decades, he has been focused on building the o2h biotech ecosystem to support fledgling biotech innovations through investing, mentoring and providing discovery support to pre-seed and seed stage biotech companies. Sunil absolutely loves connecting people and supporting the biotech ecosystem, during lockdown when we were not allowed to meet each other in person Sunil led a series called o2h ChaiTimes in which he assembled a panel of experts (globally) to discuss various topics of interest to other Biotechies on an online platform, this was for free for anyone to join. Post the lockdown when we were able to meet each other again, he has been hosting biotech bikers events from o2h’s new site in Cambridge for Biotechies to get some exercise and talk science. Sunil has won the UKBAA Angel Investor of the year award in 2019 as well as the OBN Special Recognition Award for his significant contribution in the Life Sciences Industry. Most recently, Sunil won the CEO of the Year award at Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards. o2h Group includes o2h Ventures, an HMRC approved Knowledge Intensive EIS fund that provides pre-seed and seed funding to Biotech Therapeutics & AI, the fund has now invested into 28 British biotech companies.
Hannah Sore
A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. She brings over 20 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.
Marcus Vass
Head of international Digital Health, Marcus Vass is trusted advisor to new entrants, leading disruptors and Big Tech and Big Health clients in a range of collaborations. His Digital Health work encompasses regulation, licences, contracts, privacy and health data protection in life sciences and healthcare projects.
Glaziers Hall,
9 Montague Close,
Rotherhithe,
SE1 9DD
BIA members (emerging companies) : £10 + VAT
Non-members (emerging companies) : £20 + VAT
By registering for this event you accept our Terms & Conditions.
Please note: The Start-up Festival is intended for the leadership of early-stage companies to learn from each other and from invited thought leaders in the sector. In order to ensure a critical mass of startup entrepreneurs, we are limiting numbers of service providers, beyond those sponsoring and supporting the event.
In case of any issues registering for the event, please contact the BIA Events team.
Supporter opportunities for the event are available to view here.
If you are interested in supporting, please email Chloe: [email protected]
Chloe Hartley
What does your role at BIA involve?
Chloe's role involves planning and executing large-scale events involving conferences, dinners and exhibitions.
Previous experience
She has previously worked at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the events department, organising conferences and workshops for doctors.
If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why?
It would probably be Andrew Carnegie because he had a strong moral compass and built public libraries, theatres and child welfare centres to help better the community.
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