Geopolitical tensions, notably the Russian-Ukraine war, persist abroad while supply chain woes and recession fears prevail at home. In addition, the Federal Reserve‘s campaign to subdue inflation with higher interest rates is expected to continue in 2023, adding another variable that makes it hard for capital practitioners to forecast with confidence.

The IPO drought could last years in a worst-case scenario, according to University of Florida professor Jay Ritter. The stock market crash of 1987 and the dot.com bust of 2000 resulted in IPO slumps that lasted about three years, Ritter said, while the financial crisis of 2008 stalled activity through 2009 and only recovered mildly afterward.

]]> https://innovate.research.ufl.edu/uf-innovate-fast-break-ventures-summit/ Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://scaddev1.com/uf-innovate-fast-break-ventures-summit/

Gainesville, FL- Investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs convened at the University of Florida Stephen C. O’Connell Center on October 26, 2022, for UF Innovate | Ventures’ first-annual Fast Break Ventures Summit. Over 100 attendees met on center court for an afternoon filled with discussion on the state of venture capital in Florida and to hear pitches from six startup companies. 

MVP of Innovation: Florida 

The summit’s keynote speaker was Michael DiNapoli, the director of the Office of Small and Minority Business Capital for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. He followed a special welcome from University of Florida Men’s Basketball Head Coach Todd Golden. 

DiNapoli has more than 20 years of experience working in the finance industry. In 2017, he joined the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO). As director of the Office of Small and Minority Business Capital, DiNapoli focuses on expanding access to capital, promoting economic resilience, creating new jobs, and increasing economic opportunity. 

“How can we help businesses here in Florida? What can we do here in Florida to help businesses grow? Succeed?” asked DiNapoli.  

The answer? Venture capital.  

With the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) reauthorization, Florida is set to allocate $100 million to venture capital. In highlighting this, Florida attracts investors and competes with states already getting the most funding, Massachusetts, New York, and California.  

“Venture Capital is an incredible tool to help small businesses; to help innovators, to help people who don’t have anything but an idea…We can build this tech ecosystem [here in Florida], and… it begins with UF,” said DiNapoli.  

View DiNapoli’s entire presentation here. 

The all-star startups  

In the spirit of building the Florida technology ecosystem, the Fast Break Ventures Summit included pitches from six startup companies emerging from the University of Florida: Matrix Technologies, Aurita, iOncologi, Lacerta Therapeutics, Myosin Therapeutics, and Agriculture Intelligence.  

The speakers pitched the innovative technologies they have developed to disrupt and transform their markets. The companies range from hard tech to biotech therapies to agriculture and artificial intelligence. 

If you are interested in learning more about each company, you can visit the Fast Break Ventures Summit website. To hear all six company pitches, you can watch the live stream. 

Bank shot 

Florida, the third-largest state in the country, presents a growing investment opportunity. Yet, it isn’t competing with states like California, New York, and Massachusetts, and investments are not coming into the state at the same rate.  

This is a challenge Benjamin Patz, managing partner and co-founder of DeepWork Capital, took head-on. 

“I can see how you get money in [to Florida], but how do you help companies really get to the next level?” asked Patz. 

The current state of venture capital across the country has seen a 50 percent decline in investing over the last three quarters. But, when you zoom out, you find that investment is increasing to the right, and last year was the single biggest year in terms of venture investing in the U.S.  

Florida is behaving similarly.  

“This state is one of the most capital-efficient markets in the country. It’s a good investment to make,” said Patz. 

To watch Patz’s full presentation, you can click here. 

One-on-one with Atsena Therapeutics  

Shannon Boye, the founder and director of Atsena Therapeutics, has experience when it comes to pitching and securing venture capital for her company. In a “fireside chat,” Boye sat down with Jackson Streeter, director of UF Innovate | Ventures, to discuss her journey.  

Boye’s journey, and that of Atsena, began when she and her co-founder developed several technologies to treat specific inherited retinal diseases as well as optimize the AAV vector itself.  

“We were naive at the time and we thought the best way to get those technologies into patients that needed them was to out-license them to existing companies that already had the capital and the infrastructure to bring them across the line,” said Boye. 

It quickly became clear the technologies were not making it into the clinic. Once the technologies hit the company pipelines, progress stalled. Components that should have taken a year to work on and move forward were taking up to five.  

The big pharmaceutical companies Boye had out-licensed to were siloing the technology components to various areas of the business that were not communicating with each other. On the other hand, the smaller businesses they had out-licensed to were allowing business decisions to take precedence over sound, scientific ones.  

With these things in mind, Atsena Therapeutics was born.  

Since then, Boye has worked with UF Innovate | Tech Licensing and UF Innovate | Ventures to advance her intellectual property portfolio, secure funding for her startup, and have control over the directions projects are taking.  

You can hear the full one-on-one, here. 

Slam dunk 

The summit closed with a motivational speech from Sam Tarell, founder of Divergent U and Hoop Brothers, and a special slam dunk performance from CJ Champion. Tarell’s speech focused on divergent thinking and how it applies to creativity and innovation.  

The attendees in the room were among the brightest divergent thinkers. They look to identify the best ways to improve systems, which do not have one, clear answer. These individuals go against the grain and work outside the norm to make quick, split-second decisions.  

“In business, in innovation, we are put in positions of leadership, where we have to make quick decisions,” said Tarell.  

View Tarell’s full speech, and the slam dunk presentation, here. 

In conclusion 

Florida is a growing and thriving state. This growth is bringing massive venture capital investments into the Sunshine State. 

“There is a phenomenal wealth migration [to Florida]…It is the single, greatest migration of wealth in the history of this country,” said Benjamin Patz, a managing partner and co-founder of DeepWork Capital.  

The Fast Break Ventures Summit is among the first investor events to be back at the University of Florida following the pandemic. As the name suggests, it ties in with a basketball theme. And like the University of Florida’s basketball program, UF Innovate is bringing greatness to the Gator Nation.

By Andrea Dautant  

Recently, our very own Jackson Streeter was featured on the I Am BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization) Podcast. Hear how UF is spending over 1 billion dollars in research and how their work with AAV could help cure all types of genetic disorders.

https://innovate.research.ufl.edu/hey-founder-heres-how-to-build-your-brand/ Wed, 02 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://scaddev1.com/hey-founder-heres-how-to-build-your-brand/ The media landscape for startups is as competitive as ever these days. Journalists are burnt out, hundreds of new funding rounds are announced daily, and good communications talent is hard to come by.

That said, building and establishing your personal brand is key to standing out in the current market. Your brand is your track record plus reputation—everything that people currently know you for.

Many later-stage startups will hire a dedicated public relations firm to handle these aspects of the business, but below are four tangible steps to make yourself and your company stand out without one.

Learn more about Hey Founder, Here’s How To Build Your Brand ]]> https://innovate.research.ufl.edu/ray-bergeron-abfero-technology/ Tue, 16 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://scaddev1.com/ray-bergeron-abfero-technology/ Removing excess iron may provide therapeutic relief for macular degeneration, Parkinson’s, and more

Late last week, Danish biotech Pharmacosmos announced it had acquired AbFero Pharmaceuticals, a University of Florida startup, for $225 million. AbFero is developing compounds called iron chelators created in Dr. Raymond Bergeron’s lab at UF. Chelators remove extra iron from the body.

“It’s always exciting to see a UF faculty’s startup get acquired by a large company that will be able to take this platform technology to market,” said Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of commercialization at UF and the director of UF Innovate | Tech Licensing. “What makes this exit exceptional is that UF Innovate | Ventures invested part of its inaugural fund into AbFero because the technology is so important.”

Pharmacosmos has three drugs approved to treat iron deficiency in humans. In contrast, AbFero is dedicated to treating diseases of transfusional iron overload. The startup’s lead candidate, SP-420, has completed Phase I safety studies, but the purchase provides the Danish company much more than a single drug or platform.

“We’re giving them a pipeline of platforms from which they can choose a therapy – plus all the animal data that support what we’ve found,” said Bergeron, who joined UF in 1979 as an associate professor in medicinal chemistry. “We’re not handing over a bottle of crystals that does one thing. We’re handing them the potential to treat children with iron overload and so much more.”

SP-420 belongs to a class of orally active iron chelators called desferrithiocins that reach target organs with greater efficacy and higher tolerability than three currently available FDA-approved chelators on the market. AbFero’s compounds also cross the blood-retinal and blood-brain barrier, enabling their use in macular degeneration and Parkinson’s disease.

A number of different diseases, such as macular degeneration and Parkinson’s, implicate iron overload, and some therapies for disease cause iron overload. Thalassemia, for instance, is an inherited blood disorder in which the body doesn’t make enough hemoglobin. Patients often require frequent blood transfusions, making them prone to developing systemic transfusional iron overload. 

Bergeron said the compound could benefit traumatic brain injury, too.

“When you sustain a traumatic brain injury, bleeding occurs. The dying red cells in the brain release iron which causes profound damage. Unfortunately, almost nothing gets across the blood-brain barrier,” Bergeron said. “But our iron chelator does, offering a chance to remove the offending iron.”

Bergeron envisions a day when the military going into hot zones will use it prophylactically. Even adults or children playing contact sports may consider this option.

Bergeron has generated a large number of composition-of-matter patents and use patents related to this technology.

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By Sara Dagen, marketing & communications manager, UF Innovate

]]> https://innovate.research.ufl.edu/pharmacosmos-group-acquires-abfero-pharmaceuticals-inc/ Fri, 12 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://scaddev1.com/pharmacosmos-group-acquires-abfero-pharmaceuticals-inc/ Leader in Anemia Acquires All Rights for AbFero’s SP-420 to Advance Iron Chelation Therapies

Pharmacosmos Group, a leader in the development of innovative treatments for patients suffering from iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia, today announced the acquisition of AbFero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Boston-based, privately-held clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to treating diseases of iron overload.

Pharmacosmos A/S, through a US subsidiary, will acquire all assets of AbFero Pharmaceuticals under a share purchase agreement for a total consideration of up to $225M when combining upfront payments, regulatory and commercial milestones, and royalties.

Read more about Pharmacosmos Group Acquires Boston Based Clinical Stage AbFero Pharmaceuticals, Inc. . ]]>