What is the programme

Who is eligible

The programme is aimed at assisting Yorkshire and Humber based companies and entrepreneurs in the Healthcare Technology sectors, which includes Biotechnology, medical device, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.  It will help these companies with their investment management activities:

• The Pharmaceutical industry and related areas
   including  Chemical and Biological drugs;

• The Medical device industry with areas including:
  Surgical instruments
  Implantable devices
  Medical and assistive equipment
  Prosthetics and orthotics (including surgical instrumentation,  orthopaedics and advanced woundcare);

• Nutraceuticals, with areas including
  Vitamins
  Minerals
  Herbal remedies
  Functional Foods
  Medical Foods

• 'Red Bio', biotechnology applied to medical processes, including
  Biopharmaceuticals
  Diagnostics
  Vaccines
  Therapies (including gene therapy)

The programme is available to all businesses classed as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are those companies with an annual turnover of not more than €40 million, and 250 employees.  They may be start-up, early stage or established companies.  If your business falls outside of the SME criteria please contact us to discuss if/how we may be able to help.

What is the programme

The Investing in Health programme is an investment readiness programme established by Yorkshire Forward to assist companies in the Health Technology sectors.  The programme addresses three key factors relevant to the Yorkshire and Humber region:

• the opportunity to develop investment markets, especially for companies in complex and challenging markets such as healthcare;

• the opportunity to engage talented business support professionals able to provide advice and guidance on raising finance in general and especially in this sector; and

• a shortage of existing successfully venture backed companies to act as role models, explain the process and showcase the benefits.

The programme is scheduled to run for an initial period of three years and is delivered by a consortium of three companies, led by Grant Thornton UK LLP, and including Quotec and BiteCIC.  The delivery partners have extensive experience in developing and delivering investment readiness programmes, including the highly successful Gateway to Investment (g2i) multi-sector programme in London.

Companies participating in the programme will receive ongoing support and assistance, going through a structured programme starting with a recruitment and induction phase, followed by a Market and Technology Assessment, Investment Readiness Workshop, Mentoring, and Investor Introductions. 

Participation in the various stages of the programme is dependent on an individual company's circumstances and where it is in its growth cycle.  The programme has been designed to be flexible, and companies can enter at an appropriate point. 

It should be noted that not all companies will go all the way through the programme, it will be dependent on the opportunity for the company.  There is, however, value for every company as they will receive professional feed-back and information on their opportunity.  Experience has shown that companies gain the most value from clearly structured engagements with clear expectations set, professional management and direct interaction with world class sector and business experts, all of which is provided by the delivery partners.

What can Investing in Health can offer you

The programme offers Healthcare Technology companies seeking funds a package of tailored support and advice, and access to a wide range of knowledge, experience and resources.

• Market and Technology Assessment
It is critical to the success of any company - start-up, early stage or established - to have a clear understanding of the market for their product, process or service, and to identify technology barriers and competitors/competitive technologies.  After discussion with the company, the programme will draw on the specialist skills within the delivery team and networks to undertake a detailed market and technology study.  Companies participating in this stage of the programme will receive a copy of the assessment by the delivery partner, and a focused action plan identifying the key actions required to create an "investment ready" business.

• Investment Readiness Workshops
Following the Market and Technology Assessment, companies will be reviewed and, where appropriate, invited to participate in an Investment Readiness Workshop.  This is a very specialised series of interactive seminars delivered by active sector experts with experience of commercialising healthcare technologies.  The format includes peer group workshops, 1:1 support and informal coaching.

• Mentoring
The mentoring stage of the programme is specifically tailored to a company's individual needs, including the type or mix of funding required.  Nearly all companies participating in an investment readiness programme recognise that there are gaps in their capability that prevent them from raising funds.  For most companies the work required to fix these shortcomings is often difficult, as it frequently lies outside their areas of expertise and is an imposition on top of the "day job".  Typical areas  identified as needing assistance in healthcare technology companies are market knowledge, regulatory barriers, intellectual property management, the business management team, routes to market, design for manufacture and manufacturing, etc.  While these areas will have been addressed in the workshop phase, it will also have identified where gaps still exist.

During the mentoring phase companies will be assisted to develop a two-page opportunity note, a detailed document that will be used to introduce them to investors.

• Investor Introductions
Attracting the attention of investors is not easy given the large number of unsolicited invitations to invest they receive.  This stage of the programme recognises this, and crucially, the importance of introducing companies to the right investor.  Depending on the stage of development of the company this could be a Business Angel (or more likely a group of Business Angels) or a Venture Capital Fund (or Venture Capital Trust). 

The process of identifying the most appropriate investor (if equity funding is the most appropriate funding vehicle) is instigated during the Investment Readiness Workshop phase.

It should be noted that the delivery partners will not be involved in negotiating any investment deal, professional advisers should be recruited if assistance is required.
 

Find out how you can take the first steps towards creating a realistic business strategy for your healtcare marketing enterprise