By Priya Kalia, SciTribe and Miranda Weston-Smith, BioBeat
Making momentum for deals in a changing world was at the heart of BioBeat25 discussions. The meeting, on “Getting ahead of the curve in biotech,” took place at the Cambridge Union on 8 May 2025 with over 100 delegates of entrepreneurs, investors and industry specialists. With outstanding speakers, agility, openness to new strategies, and focus on delivery came through as core themes. The first panel explored current partnership hotspots between small biotech and large pharma, and the second shared practical tips on how to effectively prepare for, attract, and close investment deals.
Drivers for success in partnerships
“Small biotech and large pharma, in my view, make a beautiful marriage. As small biotechs, we bring the agility, the innovation, the creativity, and the freedom. Large pharma brings the capabilities, the scale, the further expertise and the experience. As a biotech, don’t be afraid of being small, go out there and have the conversations.” - Rebecca Godfrey, COO, ExpressionEdits.
The first panel on "Biotech and Partnering Hotspots” examined emerging areas in the innovation ecosystem that are currently leading partnership formation. Priya Mande, CEO of RNAvate, masterfully chaired the panel with Khatereh Ahmadi, Head of Search and Evaluation Team at the European BD&L Hub of MSD, Sarah Cole, CEO of Senisca, Rebecca Godfrey COO of ExpressionEdits, and Michelle Jones, COO of Astex Pharmaceuticals.
‘Pendulum swings’ were highlighted. For example, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), which were ‘out’ at one point, have staged a comeback. Macrocyclic peptides, oligonucleotides, peptide-drug conjugates and other enabling technologies are trending in the field.
Whatever it is, focus and hybrid business sectors can work together. Senisca specialises in developing oligonucleotide therapeutics for cellular ageing and early revenue generation has come through a partnership with a global cosmeceutical company. The key here has been ring-fencing and striking the right balance in this cross-modality collaboration to facilitate company and platform validation, without compromising the focus on the therapeutic side. ExpressionEdits provides an AI engine that can introduce intronic sequences into transgenes to boost expression. While this technology has broad applications, the company has a laser focus on cell and gene therapy for its partnerships with pharma.
Momentum is key for partnership deals. The successful partnerships between Astex Pharmaceuticals and MSD show how strong science, a thorough understanding of clinical and commercial parameters and openness about communication, for example, about gaps in data, in addition to having positive news flow, can lead to success.
“Getting the deal done is just one part of the equation in partnerships. You have to deliver on the obligations and expectations of that deal to get repeat business. Alliance management is, therefore, really important, and starts from the initial engagement and introduction. Sometimes, it’s not immediately evident where the synergistic fit is between your two technologies, but you work through that as you build the relationship.” - Priya Mande, CEO, RNAvate.
Investment deals signed and sealed
The second panel, aptly titled “Nailing the Fundraise”, explored the practical side of getting investments signed and sealed. The panel featured Anne Horgan, Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, as experienced panel chair, along with Laura Lane, VP Lilly Ventures (Head of Europe) at Eli Lilly, Elena Lovo, Head of Life Sciences EMEA, Innovation Economy, JP Morgan, Annelise Soulier, CSO and Co-founder of Neobe Therapeutics, and Nicki Thompson, CEO of TRIMTECH Therapeutics.
Biotech is resilient, and while the funding is out there and deals often take longer to finalise, the current environment does offer opportunities for the sector in Europe. The uncertainty across the world has highlighted the importance of diversifying investment networks. Also, it is exactly during such uncertainty that some of the best science gets funded, and some of the best companies are started.
A growing trend has seen larger rounds at all stages, with fewer companies being funded as a result. In such a climate, it is critical to ensure that a start-up's plan is realistic, with unwavering focus on products and delivery, so not getting distracted by the large quanta.
The fundamentals for a successful fundraise remain: understanding the investor audience, not hesitating to ask questions to help gauge likes and dislikes, and being clear about the problem to be solved. Start-ups can then use this information strategically to craft a compelling story, with a vision tailored to the audience. Cash is king, and fundraising when a company has money is a good strategy if the investor appetite is there.
“If you're thinking about early-stage fundraising, consider the team that you're pulling together. Investors want to see a lot of things de-risked, and one of those risks is the team. So if you have a small amount of money to pull a fantastic team around you—use your network—that's really, really important.” - Nicki Thompson, CEO of TRIMTECH Therapeutics.
Celebrating a dozen insightful summits
This, the 12thBioBeat meeting, came about through collaboration of Miranda Weston-Smith, BioBeat Founder with Anne Horgan, Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, and Alisa Molotova, Start-up Mentor.
It was also Miranda’s last year running the meeting that she founded in 2013, with the goal of bringing inspiration into biotech for everyone, through female leaders. The summits have featured all-female speakers with an audience that is diverse in every way.
“Back then, I never dreamt there would be twelve summits, with over 1500 delegates of entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, industry specialists, inspired by over 100 experts in their fields. We’ve discussed, for example, cell and gene therapy, data-driven healthcare, how to start biotech businesses in hard times, and just last year, using digital to accelerate neurodegeneration treatments. Each summit has been generously supported by sponsors and partners, and even held online during the height of the global COVID pandemic. The concept seemed left field when it started, but is now very much in the mainstream.” - Miranda Weston-Smith, BioBeat Founder.
For BioBeat25, huge thanks to Cambridge Innovation Capital for all their support and making the event possible, Eli Lilly and Company for their big-hearted and visionary backing, and sponsors and partners: Appleyard Lees, BIA, Bruntwood Sci Tech, Covington, Innovation Forum, One Nucleus and SciTribe.
*Guest blog by BioBeat. If you would like to submit a guest blog please email info@onenucleus.com