HIHR, Healthy Investments, Healthy Returns

Start-up pitch

Twice a year, HIHR hosts a live pitch event where emerging academic entrepreneurs present their business cases to a curated audience of life science professionals, including venture capitalists, industry leaders, and competence providers.

We invite new spin-off initiatives actively seeking (pre)seed funding to submit their nomination via their Technology Transfer Office (TTO). Our events cover BioTech, MedTech, and Digital Health. Please note that we adhere to strict application deadlines April and October. Following your submission, we will schedule a brief 10-minute MS Teams call to discuss your nomination and ensure we fully understand your project’s goals.

Following the selection committee’s review, all applicants will be notified of their status. While we can only select a limited number of pitches, those not chosen for the main event will be invited to participate in a Quickfire session and are highly encouraged to reapply for a future edition.

Key dates

Pitch preparation

High-quality presentations are essential to attracting top-tier investors. While KTOs are responsible for the initial guidance of their initiatives, HIHR provides mandatory pitch training for all selected presenters. This collaborative preparation ensures every pitch meets the rigorous standards our investor network expects.

The pitch training consists of the following parts:

1. Pitching is selling. Your main goal is to attract attention and to win a face2face meeting with a VC. Do not merely present a technology but rather tell an appealing business story. Review our Investor Pitch Pointers and start practicing!
2. Webinars* on:
   – ‘Resonating with investors‘, by Jeff Skinner, London Business School.
   – ‘IP management for start ups from lab to market’, by Arnold&Siedsma
   Invitations for these webinars are sent automatically to all selected pitchers. As these sessions are a key part of the preparation process, attendance is required.

3. An online Pitch try-out training session* several weeks before the pitch-event. A panel of investors, corporate leaders, and KTO experts will provide direct feedback on your pitch. You’ll receive actionable advice on presentation techniques and strategic tips to boost your fundraising success.
   
   * These sessions are mandatory for all selected presenters. Please refer to the schedule above for key dates. To maintain the high standard of our events, HIHR reserves the right to withdraw any project if the pitch quality does not meet the required criteria.

Please note that confidential information should NOT be shared on the nomination/registration form, in the summaries of the selection propositions, nor on the slides of the final pitch.

The pitch event

The pitch-sessions are formatted according the following guidelines:

• All pitches will be offered 7 to 8 minutes with 5 minutes Q&A (depending on the total number of selected pitches).
• We invite alumni projects, seeking additional funding in ‘pre-series A’-stage to apply once more. One project will be selected to present their case, including a 5 minute address to ‘lessons learned in their Start-up journey‘. 

How to follow up

Roel Bulthuis, former CEO of INKEF Capital, kindly shares his insights to follow up on your pitch:

‘When you present to investors at the HIHR event, it’s important to find the right way to follow-up in order to get the most out of your efforts. The investors that you will be presenting to (mostly Associates or Principles in their firm) are generally responsible for the handling of a significant amount of deal flow at any point in time. On a weekly basis, an associate might be looking at 10-20 files and needs to prioritize which of those to discuss in the fund’s deal flow meeting.

Now that deal flow comes from a variety of sources including the firms general funnel, opportunities that come in from other investors (higher priority to manage relationships and maybe a bit of FOMO) and opportunities that come from the firm’s partners (always the highest priority, they pay your salary). Every incoming deal needs to be processed and recorded and the decision to prioritize or not needs to be clearly justified. Now in between all that pressure, the associates attend events like HIHR where they see 5-10 presentations on a day. You have a short window there to make a first impression and more importantly, they also have a very short window to make a call. When they come back from the conference they have their own notes to go on plus their memory, so naturally they will likely only process the deals that really captured their attention.

So here’s the trick; make their life easy by sending them a thank you email after the presentation with:

1. a short summary of your proposition and key takeaways from your presentation in max 10 lines,
2. your non confidential presentation, and
3. your offer to answer any questions or provide additional info at their request.

No need to be pushy, just a gentle way to follow-up and make sure your deal actually goes into the funnel.’

Source: HIHR