Biocom California’s Capital Development team successfully wrapped up an incredible Partner Day with Eli Lilly and Company, hosted at our headquarters in San Diego. Senior leaders from Lilly along with 35 startups engaged in a dynamic panel discussion, one-on-one meetings and a networking reception. Congratulations to the following 35 companies that were selected to meet with Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs, ExploR&D and Lilly BioTDR:

Biggest Partnering and Fundraising Takeaways from the Panel Discussion

The evening’s panel featured a discussion with Eli Lilly executives including: Aliza Apple, associate VP and head of Lilly Gateway Labs West Coast; Alison Budelsky, vice president of immunology research; Pablo Cabral, senior director of external innovation and Lilly ExploR&D; and Alborz Mahdavi, VP of Lilly Research Labs and CEO of Promoter Technologies. The discussion unveiled ways for life science startups to collaborate with Eli Lilly’s teams through mentorship and access to capital.

Pablo Cabral highlighted that on the ExploR&D front, Lilly’s current focus areas include immunology, oncology, diabetes, obesity, neurodegeneration and pain. Adjacent fields that they are interested in are cardiovascular health and metabolism, and they are also looking into new platform technologies and new indications such as women’s health. “If you are doing differentiated science … we would love to have a conversation,” he said.

On Lilly’s criteria for partnerships, Aliza Apple said: “We’re really looking for the most exciting science that we can find. … We’re looking for companies that are excited to have a scientific exchange with us.” She said Lilly tailors their resources based on a company’s needs and that a partnership with Lilly’s Gateway Labs can translate to equity investment. “We have about 20 companies in San Francisco now, and we’ve invested in about 60% of them with our Lilly Ventures colleagues. … When we get excited about a company, we really bring out all of the stops.”

On the topic of raising capital during a difficult macro environment, Alborz Mahdavi offered encouraging advice for founders. He noted investment trends shift over time and emphasized strong science can attract interest even in tough funding environments. “When I was starting, it was actually very hard for us to raise money and back in 2015, if you were working in diabetes, it wasn’t thought of as an area where VCs jump in right away,” he said. “I remember talking to a lot of investors and it was not easy to raise money … these things go in waves.”

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