On September 30, 2021, the Munich Life Science Pitch Day was held again as a Face2Face event at the Innovation and Start-up Center after the Long Corona Break. This event takes place annually in cooperation with the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim and the Innovations- und Gründerzentrum Biotechnologie (IZB). This year, 35 project teams from the life science sector applied. 10 start-ups had the opportunity to present their innovative drug development projects to renowned venture capital companies. 

The following investors attended this event: Abbvie, Apollo Health Ventures, Bayer, Bayern Capital, BioMed Partners, bmp Ventures, Boehringer Ingelheim, Coparion, Forbion Capital Partners, Hadean Ventures, HTGF, KURMA Partners, Long VC, LSP, mbc, Maximon, Medi Ventures, Occident Group, Seventure, TVM Capital, Vantage Value, Vesalius Biocapital and Wellington Partners.

“We are pleased to be able to give start-ups the opportunity every year to present before top-class venture capital companies in order to establish contacts with investors at an early stage. I would very much like to thank our long-term partners, who leave with an extremely positive impression of the Munich start-up scene,” explains Dr. Peter Hanns Zobel, Managing Director of the IZB.

“With the Munich Life Science Pitch Day we have established an outstanding event together with the IZB, Bayer AG and Boehringer Ingelheim, which has taken place for the sixth time in Munich. This is where partnerships emerge from which the life science start-ups and all participating investors benefit. At the same time, all participants gain valuable insights into the innovative strength of young start-ups. This is real added value for everyone involved. We are already looking forward to the next Pitch Day,” according to Dr. Caroline Fichtner, Principal of HTF.

“The Life Science Pitch Day offers the best possible framework for targeted networking with established investors. The ten participating life science start-ups impressed us with their innovative ideas. It was also a pleasure for me to round off the event in an interesting conversation with our guest Ingmar Hoerr, founder of CureVac,” says Dr. Martin Pfister, Principal of HTGF.

“A central aspect of a pitch event is networking. The founders have the chance to make important contacts with potential investors and partners. And it is precisely this exchange that is made possible at the Life Science Pitch Day in Munich. I was very impressed by the quality of the young start-ups’ research. It was great to follow the lively exchange and get to know the start-ups,” explains Dr. John-Edward Butler-Ransohoff, Vice President Open Innovation – Public Private Partnership, Bayer AG.

“At the Life Science Pitch Day, interesting partnerships and synergies can emerge between investor:ing and the innovative founder:ing scene. Events like these make a valuable contribution to promoting innovation and opening up new horizons for completely new therapeutic approaches for patients. The quality of the founding teams and the forward-looking solutions of the pitching start-ups are a real enrichment for the life science sector,” says Alexander Ehlgen, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.

The investors were enthusiastic about the innovative drug developers. The following project teams presented at the “6^th Munich Life Science Pitch Day”:

1. Dimericon, Ulrich Kessler: Dimericon, Ulrich Kessler: Fighting cancer – A novel therapeutic modality conquering the plasticity conundrum in IDP-targeted oncology drug discovery
2. Fundamental Pharma, Thomas Schulze: Next generation brain drugs acting as molecular spacers to halt neurodegeneration
3. FUSIX Biotech, Jennifer Altomonte: A TUM spin-off developing a “best-in-class” oncolytic virus platform to treat solid tumors
4. Galimedix, Alexander Gebauer: Breakthrough therapy in Alzheimer´s disease:
   Small molecule GAL-201 for cognitive improvement and neuroprotection
5. Intellexon, Christoph Winterhalter: Intellexon uncovered new embryo-fetal HLAs as unique tumor targets
6. Invasight, Karthiga Santhana Kumar: Developing potent and safe first-in-class, protein-protein interaction inhibitors against invasive cancers
7. OPSYON, Nadja Fenn: OPSYON’s vision and mission is to combine direct cancer cell targeting with the benefits of immune checkpoint inhibition in one molecule to maximize anti-cancer efficacy while minimizing unwanted side effects.
8. RecTec, Anne-Kristin Heninger: It is our vision to establish designer recombinases as the leading technology for safe and precise genome surgery to cure genetic diseases.
9. Riana Therapeutics, Anna Orlova: We develop novel first-in-class treatment options against cancer
10. Sirana Pharma, Hermann-Josef Kaiser: Restoring musculoskeletal health