AngelList Radio - Rick Marini
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Host Tyler Willis interviews a serial founder and investor
Ben Tossell
AngelList Radio: Dr. Jenny Rooke, Investor in Caribou Biosciences — How to invest in life sciences startups
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Tyler Willis
Here are a few of my favorite lessons from this interview: *In life sciences, you need more successful investments to get good returns.* Most successful life sciences companies are acquired for $200-$500M, and you don't get many of the multi-billion-dollar exits that you find in traditional tech investing. Since the wins are smaller, investors need more of their investments to succeed. *You need to be able to evaluate the technical risks, or follow someone who can.* Most life sciences startups are inventing something new. You should be able to evaluate the underlying science if you want to make good investment decisions. Lots of Dr. Rooke's syndicate backers are excited about synthetic biology, but lack either the skill or the time to research a startup's technical claims. *With domain expertise, you can get great returns investing in unpopular markets.* Zymergen builds biotech for industrial applications and was turned down by several VCs that were focused more on health-care applications (where there were many historical examples of successful biotech startups). At 46:26, you can hear the story of Dr. Rooke's investment in Zymergen's seed round. The company used that money to help prove their market opportunity and went on to raise a $44M Series A just 18 months later. Apprenticeship is the best way to learn venture. In her early venture roles at Fidelity Biosciences and the Gates Foundation, Dr. Rooke was able to quickly get the opportunity to source deals, do technical and business diligence, and negotiate terms with startups. Dr. Rooke found that experiential learning was the best way to improve as an investor. Working for VCs helped her avoid costly mistakes while she was gaining experience. There are some additional links and content at https://blog.angel.co/interview-...
Ben Tossell
Notes: We interview Dr. Jenny Rooke and learn how to invest in life sciences startups. Dr. Rooke is a founder of 5 Prime Ventures and has invested in companies like Caribou Biosciences, Zymergen, and Zephyrus Biosciences (acquired by Bio-Techne).