Ingrid Teigland Akay is managing partner in Hadean Ventures, which invests in companies within life sciences and medtech. They make demands on their investment properties.
- As an investor in start-up companies within life sciences and medtech, we believe that patents are absolutely decisive for our interest. Medical products require large investments over a long period of time to reach the market, and in order for these investments to generate reasonable returns, protective rights for the products must be in place. For us, it will almost always be a patent, says Akay.
How can companies make arrangements for external investors? Akay says that a comprehensive business plan is important to attract investors. In this plan, there are many aspects that should be described, such as the team, development plan for the product, capital requirements, timelines, market potential, competitive situation - and of course IP strategy. Her tip for businesses that want to attract investors?
- It can be useful to engage in dialogue with potential investors at an early stage. It takes a long time to raise capital, so don't wait until you're almost out of money.
– If you have made exciting scientific discoveries, make sure to hire a patenting process early. It is important to have a good IP strategy before essential information ends up in the public sphere, otherwise one cannot lose the opportunity to patent.
Ingrid Teigland Ok
Ingrid Teigland Ok
DNB provides financing to the health industry where, among other things, they find companies that develop and manufacture medicines and medical equipment. These have normally patented their products. The main purpose of patenting is to protect against copying, which is particularly important when we know that the development of, for example, a new drug is a very time-consuming and expensive process.
The patent is normally valid for 20 years. After the product is on the market, you typically have 12-15 years of patent protection left. This is related to the fact that the patenting of the "formula/structure" takes place long before the product is ready for the market. Without such patent protection, it would normally not be profitable to develop new products, which would of course have dramatic negative consequences for patient care.
– When we finance these companies, we see that their patents and other intellectual property rights are their most important value. It is these rights that form the basis for the entire turnover in the company.
Terje Straume
Terje Straume
- The health industry is a steadily growing industry on a global basis, and the large companies often have hundreds of products, and thus also patents. If one of these should lose its value, this normally has no contagion effect on the rest of the products in their portfolio. Should the company experience financial problems as a result of, for example, having to pay compensation due to conditions linked to a single product, the value of their other products will not normally be affected. These therefore represent a relatively liquid asset that can be sold so that the company gets access to cash and resolves a possible liquidity crisis, says Straume.
- This is an important reason why we in the health industry like intellectual property rights, says Straume. - Each of them is little affected by business cycles and operational challenges in the companies that own them. And they are relatively liquid securities.
