Notes from the 10th Annual Non-Dilutive Funding Summit

The Non-Dilutive Funding Summit came together on January 14th, 2015 for the tenth consecutive year. The ~300 life science executives who attended the day long activities learned about Neuroscience Funding Opportunities related to the mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) from Dr Rajesh Ranganathan, as well as a detailed description of the resources  available to industry by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from Dr Shy Shorer.

Dr Ranganathan described the newly issued CREATE funding opportunities and emphasized the interest NINDS has with solutions stemming from the industry side as well as urged companies to approach the NINDS before submitting a grant proposal. The purpose would be to received feedback and perhaps guidance on how to maximize the chances for an award.

During the event a panel discussion with CEOs of companies who have been successful in winning awards from $150,000 to $21,000,0000 shared their insight into the makings of a winning application. All agreed external help is warranted (coincidentally all received such assistance from the FreeMind Group) and that a diligent approach together with a sound multi-submission strategy is the way to go. FreeMind’s VP Ayal Ronen concluded the panel with pointing out that all awards have one thing in common which is that they all were submitted at certain point in time. The crowd erupted in laughter and the summit adjourned.

Jokes aside, FreeMind’s Managing Partner Ram May-Ron in his presentation focused on a balanced funding campaign where Non-Dilutive Funding must be an integral part of any funding effort. In fact, for every dollar one raises from non-dilutive sources, one can expect $8.38 dollars investment by the private sector. Meghan Norvell from nanoMR agreed interest from potential buyers increased dramatically following the award from BARDA.

Join us next year at the 11th Annual Non-Dilutive Funding Summit!