Fundraising Strategies & Negotiating Term Sheets

A panel discussion on fundraising strategies in this challenging market, and how to negotiate term sheets and financing with VCs in competitive processes. Genoa Ventures’ Vikram Chaudhery joins Radar Therapeutics CEO and co-founder Sophia Lugo and BEVC general partner Widya Mulyasasmita in a discussion moderated by Shoaib Ghias, a partner in Goodwin Law’s Business Law practice.

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About the Speakers

Vikram Chaudhery, Genoa Ventures

Vikram is a Partner at Genoa Ventures with experience as a business executive, life sciences investor, management consultant, and entrepreneur.

Prior to joining Genoa, Vikram served as Head of Life Sciences at Lam Research where he led overall strategy, partnership/business development, and venture investment functions for life sciences, focusing on next generation ‘omics technologies. His investments included Nanostring, Omniome, Antheia, and MissionBio.

Prior to Lam, Vikram led the Life Sciences Tools practice at McKinsey & Co. and was an expert technical contributor to the Personalized Medicine practice. In his work, Vikram collaborated with pharmaceutical, diagnostics, medical device, and biotechnology companies to bolster operational efficiencies and drive new business development. He began his career as a co-founder of Krayons Marketing.

Vikram holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and biological systems engineering from the University of Illinois where he also earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering, biological systems engineering, and biosensor fabrication. He has co-authored 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Vikram joined Genoa to dive deep into solving challenges within the focus area he believes in while having broad exposure to the diverse applications of the biology and technology convergence. With Genoa, Vikram is able to use his operational acumen to maximize the breadth of his impact. Vikram especially appreciates the Genoa scientific approach to investing, where the team is able to investigate and cultivate a culture of entrepreneurs and operators that invest together.

Sophia Lugo, Radar Therapeutics

Sophia Lugo is CEO and co-founder of Radar Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering selectively activated mRNAs for programmable, precisely expressed therapeutics. In May, in one of the toughest environments for fundraising (and as a first time CEO), Sophia closed an oversubscribed $13.4 million seed financing round with investors NfX, Eli Lilly and Company, Biovision Ventures, KdT Ventures, PearVC, BEVC, Artis Ventures, and several more to enable the transformation of RADAR technology into safer, more effective, and more accessible life-changing therapeutics. Under her and her co-founder Eerik’s leadership, Radar received several industry awards: J&J Innovation Cell & Gene Therapy Quick Pitch Award, Abbvie Golden Ticket Award, Eli Lilly Genetic Medicines Grand Challenge, and the Amgen/Bakar Labs DIB prize. She has built out an impressive Scientific Advisory Board, including Dr. David Schaffer (UC Berkeley Hubbard Howe Distinguished Professor), Dr Eric Klein (GRAIL Distinguished Scientist), Dr. Svetlana Lucas (CBO of Scribe Therapeutics), Dr Romesh Subramanian (former CEO of Ascidian Therapeutics and Dyne Therapeutics), and cofounders Dr. Jim Collins (“Father of synthetic biology”, Foresight Feynman Prize, MIT Professor) and Dr. Xiaojing Gao (NIH New Innovator, Stanford Professor). She has also hired a rock-star full time team of 12 people. Since then, Radar has had explosive interest and attention, with features in Endpoints News, Longevity Times, Chemical and Engineering News, Genetic Engineering News, Firstword Pharma, and more.

Widya Mulyasasmita, BEVC

Widya Mulyasasmita has been drawn to interdisciplinary science and building things from a young age, which led her to study Bioengineering and Materials Science at UC Berkeley. She co-founded her first medical device company while pursuing her PhD in Bioengineering at Stanford, before joining McKinsey & Co. to tackle business problems in the healthcare, energy, and materials sectors. Following her curiosity, Widya developed a passion for startups and innovation, leading her to roles in early-stage deal making, NewCo creation, venture capital, and eventually to co-founding BEVC. Before BEVC, Widya led life science investing at B Capital group, and was part of the founding investment team at Red Tree VC. She was the founding Chief Business Officer at InterVenn, a pioneer in AI-powered glycoproteomics. Earlier, she held a business development role at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, focusing on pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Widya has served on the boards of multiple healthcare companies across research and commercial stages.

At her core, Widya remains a scientist and engineer. She finds fulfillment in building companies with technical founders and entrepreneurial academics, and approaches investing with a science-first and problem-solution mindset. Outside of startups, Widya believes in the superpowers of marine life, music, and education. She enjoys snorkeling and scuba diving, unwinding at the drums and piano, and finds time to learn and teach.

Moderator: Shoaib Ghias, Goodwin Law

Shoaib Ghias is a partner in Goodwin Law’s Business Law Department and a member of its Technology Companies & Life Sciences group. His representation of start-up and later stage companies spans the entire corporate life cycle, including formation matters, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, SEC reporting and compliance, and general corporate representation and counseling. His clients are in the life sciences, biotechnology, medical device, software and information technology services industries. Dr. Ghias joined Goodwin in 2013 and has worked with many of his company-side clients since their initial founding.