Cancer Fund

The myeloma patient community has no time for business as usual. Multiple myeloma is a highly heterogenous bone marrow cancer that requires a multitude of drugs to effectively treat every patient. About 30,000 Americans are diagnosed each year, and over 10,000 will die of the disease annually. However, over the last two decades, we’ve made advances in science and technology that were unimaginable a few short years ago, finally putting the cure within reach. As leaders in the industry, the time to use our means, savvy, and foresight to drive the innovation needed us to win the fight against cancer once and for all is now.

BrightEdge propels groundbreaking patient-centric solutions by investing in and supporting the most innovative startup companies to advance science, reduce disparities, and promote healthcare sustainability. BrightEdge is the innovation, impact investment, and venture capital arm of the American Cancer Society (ACS). Through our donor-funded ACS Impact Venture Fund (AIVF), we further ACS’s mission by investing in for-profit, early-stage companies developing cutting-edge, cancer-focused therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, and technologies to fuel and accelerate our vision of ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. About BrightEdge and The American Cancer Society BrightEdge is helping create a stream of alternate income to sustain the critical work being done across our pillars. Donations to BrightEdge become a sustainable source of financial support to the American Cancer Society, diversifying and modernizing the ACS’s income sources. Investment returns from the AIVF portfolio are both reinvested in AIVF to further support new and existing companies in the portfolio and additional proceeds are used to sustain ACS’s lifesaving programs in research, access, and health equity. BrightEdge investment decisions and innovation programming are guided by the mission priorities of ACS and seek to achieve mission-driven social impact through its proprietary Cancer Impact Investment FrameworkTM (CIIFTM). BrightEdge builds on the American Cancer Society’s commitment to funding and conducting cancer research and plays a key role in accelerating today’s most promising oncology-focused technologies. Our ability to translate scientific discoveries into accessible cures and solutions depends on investments in entrepreneurial for-profit companies that can validate, develop, and commercialize products and services at scale in the healthcare marketplace for people facing cancer. BrightEdge plays a unique role alongside traditional venture capital firms by addressing early-stage funding gaps, incubating high-impact companies, bringing system-level knowledge to companies at critical points in product development, and helping emerging companies access world-class intellectual and human capital as they grow. Learn how BrightEdge will help improve 1.5 million lives by investing in cancer-focused therapies and technologies in its most recent annual report and infographic.

You’ve ignited your Health Tech idea, now, fuel it further. While financing is key, expert advice and deepened market knowledge provide a priceless competitive advantage. As Debiopharm’s strategic corporate fund, we not only invest but also provide strategic guidance to startups transforming Pharma R&D and cancer care. Access our launchpad towards success and go beyond funding - tap into our pharma expertise and network. Join our roster of scalable, investment-ready companies shaping the future for patients globally. Your next step is just a click away! WE INVEST IN START-UPS POWERING PHARMA R&D TRANSFORMATION AND CANCER CARE INNOVATION We are a strategic fund dedicated to advancing drug development. Aligned with Debiopharm’s mission, we invest in technologies that predict, enhance, and speed up the drug development process as well as those that improve the patient experience. Our focus is in oncology, so sometimes we simply call it “Cancer Tech”. We invest in 3 main areas:Next Gen Pharma R&D where big data, predictive models and computational approaches augmented by AI converge to improve success rates at each stage of the drug development cycle. Clinical Trial Tech where new technology solutions facilitate patient-centric clinical trials, and new business models challenge traditional approaches. Digital Medicine where the patient journey is empowered by digital technologies, and individualised care is enabled by novel clinical insights uncovered from real-world data. Our vision: the convergence of research and patient care We believe that precision medicine starts with precision R&D, moving away from generic approaches to more personalised, biomarker-guided development. We envision patient-centric clinical trials, with more patients able to access novel treatments earlier. We imagine the emergence of AI-powered care, enabling earlier diagnosis, more precise prognosis, and truly individualised treatment pathways. INVESTMENT CRITERIAEarly Seed – our springboard for start-ups in their 1st round of financingInvestment round Pre-Seed / Seed - Our initial investment is < $ 1M Equity round or convertible notes / SAFE Learning opportunity for the fund & start-up ahead of potential Series A Series A – our flagship vehicle to help scale successful start-upsInvestment round Series A - our initial investment can be in the range of $3M – 5M Commercial Stage and revenue generating. Large pilots and early clients to validate commercial interest WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN A COMPANY We like to see a convergence of robust understanding of science, a disruptive technology or business model, and an ability to surface meaningful data-driven insights. Management team with entrepreneurial and industry experience Innovative technology Product answering a need with a clear USP. Market with tangible entry barriers Well defined operational plan and commercial strategy with a realistic budget WHAT WE BRING AS INVESTORS We grant our start-ups access to Debiopharm’s wealth of expertise by facilitating connections between start-ups and our internal experts. This enables startups to test their hypotheses and build more fit-for-purpose solutions, often leading to new collaborations. Having led or co-led most of our Series A investment rounds, we are able to provide access to an extended network of investors and strategic partners.

Omega Funds is a leading international investment firm that creates and invests in life sciences companies that target the world’s most urgent medical needs. Ω is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Our investment process starts by focusing on the end goal – delivering impactful medicines to patients. We aim to invest in exceptional founders and entrepreneurs and impactful products and platforms across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, rare diseases, precision medicine and others. Early seed or late stage public financing. Large markets or rare diseases. Established targets or novel technologies. We are guided by our conviction in people, products and breakthrough ideas, not by conventional categories. Our investments span a variety of instruments from early venture rounds, to late-stage investing, direct secondary transactions, as well as company founding and creation. Omega Funds has raised more than $1 billion since its inception in 2004 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

At Pappas Capital, we are dedicated to furthering life science discoveries and bringing groundbreaking solutions to market. Pappas Capital is laser focused on the life science sector. For more than 28 years we have been investing in and building innovative companies that are developing the next generation of life science products and technologies. We’ve invested in more than 85 companies across the United States and Canada – in fields that span the range of human disease. The products our companies have brought to market – for treating such conditions as melanoma, ovarian cancer, and hemophilia, to name a few – have been used throughout the world to treat tens of thousands of patients and account for billions of dollars of revenue. Whether you’re looking for capital or have capital to invest, contact us and learn how we can put our expertise to work for you.

Address the critical bottlenecks in both established and emerging markets that limit access and affordability to novel cancer solutions. Inculcate the tenets of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) based investing and measure the progress and impact of our portfolio using the following metrics: E: The ability to optimize differential drug and device pricing based on geography and expand access to promising products early in their lifecycle S: Ability to boost R&D productivity through operational optimization and process transformation G: Promote ethical conduct of business and collaboration while ensuring inclusion & diversity What We DoInvest in US and EU based cancer start-ups who are keen to explore emerging markets or engage in collaborative R&D. Streamline the product-market fit and ensure access to supportive infrastructure and resources. Facilitate their collaborative R&D/commercialization strategy in geographies of interest. How We Do It Accelerate the path to successful commercialization for US and EU based start-ups developing the next generation of oncology solutions by: Reducing costs through infrastructure consolidation and collaborative expertise Expanded access to capital Facilitating rapid market penetration and commercial scaling​