RApport

Next Tuesday, March 18, Raven (RA Ventures)'s own Michael Sherman joins a terrific lineup of speakers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for Crossing the Chasm: Navigating Innovation and Access to Advanced Therapies. This fundraiser for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation is a "vibrant gathering of curious minds, passionate innovators, and industry leaders ready to explore the future of healthcare." If you're in Boston, consider joining in! Mike will be discussing the practical and logistical considerations in the development and distribution of cell therapies. Learn more and register at https://lu.ma/dsgya10e

We're excited to feature Raven's Milind Kamkolkar—a true innovator in digital health and tech! Milind is a Venture Partner at Raven, where he’s passionate about launching new AI health companies. His career spans big pharma, boutique consulting, and tech startups at the intersection of health, AI, and data. Along the way, he’s advised several AI healthcare and biotech startups. Some highlights: In 2022, he co-founded Paradigm (backed by Arch and General Catalyst), raising over $203M in Series A funding to expand access to clinical trials. Previously, as CDO at Cellarity and a pioneer at Flagship Pioneering, he drove AI initiatives that are reshaping drug discovery. Milind also made his mark as the pharmaceutical industry’s first Chief Data Officer at Sanofi and helped launch AI roles at Novartis. Check out the video to learn about his personal experience with the healthcare system and how he hopes to improve it!

Meet Tess Cameron, one of RA Capital Management's powerhouse Principals! At RA Capital, Tess plays a key role on the Investment Team, working on both public and private deals and serving on several company boards. Prior to joining us, Tess held leadership roles at Foghorn Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, and Biogen. Before making her mark in biotech and pharma, Tess sharpened her skills at McKinsey & Co, specializing in corporate transactions. Tess brings a unique blend of financial expertise, biopharma insight and global perspective to the work we do here at RA Capital. Learn what excites Tess about the future of healthcare (and why she has such a great singing voice) in this video:

Meet Tess Cameron, one of RA Capital Management's powerhouse Principals! At RA Capital, Tess plays a key role on the Investment Team, working on both public and private deals and serving on several company boards. Prior to joining us, Tess held leadership roles at Foghorn Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, and Biogen. Before making her mark in biotech and pharma, Tess sharpened her skills at McKinsey & Co, specializing in corporate transactions. Tess brings a unique blend of financial expertise, biopharma insight and global perspective to the work we do here at RA Capital. Learn what excites Tess about the future of healthcare (and why she has such a great singing voice) in this video:

Seems Gateway has found product-market fit. RA Capital built Gateway.racap.com as a free resource for executives and board members to build strong boards and learn governance best practices, and the user count has been skyrocketing. What people have told is that they love clearly taking stock of their board's strengths, scanning for candidates who might help them address their gaps, and drawing on all the materials and lessons for how to run more efficient meetings. Instructions on how to use the elephant slide are the #1 hit. The video on the role of a good chair is very popular. And the videos on how to prepare for a board meeting and run the agenda for maximal efficiency gets a lot of play. And it doesn't hurt that you get to meet and see some of the best leaders in our industry as they talk through their experiences and tips (Laura Shawver Daniel Welch Paul Hastings Adam Koppel Stuart Cable and many more). Thanks to Gateway, we're seeing best practices adopted across our portfolio and hearing from other companies that Gateway has helped them. Seems everyone wants to run more efficient and effect board meetings. Awesome. Serving on many boards myself, I much prefer a tight 90 minutes where everyone is engaged to a 4h slog where people are on their phones. So if you haven't yet discovered Gateway, give it a go. It's free and it's purpose is to help us all apply best practices to running our companies. Because the world demands that we be efficient. And given all the challenges that biology throws at us, the last thing we need are pebbles in our shoes, smudged glasses, and butter fingers getting in the way of smooth execution on a thoughtful plan. Anyone is welcome to access Gateway. For now it's primarily geared towards biotech. Eventually we'll expand the learning resources and board strength assessment domains to other sectors (Planetary Health is on deck). RA Capital Management

New on Rapport! RA Capital's Celi Khanyile-Lynch and Grow the Flow's Jake Dreyfous discuss how better brine management can tackle two key planetary health objectives, using Utah's Great Salt Lake as a case study. By optimizing mineral extraction from both brine waste and natural brines through technological innovation and improved management, we can address critical mineral demand while also mitigating the environmental damage from conventional brine disposal. Bonus: these processes will also help alleviate freshwater shortages that now threaten nearly four billion people globally due to overuse, pollution, and climate change. Read on ... #planetaryhealth #brinemanagement https://lnkd.in/eQECM8N8

Autoimmune diseases afflict 45 million Americans—and it requires a collective community effort to change that. No Patient Left Behind's new Community Quest video shows how investors, innovators, regulators, patients, insurers—and you—make new treatments possible, accessible, and affordable.

Autoimmune diseases afflict 45 million Americans—and it requires a collective community effort to change that. No Patient Left Behind's new Community Quest video shows how investors, innovators, regulators, patients, insurers—and you—make new treatments possible, accessible, and affordable.

A great #biotech company has great people, but how MANY people? @Rapport's new feature tracks a Gateway conversation amongst #biotech executives who have worked hard to get the size of their staff *just right*. Gateway, by RA Capital, is where biotech leaders can find board-building tools, actionable governance insights and peers to help build their companies. Gateway is free, and you can sign up today: gateway.racap.com https://lnkd.in/eaMgTWjz

Bankability isn't just a buzzword—it's the rocket fuel that can ignite a promising startup’s transformation into a market leader. You've likely seen it firsthand: companies hit a critical inflection point. They've proven their tech works. They've demonstrated product-market fit. Customers are lining up. Now they just need capital to scale—but not all capital is created equal. This is when clever founders pivot from dilutive venture funding to targeted non-dilutive financing. But we need financial institutions on the other end ready and willing to see and seize these opportunities. I'm thrilled to see BBVA Spark stepping up to do just this, providing the capital companies need without further diluting founding teams or early investors. Tune in to this episode of Business Trip with Sebastian Ruales and Camilo Betancur Morales to hear how our portfolio company, Bia, developed a partnership with BBVA. Who else has success stories on early-stage bankability? Please share below - the more we share, the faster we grow. #PlanetaryHealth #VentureCapital #Bankability #StartupFinancing RA Capital Management https://lnkd.in/d5Zneqbz