The consultancy firm GENESIS Biomed, a benchmark in consultancy services for RDI projects in the biomedical sector -based at the Barcelona Science Park-and with offices in Madrid and Valencia- will close 2024 with an accumulated turnover of 9 million euros since the start of its activity, in 2017, and a total of 385 projects developed for 220 clients.

Over the last seven years, the company, founded by Josep Lluís Falcó and Natalia de la Figuera, has played an outstanding role in promoting public-private collaboration as a key driver of innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare. It has promoted the creation of more than 50 spin-offs and start-ups from academia, science and healthcare, and contributed to closing a total of 21 funding rounds, mobilising over 80 million euros.

“GENESIS Biomed’s differential value can be found in the two fundamental pillars on which our corporate strategy is based: to help entrepreneurs generate maximum value from their RDI projects in biomedicine while promoting the healthy investment expected by investors and demanded by society. At the same time, we are working for other stakeholders in the health ecosystem, such as large companies, investors, public institutions, hospitals and research centres, working on in business plans, strategic plans, market studies, regulatory roadmaps, investment analysis, project assessment and support in incubation and acceleration processes, among others,” said Josep Lluís Falcó, the consultancy firm’s CEO.

Leader in attracting European funding

GENESIS Biomed has become a benchmark for its participation in numerous European consortia, both as a leader in work areas involving business activities such as business plans and commercialisation, technology transfer, market access and fundraising, to name a few, and for its very proactive role in obtaining funding. Not only has it received funding from the Horizon Europe programme but also and most especially from the EIT Health consortium, within the Flagship programme, aimed at promoting the market arrival of solutions from start-ups with a high technology readiness level (TRL).

With 24 successful projects behind it, “the results achieved by GENESIS Biomed make it a benchmark in terms of funding obtained from EIT Health programmes, standing at number four in the ranking, behind three public institutions, the Catalan Health Institute (ICS), the Madrid Health Service (SERMAS) and Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, and in first place among private companies,” said Natalia de la Figuera, the consultancy firm’s CCO.

Spin-off engine and factory

As a complement to its consulting activity, GENESIS Biomed also invests in high-impact embryonic projects in order to valorise them and attract a first round of seed funding (Series A).

In order to support these projects in an effective transfer to market, this year the company has increased the endowment of its second investment vehicle, GENESIS Tech Transfer Boost, to 1.2 million euros, through the incorporation of a new investment partner, the company Pinono.

So far, this vehicle – set up in 2022 by GENESIS Biomed, FI Group and crowd4ventures and targeting early-stage projects in the field of healthcare research – has invested in four high-potential start-ups: RetinaReadRisk and Spinally Medical in 2023, and Affirma Biotech and Ownmed Innovation, in 2024.

“The main objective of the vehicle is to provide initial financial support for companies where venture capital still considers the project not mature enough for investment. Through our activity, we help to accelerate the valorisation processes of the projects we invest in, making them more attractive for future investors,” Falcó said.

This model has already been validated by the GENESIS Ventures vehicle, created in 2017 and currently in the divestment phase, through which the consultancy invested €2.5 million in 13 biomedical projects.

In addition, GENESIS Biomed reinforces its commitment to healthcare entrepreneurship by also acting as a venture builder platform, i.e. by setting up the spin-off from its initial stage. “This generally involves taking over the interim management and direction of the company until a new CEO and founding team can be found with whom we can work closely to develop a business plan, coordinate regulatory product development, identify market opportunities, and provide financial, technological and support resources to raise the seed capital needed to start the life cycle,” said the company’s CEO.

A key player in the revitalisation of the health innovation ecosystem

Another of GENESIS Biomed’s strategic pillars is to bring RDI agents in the life sciences and health sectors together so they can interact among themselves and with international actors, in order to generate synergies and opportunities for growth. In 2024 it has proactively participated in more than 20 innovation support and networking events, investment forums, programmes and training sessions to foster a deeper understanding of the ecosystem’s assets and challenges, as well as local and global sector trends and strategies in the healthcare sector.

It was a member of the evaluation panel for the Pitch Day of the 7th Insud Pharma ChemoStart and for CEIN Startup Day and was a speaker at the EIT Health Matchmaking event and the 2nd Conference of the ISCIII Platforms to Support RDI in Biomedicine and Health Sciences.

It has also help build the entrepreneurial skills of professionals in the healthcare sector, leading training programmes at institutions such as the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM Emprende Programme) and the Centro de Empresas de Innovación de Navarra (CEIN Health Scaleup Programme). It has also offered training sessions at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, within the GrowInn incubation programme, in which it is also sponsor and expert evaluator; within the 2024 plan for the continuous training of healthcare professionals of the Community of Madrid Department of Health; and for students on the master’s degree course in Health Innovation Administration and Management (MINDS) at Nebrija University.

GENESIS Biomed has also had a proactive role in investment forums such as the AseBio Investor Day, the 34th Healthcare Investment Forum Barcelona, the II ITEMAS Investment Forum, CNIO Investors Day, and the Vall d’Hebron Ventures Summit.

It was also a collaborator and sponsor of the AseBio Report 2023 and the Innomed Programme (IGPT), the 3rd Conference on Healthcare Entrepreneurship at the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute (IiSGM) and annual meetings of reference in the biomedicine and health sector such as Nit de Catalonia.Health.