AoA Panel: Trends and Capital Raising for Life Science Startups

Join investors Maren Nelson (Alliance of Angels), Joe Horsman (Madrona) and Eric Larsen (Alliance of Angels) for a panel discussion on:

• Trends in digital health/computational biology

• Regulatory pathways - devices, drugs

• Economics for reimbursements and beneficiary vs. payer

• Fundraising best practices in current market conditions

Maren Nelson, PMP is a medical device company consultant with over 25 years of experience in medical product realization and Quality Management system implementation, leadership, and processes. Maren has led engineering and manufacturing development teams and held both development and quality executive roles before starting a consulting business 8 years ago. Her current focus is effective business implementation consistent with QMS regulations. She has been an angel investor for 9 years, and previously served as the co-chair of the screening committee for WINGS, a Seattle medical-device focused angel group. Maren is currently co-chair of the Life Sciences Screening Committee at the Alliance of Angels.

Joe Horsman joined Madrona in 2022. He focuses on sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities across Madrona’s investment themes with a focus on the intersection of life and computer sciences. He also supports the growth and strategy of current portfolio companies. Joe is a scientist at heart and is particularly interested in working with founders combining AI/ML and high-plex multi-omics to uncover unique biology.

Eric Larsen is an experienced entrepreneur with over 25 years of business, investment, and technology project management experience. Eric has been an executive, investor and board member in early stage companies. He served as Entrepreneur in Residence for Life Sciences with the University of Washington’s CoMotion office advising prospective spinout teams on technology and fundraising strategy. Previously as a partner at Quellos Eric developed processes and technology to scale Quellos’s business from 17 employees with $324 million in assets, to 350 employees with $25 billion in assets prior to the sale to BlackRock. As a Managing Director at BlackRock Eric ran global technology development and implementation projects.