Boston to Durham – 4th NOME US trip
In June 2018, four NOME companies, Cellevate, Draupnir.Bio, Monsenso and STipe Therapeutics, joined NOME on its annual US trip. This 4th NOME US trip first took the companies to Boston for the partnering conference BIO and then to the Research Triangle in North Carolina for individual coaching.
Every year, NOME takes a selected group of NOME start-ups on a US trip, where the companies receive US specific advice on topics such as regulatory, legal, IP, market access, etc., from US mentors with strong ties in the local ecosystem. On the 4th edition of the NOME US trip, Danish companies Draupnir.Bio, Monsenso and STipe Therapeutics and Swedish company Cellevate received the opportunity to get exclusive insights into the US market.
Preparations for the tour started well in advance, with the four start-ups having several conference calls with the NOME US program manager and US mentors to tailor their visit to the Research Triangle precisely to their needs and their considerations about the US markets. These calls made it possible to invite relevant specialists within regulatory, IP and law and set up site visits with relevant KOL’s and potential partners.
The trip kicked off with BIO in Boston, where the start-ups were able to use the conference’s partnering tool and the networking events planned around the conference to meet with investors, big pharma representatives and other organizations. All start-ups agreed that they were able to establish promising connections at BIO and were looking forward to following up on these leads after returning to Scandinavia.
The intense 4-day camp in Durham, North Carolina, started with the company pitches and the first intro mentoring sessions. After the pitches, the US mentors voiced their astonishment how impressed they were by the high level of technology and science and of the professionalism, the start-ups displayed. Several of the US mentors had been to previous NOME US camps and applauded NOME on picking excellent start-ups and from raising the bar from each trip to the next.
Chris Morrison, Owner at ViaVersus and mentor on the NOME US camp June 2018 said,
“I have now been mentoring NOME start-ups on multiple occasions and am coming back due to the increasing quality of the companies. These are great, early stage companies with interesting technology on which you can have a great impact as a mentor. My focus is early market entry and I love working with the NOME entrepreneurs. This most recent NOME US cohort visit was characterized by the very high quality of companies and the great hunger of the entrepreneurs to learn and grow their businesses. It was a lot of fun!”
On top of the one-on-one mentoring and off-site business meetings, the trip also featured several leisure activities such as a food walking tour of downtown Durham, a brewery tour and a nighttime trip through UNC Chapel Hill. A panel discussion on the challenges on the early start-up stage, growing the business and getting investment, gave the camp participants valuable insights and the opportunity to network with the local ecosystem attending the panel discussion.
The start-ups came back from their trip with many impressions, good advice, potential collaboration partners, and even with new customers. All in all, the trip was a great success for NOME!
Read more here:
