Events - EIC Investor Day w/Euronext: creating ecosystems that matter

On 20-21 October 2020 the European Innovation Council teamed up with Euronext Dublin to bring a two-day EIC Investor Day, packed with panel discussions, seminars, pitching sessions and one-to-one meetings with a vast array of investors. The two dedicated pitching sessions, respectively on ICT and Health, received 16 EIC-beneficiaries with innovations in these fields. The rounds resulted in not two, but three winners: Danish Miiskin was the best pitch on ICT and Swiss-based Lympathica and Italian Eucardia won the award on health.

The event was opened by a key note speech from Mr. Mark Ferguson, Chair of the EIC Advisory Board , Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland, in where he underlined the importance of continued learning: “It’s always important to learn, be it from fellow EIC-peers or attending investors. The EIC is in the business of crowding in, helping people to grow their business. In that light, these EIC Investor Days are key; by bringing together EIC innovators with investors, we’re creating ecosystems that matter”. 

Getting IPO-ready

During the two-day event, organised together with Euronext, the leading pan-European exchange, EIC-innovators had the chance to attend several panel discussions and seminars on topics like ‘Getting your business investment ready’, ‘My IPO fundraising experience’ and ‘Using the stock market to accelerate your business’ growth’. Orla O’Gorman, Head of Equity Listing Ireland at Euronext commented on the sessions: “Finance is the fuel for scaling your business, and events like today give companies great insights into how to raise finance successfully. Euronext also has supports such as IPOready and TechShare to help companies demystify the funding process.”

John Tracey, former CEO of Trinity Venture Capital was one of the guest speakers. According to him “every company is different, but the issues and questions are usually similar: Is our market big enough? Is this product a good market fit? Who is my competition? You can understand the issues arising, anticipate some of the problems and recognize when action needs to be taken.” As to why he found it important to join this event, John commented: “People helped me in my career, so I want to help people with their plans in return. It’s a great programme, for many entrepreneurs, especially first timers, the whole process of building a business is daunting. Events like today are really important, where people can network and talk to their peers about their experiences. These EIC Investor Days make it easier for people to succeed.” Orla agreed and added that “it was really interesting hearing the companies, feeling their excitement and commitment. All in all, the quality was very high”.

Seizing opportunities

Of course, an EIC Investor Day is not complete without pitching sessions. 16 innovators pitched their innovations, either ICT or health-related, to the attending investors. Danish Miiskin, for ICT, and Swiss-based Lympathica and Italian Eucardia on health were selected by the juries, as well as their peers, as best pitches.

Jon Friis, CEO of Miiskin, pitched their digital health platform. Their platform deploys sophisticated AI technologies in order to assist people with identifying changes in their skin and moles by using images taken by the user at home. For Jon, events like the EIC Investor Day with Euronext are all about “taking all the opportunities”: you can go out there and talk about what you are doing, what your company stands for. In order to market your product, you need money, you need investors, who believe in you. So many elements need to be aligned. Exposure is really everything and the EIC Investor Days ensure that.

Marco Pisano, CEO of Lymphatica Medtech, a Swiss MedTech company, pitched their novel implantable system that treats lymphedema, a common side effect of cancer therapies. Their product, LymphoDRAIN, is the first active implantable lymphatic bypass that can provide an effective solution. The EIC funding played an important role in the development of their product: “The EIC funding was crucial for us, it represented a big change. We got Phase II last year, that gave a huge acceleration, allowing us to produce our first series of the device that we used for the clinical trials.” In addition, events like the EIC Investor Days are important for the further development of the business, or as Marco put it, the place where companies “get the most traction”: They are not the biggest events, but probably the most dedicated ones. There’s a group of investors selected, tailored-fitted according to the needs of the companies. That makes it so much easier to create a match with them. In addition, I learned a lot during the seminars in the morning, they were very interesting.”

Looking for ways to connect to top-class investors and peers? 

We host regular EIC Investor Days, as well as ePitching with Investor-sessions, all based on your company profiles in ScaleUp EU. From 10-11 November 2020 we will be hosting an Investor Day dedicated to the EU Green Deal, for which you can register here. In addition the applications for the EIC Investor Day: Women in Tech 2.0 are still opened until 5 November. Keep an eye on our events page for more information on future events. 

If you are interested in joining, don’t miss out and update your profile information straight away. If you need help, please contact us through our contact page (choose ScaleUp EU: claim access).