DECEMBER 2023LIFE SCIENCES REVIEW8IN MY OPINIONSUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURS FROM EARLY STAGE TO GROWTH LEVELIN MY OPINIONBy Pierre Socha, Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners.ierre Socha is a leading partner in the Early Stage Fund of Amadeus Capital Partners. He joined the company in 2012 and primarily focuses on the Health and Bio sectors. He has momentously invested in numerous companies like Constructive Bio, Quibim, Natrox, and more. Pierre is a post-graduate in Mathematics and Econometrics from Aix-Marseille University, France. Before joining the hands-on entrepreneurship in Amadeus, he was an analyst at Natixis. Eventually, he joined the founding team of Avesthagen in India and successfully assisted in growing the business over a decade. This was a turning point for him to understand the journey of building companies and the necessity of investment to retain sustainable growth. What are your current roles and responsibilities in the organization, and what are the key milestones that have shaped your journey within the health and bio sector space?I currently hold the position of leading partner in Amadeus Capital Partners. But I have altogether a different side of the story to reach here. I was very keen to be a successful investor, so in 2001, I joined forces with one of the Indian biotech companies, Avesthagen. I have enormously helped the team grow, and by the time I resigned, the company was built as one of the leading research entities in India. During that time, my team and I were focused on various sectors like agritech and food tech, including medical and functional food types. We aligned with multiple food companies, from startups to giant corporations. A few years later, we shifted from that space and ventured into population genetics when we encountered a specific disease ailed by a population in India known as Parsis, which originated from Iraq. Although they immigrated to India about 1300-1400 years ago, they need to be more flexible about building relationships outside their community. So, the diseases are particular, which makes it an efficient reference population to look at novel biomarkers. At the same time, the community is known for a longer lifespan, which propelled us to start with population programs. Eventually, we tied up with pharmaceutical companies worldwide, driving me to continue my entrepreneurial journey. In the next phase of my career, I extended the scope of my knowledge from life sciences to the technology space. I comprehended the importance of technology in the present time, especially connecting with the field of life sciences. Gradually, I and my team started investing across the technology space to elevate the operation of the life sciences industry. In the coming years, we plan to invest in quantum materials and photonics, AI in general, for accelerating growth and sustainability in the life sciences and tech industries. What are some of the potential challenges in the process of investing in diverse sectors of the biotech and healthcare industry?The healthcare industry has a prolonged cycle of the bottom line, which is the first and foremost challenge that we, as investors, endure. The investment process in the life sciences space needs to go from a prototype to ideation in the market while making a brand or a company since the industry adheres to strict compliance. At the same time, reimbursement is necessary to secure IP; biotech companies must strive for these critical areas before accessing the market from a commercial standpoint. We, being early PPierre Socha
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