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Process

Submitting an Application

BioAdvance generally requires four months to evaluate an application and obtain outside business and technical reviews. Once companies are selected for funding we conduct additional due diligence prior to finalizing the budget, funding milestones and our investment documents. This phase varies in duration, depending upon the nature of the underlying issues and the stage of the company.

There are three parts to completing a BioAdvance application. They include:

The first page of the registration form will ask you to answer basic questions regarding your company/institution and the work for which you will use the BioAdvance funding. The second page of the registration provides a place for you to upload both your executive summary and your business plan/proposal.

We recognize that many early-stage companies/individuals have not yet written a formal business plan. If you do not have a business plan, BioAdvance offers an optional course by providing a list of questions for you to answer in a formal proposal which will also meet our application requirements. These questions can be found in the "Submitting a Proposal to BioAdvance" document.

If you are an investigator from an academic institution we ask you to work with your technology transfer office and have them upload a one page summary of the technology, and then we will step up a meeting to meet with you.  We may also contact one of our local subject matter experts to join us at that meeting.

Once you complete the online application, you will receive an email containing a User ID and a temporary password. These will give you access to our private online messaging system accessible via the BioAdvance homepage (upper right corner). The system allows the posting of questions from the BioAdance staff and our external reviewers and applicant responses, as well as the ability to upload supporting documentation. We encourage you to use the messaging system for all ongoing correspondence with BioAdvance.

Review Process

Overview

We generally require four months to evaluate an application and obtain outside business and technical reviews. We use our internal resources to evaluate applications, and typically also engage subject matter experts and an advisory panel. We have two goals. First, we want to identify the most promising projects for funding. Second, we want to provide applicants with high-quality feedback about the proposal.

Our internal resources include our senior management team and experienced consultants. Our subject matter experts are matched to each proposal. They validate the technology, and often provide new and useful ideas about markets, methodologies, and milestones.

Our advisory panel is an interdisciplinary group with substantial experience in venture capital, business development or management of life sciences companies.

We review applications each week, and issue queries if there are gaps in the submission or if we need clarification. Based on our initial review, we will screen out proposals that are ineligible or incomplete. If we decline your proposal, we will provide a notification and a rationale for our decision via the messaging system. If we are interested in further evaluating your proposal, we will provide instructions and may ask additional questions.

Once we have completed our initial internal review, we will identify at least one subject mattter expert to review the application. The reviewers assigned to the application will provide an assessment of its merit.

Questions the reviewers will address include:

If your application makes it successfully through that subject matter expert reviews we will further vet your plan commercially either by inviting you into present to an advisory panel made up of representatives from the venture capital community or if the venture route is not the next most likely step forward we will test the market by speaking to potential corporate partners.

Funding

To move from decision to final funding requires negotiation of a term sheet, a final budget and funding milestones, due diligence, and execution of a final funding agreement and convertible note. This phase varies in duration, depending upon the nature of the underlying issues and the stage of the company.

Terms Sheet

Once BioAdvance makes a decision to move forward, we will negotiate a term sheet with successful applicants, to ensure agreement on key points. This is necessary given the time and effort required to complete due diligence.

Due Diligence

Prior to disbursement of funds, BioAdvance will conduct a due diligence review of key documents, financial information, and intellectual property. We also require background checks of key managers and contractors.

Funding Agreement

If the due diligence is satisfactory, we execute a funding agreement with the applicant. This agreement contains the term structure (described above), and also specifies a funding schedule, budget, project milestones, and reporting obligations.

Term Sheet