The 2008 crisis had a great impact on Daniel Oliver. A biologist by training with a broad and varied professional career, as a result of the crisis he began to analyze alternative forms of financing that avoided capital concentration, and thus came into contact with equity crowdfunding, or participatory financing.
This is how, in 2015, Oliver launched Capital Cell, now transformed into the leading alternative investment platform for biotechnology and life sciences companies not only in Catalonia, but internationally. In this decade, the platform has completed more than 130 investment rounds, mobilizing over 120 million euros.
— Has Capital Cell achieved the goal with which it was born ten years ago?
— Capital Cell was set up with the aim of connecting science and biotechnology startups with private investors and boosting this field. Catalonia is very strong in this area, but the startups everyone knows are Glovo, Wallapop and other digital projects, because it is very difficult for biotech startups to raise capital. Investment must help the machine that is Catalonia at a scientific level.
— And has Capital Cell allowed progress in this regard?
— Since 2015, we have transacted 126 million euros, with between 60% and 70% invested in Catalan projects. We have invested in more than 135 companies, and Capital Cell has become a tool for startups in the biotechnology sector.
— How is the platform structured?
— Taking into account employees and freelancers, we are a dozen people. We have tried not to grow much in human structure to survive and be scalable. For example, instead of having an army of analysts, we have a participatory network of 4,000 scientists from all over the world who analyze the projects in which investment is planned. We have tried to be astute and maximize resources, because our goal is to help as many companies as possible to finance themselves through a financially stable and viable company.
— How do startups reach Capital Cell?
— Within the platform, practically all of us are scientists. As we come from this world, we are immersed in the ecosystem, we all know each other in some way. Naturally, we interact with the various actors, be they research centers, tech transfer offices, universities, pharmaceutical companies, incubators, spin-offs… Although it is one of the most important in Europe, Barcelona's biotechnology ecosystem is relatively small; it's a bit like a village. Being immersed in the ecosystem allows us to receive many projects in their initial phases, in which they need investments of up to about two million euros.
— Once a startup knocks on the platform's door, what happens?
— We always have three challenges: analyzing the project, helping the company reach investors, and ensuring that the company's communication is clear. After passing a first filter to ensure that the company meets certain requirements, the network of analysts studies the project in a process that lasts two to three weeks. Here, some companies are discarded; those that are not, go to an investment committee to deepen the analysis.
— And what does it mean to ensure that the company's communication is clear?
— One of the main difficulties for scientific startups to raise capital is that scientists do not necessarily have to be great communicators, nor have the necessary structure to have marketing professionals. If we believe that the startup we are analyzing can communicate, we move on to the next phase, which analyzes the project even more deeply, and we help the company communicate.
— In what sense?
— In the last phase, we ensure that the startup has a good communication strategy. If it meets this and the rest of the requirements, we present its case to our 20,000 investors.
— What elements does the platform take into account to bet or not on a startup?
— We always bet on somewhat risky projects, and we take into account multiple factors. Obviously, one is the team, although in the case of scientific entrepreneurship it is not the most important, since the primary thing is scientific development and, also, the financial strategy. Almost by definition, a scientific company has no sales, and develops with investment to end up having a product that one day can be worth a fortune. Thus, one of the most important elements is that it has this good financial planning to be able to carry out this development.
— How are startup proposals usually received by the investor network?
— We usually carry out between 20 and 25 rounds a year, and one or two usually fail; the vast majority are successful. In addition, not all rounds are public, some are done privately, which also helps to gauge the potential of the startup in another type of round. But helping to raise capital is a bit like helping to flirt: some let themselves be helped; some say they already know how, and with some, there's no way. With some, we try this way to see if they are capable of raising investment.
— About twenty rounds are carried out, but how many projects are analyzed?
— We analyze between 300 and 400 a year. We have now increased the number, as we have opened up to the European sphere. Probably in a couple of years, we will be at between 500 and 600 annually.
— The platform launched in Europe in 2022. How has it evolved since then?
— In the last 12 months, we have already done more business outside of Spain than in Spain. In fact, France has become our main market. The three rounds we have open now are French, and the next two, too.
— Is the next step to go beyond Europe?
— With a bit of luck, in two or three years we will be well established at a European level, and then we will consider what we do with Singapore, Japan, and the United States. But Capital Cell does not aim to be a large multinational that makes a lot of money, but rather it was born to try to solve the problem of investment in the scientific field in Catalonia.
— And this problem that existed at a Catalan level is replicated in Europe.
— The same problem that deserves to be fixed in Catalonia deserves to be fixed throughout Europe. We believe that Europe needs a hand to bring its science to the streets and, as the world is, it is worth concentrating on helping Europe.
— Is internationalization also noticeable in the origin of Capital Cell investors?
— Last year, for the first time, the cross-border investment rate was close to 30%, when before it was 5%. For now, those with the most weight are Spaniards investing in projects from other countries, but the reverse is already beginning to be seen, and also between other countries.
— How will they continue to promote this cross-border investment?
— For now, the plan is to continue expanding in Europe. It's not easy at all: you move 100 kilometers and the legislation, taxes, banks, language change… Europe forces us, more than to be global, to be local in each place.
— How will the ecosystem be in about five years?
— I think by then I will no longer be at the head of Capital Cell. At some point, I would like to change projects. I've been doing this for ten years now, and it's a company that fortunately has outgrown me, it doesn't particularly need me, which is very good news. This is also the difference between a company and a startup, that the project begins to detach from the personal involvement of the founder. And Capital Cell has reached that point.