GETTING STUCK IN AT DEEPBRIDGE GB Investments talks tech, Brexit, entrepreneurialism, and rolling your sleeves up with Deepbridge Capital GB Investments caught up with Deepbridge Capital to talk about the future of life sciences, how Brexit will change the EIS landscape, and the exciting opportunities ahead. DEEPBRIDGE INVESTS IN COMPANIES IN TWO SPECIFIC AREAS – TECHNOLOGY AND LIFE SCIENCES - WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT THEM? ‘Technology is a very broad term and I think people can get confused about different kinds of tech’, says Deepbridge Managing Partner Ian Warwick. ‘The key thing is that you focus in on sectors where you feel you can contribute. If I don’t feel that the expertise at Deepbridge has something to contribute, then we won’t invest.’ He adds: ‘Ultimately, it’s about getting a reasonable return on investments and that the company meets your specified investment criteria. I know everyone gets excited about the huge listings that we see for multiple-billion dollars, but they are few and far between – although it’s great if you get one. It’s about focusing in on disruptive technologies that you can develop and exit.’ Dr Savvas Neophytou, Partner and Head of Life Sciences, said each sub-sector has its own attributes. ‘Life sciences is also broad, and you have to put it into sub-sectors in order to describe the attributes of each one, in terms of investment opportunities,’ he says. ‘In general terms, about 10% of GDP is spent on healthcare – it’s much more in the US, up towards 20%. Certainly, if you have disruptive technologies
coming and taking part in that, it’s very easy to see how you could potentially make some good returns.’ WHERE DOES DEEPBRIDGE FIND ITS INVESTOR COMPANIES? Constant scouting and having investments lined up is key to a successful business, according to Neophytou. ‘What makes a good investment house is having that proprietary pipeline. Now we have built a pipeline and a lot of investment opportunities come and find us. We get about a thousand opportunities within any given year. So, for example, we’ll get warm recommendations from people we’ve already worked with and been successful with,’ he says. ‘We’ve broadened our reach – we have a network ‘scouting’ for opportunities not just here but in the US, in Australia, Poland, Germany, for example.’ For Warwick, the type of relationship that Deepbridge has with the company shouldn’t matter. ‘When we talk about deal-flow, we should remain agnostic in terms of relationships, in that we don’t want to be tied, or take a deal, from a particular institution because they feel we should, and we feel obliged to,’ he says. WHAT ARE THE KEY CRITERIA YOU LOOK FOR IN INVESTEE COMPANIES? It isn’t just the technology of life science opportunity that is attractive, the structure and support around it also has to attract Deepbridge. ‘One of the first things we look at is the management
GB Investment Magazine · September 2019
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