Guest
Tamer Mohamed
Founder and CEO at Aspect Biosystems
Justin Young: Hello everybody. I’m Justin Young. I’m a partner in Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies Group, and I’m a contributor to the Deal Points Report. Today I’m really pleased to welcome Tamer Mohamed to the conversation. Tamer is a bioengineer, inventor and entrepreneur. Tamer co-founded and serves as CEO of Aspect Biosystems. Under his leadership Aspect is grown to over a hundred people, secured more than 260 million in funding and established partnerships with industry leaders like Novo Nordisk, a recognized visionary in regenerative medicine. He’s spoken at global events including TEDx Bloomberg New Economy Forum and the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. He has been named a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst, one of the top 50 healthcare technology CEOs and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year. Tamer also serves on the boards of BIOTECanada and Stem Cell Network helping shape the future of biotech in Canada. Tamer, welcome to the conversation.
Tamer Mohamed: Oh, pleased to be here. Thanks Justin.
Can you talk a little bit your financing, the process you went through, and your partnership with Novo Nordisk?
Justin Young: So, Tamer, we’ve worked together for a long time, and you’ve built an incredible company. Can you talk a little bit about what the last couple years has held for you in terms of your financing, the process you went through, and maybe your partnership with Novo Nordisk?
Tamer Mohamed: Thanks, Justin. And we’ve known each other for over a decade now, and this was still a story at University of British Columbia. At the time we were a lot geekier in lab coats, and I’ve handed that over for of course, a startup year and a lot of suits as we’ve embarked on this journey the last two years have been an extraordinary period of time for Aspect. Our technology is capable of doing a lot of things and creating a variety of different implantable tissues that we are implanting into the body to replace function that has been lost due to disease. One of those areas that we’re focusing on is diabetes. This is a pancreatic tissue implant that we put inside of the body to avoid the need for constant insulin injections. Our pancreatic tissues would do the magic inside of the body and sense glucose levels and release insulin.
And of course that’s a big challenge. And we sought to partner with one of the world leaders in this space, Novo Nordisk. They are really committed to defeating these diseases that we’re focusing on. And so, we joined forces with Novo Nordisk in a partnership that we announced a couple of years ago, and it was a precedent-setting deal. It was one of the largest preclinical stage licensing deals in Canadian history. We were really thrilled to work on that partnership. And of course, the many conversations that you and I had behind the scenes and in action to get that of course established was a critical point for the company. That led to, of course, a lot of momentum and we’re thrilled about the partnership that we have with a global leader in Novo Nordisk. We also established a partnership last year with the Government of Canada and the province of British Columbia.
So this is a $200 million partnership focused on ensuring that we don’t just create this innovation here from Canada, but we manufacture these products from Canada and have a big impact globally from right here in Canada. And so we’re committed not just to being a globally relevant company, but making sure that we do that from Canada. So that was a critical step for us. And most recently we announced our Series B financing in January of this year, and so that was $115 million of financing that will be put towards growth of the company. And really what we’re focusing on now is driving towards the clinic, transforming our company into a clinical stage company, which is incredibly exciting for us. So it’s been a crazy last couple of years, but the best is yet to come as we embark on the mission to get this to a point where it’s making a difference on patients’ lives.
What advice would you give to founders today?
Justin Young: Yeah, a really incredible story. Those three transactions were transformative and it’s incredible that you were able to do all three in succession, particularly given the current macroclimate, not just for biotech, but generally speaking in venture for startups, for tech companies. So given your success, can you think about what advice would you give to founders today given the current state of the economy based on your personal experience and your view of the world right now?
Tamer Mohamed: Yeah, absolutely, and I couldn’t agree more with you, and I think you’ll be in a very difficult position to find an entrepreneur who doesn’t say this isn’t the most difficult time in a generation, quite frankly, particularly for biotech and the industries, and it’s already hard to start a company, but to start a company and fund a company and grow a company during this time, it’s incredibly difficult. And so my advice to myself, quite frankly, and also to other entrepreneurs, is to really keep the story tight and really focus on what matters most and really focus on the value. Now it’s really time to separate out sort of companies that are the real deal from companies that are all sort of smoke and mirror. And so really honing in on the story, focusing on execution, what is that next critical milestone, is just so important and working back from where you ultimately want to go, but focusing critically on what is that next critical milestone that you need to achieve. And it’s different for every industry, but focus is the name of the game now, and really honing in on the business fundamentals and making sure that those make the most sense as you continue to advance the company.
Justin Young: Yeah, that’s great advice. I love the focus theme, and I know you’re always looking ahead a few years to really think about where are you’re going to be and what do you have to do to get there. So that’s great advice. Thanks Tamer. Really appreciate your input. Thanks for being part of this and for sharing your advice.
Tamer Mohamed: Absolutely. Thanks Justin. Bye.
