‘Capital, team and product transform company into Unicorn’

A session titled 'Creating Unicorns' was held at BioAsia 2021 where experts shared their views on building a successful start-up.

Hyderabad: Will a great product make a unicorn? Or does it take a great team to make a unicorn? According to experts at the BioAsia 2021, it is culmination of multiple factors that can transform a company into a unicorn – in business, a unicorn is a privately-held startup that is valued over $1 billion.

Speaking at the 18th edition of BioAsia, George Bickerstaff, co-founder and MD, MM Dillon & Co and former CFO, Novartis said, “It is important for a company to find that right balance between a great team, great investors, great ideas and also great board of directors. Money is not the only criteria that transform a startup into a unicorn. It is a combination of different factors that make up a unicorn. For investors as well, they should look at different segments of the startup and analyse their potential to become a unicorn.”

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Bickerstaff added that any sector like healthcare for example, an entrepreneur needs to find the right mix of technology and healthcare in order to make it successful. He also advised investors to not just give money to a startup and increase their valuation but analyse if they provide additional value through their experience and networks to make the startup grow.

In the same session titled Creating Unicorns, Dr. Jo Bury, CEO, VIB spoke about the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology situated in Belgium which is widely recognised as an established and world-leading knowledge center in life sciences and biotechnology with an excellent reputation in technology transfer. He said that other than being a research institute, the VIB has also led to creation of 27 startups that have attracted investment of 30 million euros. He spoke about the different partnerships the institute offers for its researchers and how it helps them grow in different segments.

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