Preparing your life sciences business for investment

Why investment readiness matters

Raising money is not just about getting funding in the bank. Investors want to see that your business can grow, has defensible intellectual property (IP), can manage risk, and deliver results.

For life sciences companies, this usually means you can show:

• Strong evidence behind your technology or product
• A clear plan for development and regulatory compliance
• A realistic route to market and revenue
• The right leadership and governance
• A funding plan that supports your next stage of growth

Being investment ready makes it more likely you’ll raise enough money to reach your next major milestone (for example, a key trial result, regulatory step, or first sales).

Common challenges for life sciences companies

When founders start speaking to investors, a few issues often get in the way:

• Raising too little money, which leaves you with a short runway
• Limited experience dealing with specialist life sciences investors
• Bringing in investors that don’t align with your long-term strategy
• Underestimating development, regulatory or manufacturing costs
• Gaps in leadership, commercial skills or board experience
• A funding plan that does not match the milestones you need to hit

If you deal with these early, you’ll be in a stronger position when you start fundraising.

What investors typically want to see

Different investors look for different things, but most want to understand four basics.

A clear value proposition

They want to succinctly know:

• What problem you solve and for who
• Why your solution is different
• What evidence you have so far
• What needs to happen next (clinical, regulatory or technical)

A credible plan for growth

They want to see:

• The milestones you plan to reach and when
• Realistic costs and timelines
• How you will get to market and scale
• Any commercial and market traction or clear plans to target

The right leadership and support around you

They will look for:

• A leadership team with the skills to deliver the plan
• Access to experienced advisers, non-executives or board members
• Clear decision-making and accountability

A funding plan that fits your milestones

They want to understand:

• How much money you need and what it will be used for
• What success looks like at the next stage (including how much investment will be needed to get there)
• How you’ll approach future fundraising and what dilution might look like
• An idea of what your exit strategy could be, how they will get a profit from their investment

How we can help

We support life sciences companies at different stages of growth to help you prepare for investment.

Support may include:

• Helping you shape a clear, investor-ready story and growth plan
• Strengthening your commercial, leadership and financial capability
• Helping you understand the real costs of scaling, facilities and regulation 
• Supporting engagement with specialist UK and international investors
• Connecting you to wider cluster, infrastructure and scale-up opportunities

Our aim is to help you become a more credible and confident investment opportunity.

Space and infrastructure to help you scale

Getting investment-ready is closely linked to your ability to scale in practice.

Through initiatives such as the Life Sciences Accommodation Programme, Scottish Enterprise is helping companies access laboratory and manufacturing space that supports growth and our Life Sciences fit-out accommodation guide can help you understand and plan for your accommodation needs and the costs involved.

This can reduce risk for you and for investors, and help build strong life sciences clusters across Scotland.

Getting ready for your next stage of growth

Investment readiness is an ongoing process. The earlier you start building your plan, strengthening leadership, and understanding your funding needs, the better placed you’ll be to raise money and scale.

If you have growth ambitions, it’s worth speaking to us early to explore the support available.