Apply to the 2048 Ventures Biotech Studio

Apply to 2048 Ventures Biotech Studio

Fill out this quick application and get funded in 16 business days. No tricks or gimmicks. If accepted, you get $250K for 8% on a post-money SAFE.

The founders we backed have ranked 2048 Ventures as one of the top pre-seed stage venture firms. We would love to partner and help you on your founder journey as well!

Why join 2048 Ventures Biotech Studio?

We’ve run the world’s top accelerators - Techstars, IndieBio, Creative Destruction Lab and 500 Startups - and have invested in over 200 early stage startups. We know how to help exceptional founders at the earliest stage of their journey.

Here is what 2048 Ventures Biotech Studio will be like for you:

• You will have a highly personalized, 1-1 experience with all members of 2048 Ventures team, our circle of biotechnology industry experts, and our founders. The Studio is HIGHLY SELECTIVE - we work with no more than 4 teams at any given time.
• You will work very closely with us for 256 days, which is much longer than a typical accelerator, because good things - like startups - take time.
• You will be in an environment specifically geared towards biotech startups that traditionally don’t get a good support system in a generic accelerator. We will help with spinning technology out of university, navigating IP issues, selling into pharma and healthcare, selecting CROs, thinking through the tradeoffs between being a vertically integrated or platform company, choosing go-to-market, figuring out FDA strategy, and much more.
• If you are wrapping up your PhD or research, we are happy to help you figure out if there is a market opportunity, and the mechanics of the spin out. No one is too early to apply.
• If you already launched out of a university or left your job to start a company - that’s great - we will help you refine the product, introduce you to early customers, validate your go-to-market, help with the sales pitch, pricing, and financial modeling.
• You will get access to the 2048 Ventures community and resources, including access to our founder Slack, workshops, biotech channels, vendor specials, and much more.
• You will get world class fundraising support, because we are BEASTS when it comes to helping you get additional funding. We literally wrote the playbook on it! Once you are ready, we will work with you on your pitch deck, financial model, and other materials. We will help you save time by creating a relevant pipeline of prospective investors and will facilitate warm introductions for you.
• While you can apply year around, we might be at capacity. We will announce our next deadline in the Fall.
• You get straightforward funding. No additional common stock, no tricks, no gimmicks. Receive $250K on a post-money SAFE that will convert into 8% of preferred stock in the next equity round.

Application and Decision Process

• Apply by filling out this short application
• Receive acknowledgement email
• If selected, go through initial 30 minute screen
• Answer follow up questions via a Notion doc
• Follow up meeting focusing on technology
• Final meeting with 2048 Ventures Team
• Founder References
• Offer
• Sign the docs
• Get the money in your bank account
• All within 16 business days

What kind of startups should apply?

We would love to speak with all exceptional, visionary, passionate founders and scientists building the future of biotech. No one is too early or too late.

We look for complete teams with complementary skills and welcome all founders - whether you are working in the lab, writing code, creating hardware - or doing it all - we’d love to meet you.  We expect your team to be complete so that you can execute on all aspects of the business and go fast!

We can invest in US, Canadian or UK entities, so if your startup is currently not incorporated in one of those countries, we would expect you to create a US entity before you receive an investment from us.

We are specifically excited about startups building PLATFORM and INFRASTRUCTURE businesses in biotechnology.

Here are the broad themes we’ve been thinking about:

• bioproduction: novel production strains, QC automation, downstream processing innovations
• synthetic biology: novel DNA applications, biosecurity, metabolism design
• ‘omics: building datasets in microbiome, neural signaling, blood biomarkers, diagnostics

We are also very excited about innovation in: AI/ML applications for drug discovery, novel bioreactors, drug delivery, drug target discovery, genetic editing, microbiome, early disease detection, metabolic optimization, metabolome, novel biomarker discovery and diagnostics, regenerative medicine, neurotechnology, digital therapeutics and many others.

What happens during the 256 Days?

We believe in a highly tailored and personalized approach to working with early stage startups, because every startup, including YOUR startup, is unique. This is why we create a bespoke plan together with you. Here is a high level outline that we start from and then customize for you.

First 32 Days

• Onboard and meet the entire 2048 Ventures Team.
• Join 2048 Ventures Slack community and get access to all of our resources and workshops.
• Full deep dive on the business to identify gaps and milestones.
• Connect you with members of our community - pharma execs, biotech founders, 2048 Ventures founders, angels, and VCs to get early feedback on your business.
• During the first 32 days we meet with you at least once a week.
• Summarize gaps, key risks, and come up with a plan for the next 64 days.

Next 64 Days

• Work closely with you to help you to hit milestones and de-risk the business.
• This includes IP negotiation, helping with hiring, building the product, customer introductions, and all other aspects of the business.
• During this time we will meet with you at least every 2 weeks to help you stay on track with your goals and hit the milestones you set.

Fundraising and Ongoing Support

• At around the 3 months mark, we will start thinking about helping you raise more capital. If you are ready to do it sooner, we are thrilled to support you, but likely you’d need this time to prepare.
• We recommend that you don’t start focusing on more capital until you are really ready - making sure you’ve answered the open questions and achieved the milestones that you set out to achieve.
• Once you are ready, we will work on helping you create all the key fundraising materials - pitch deck, financial model, FAQ, pitch video, intro emails, etc.
• We will open up our network of angels and VCs and provide warm introductions to relevant investors that can help you raise capital quickly and efficiently. We are confident that we can save you a lot of time and headache.
• If you are raising a priced equity round - Seed or Series A, and you achieved your milestones, we are committed to take pro-rata or more — of course, only if you let us participate and feel like we’ve been helpful!
• During this time, we also continue to work with you on all aspects of the business — and as usual we meet with you every two weeks, or more as needed.

Beyond Fundraising

• Once you’ve hit your milestones and raised capital, we switch our catch up to once a month.
• We continue to work with you very closely on everything you need - from scaling the team, to customer introductions, and everything in between.
• We know how to work with companies from Pre-Seed to Series C and beyond — we are there when you need us and stay out of the way when you don’t.
• And if you don’t raise more capital within 256 days, we of course continue to support you and work with you — we know that there is no one size fits all. When you achieve your milestones and are ready, we will work hard to help you raise more capital!

FAQ

What are some of the Biotech companies you funded?

• Aclid - The security and safety API layer for synthetic biology
• BioBox - A platform for contextual search results, to organize, integrate, and explore ‘omics datasets
• BioLM - Run protein & DNA language models at scale
• Caravel Bio - Engineering enzymes & enzyme carriers for sustainable catalysis
• Coding.bio - Coding.Bio productizes the “CAR” of CAR-T cells using combinational computational and experimental approaches
• Humane Genomics - Platform and infrastructure for synthetic oncolytic viruses for personalized cancer treatment
• Inso Bio - Making genomics more accessible by creating uniquely innovative tools for tomorrow’s biological applications
• Nomic.bio - Next generation proteomic tools
• Persist AI - Building slow-release drug formulations 50% faster
• Stratagen Bio - Creating oxygen sensors to enable precision oncology therapies

How quickly will I hear back?

• As soon as you apply, you will get an email from us acknowledging your application. Only if we choose to move forward, you will get an invitation for an initial screen. If we invest, the entire process from submitted application to money in the bank will be 16 business days.

How much funding will I get?

• You will receive $250K on a post-money SAFE that will convert into 8% of preferred stock in the next equity round. You need to be incorporated in US, Canada or UK to receive the investment.

How long do I have before accepting or declining your offer?

• We believe that our process is a two way street - we learn more about your business and you, and you will learn more and diligence us. If we decide to fund you, you will get a call from us, and we expect you to verbally accept or decline on the call. If you accept, we will send you a term sheet and shortly after, a SAFE, and our side letter. Once signed, we will wire the money!

What happens day-to-day during 2048 Ventures Biotech Studio?

• We work with you 1-1 from helping you raise more capital, to figuring out go-to-market, to helping you grow the team, pricing, product, and all other aspects of the business.

Is there a Demo Day?

• Don’t think of the Biotech Studio as a program. There is no Demo Day. Our goal is to help you get your startup off the ground in a much more natural and organic way.

How long will the 2048 Ventures Team work with me?

• We are 100% committed to work with you through your founder journey. We work very closely with you for 256 days, through your next significant capital raise, and then continue to support beyond that.

Will 2048 Ventures invest more into my company?

• We would love the opportunity to invest more! We are committing to taking pro-rata or more in your next priced equity round, provided, of course, that you hit your milestones, enjoy working with us, and there is a room in the round.

Fill out this quick application and get funded in 16 business days. No tricks or gimmicks. If accepted, you get $250K for 8% on a post-money SAFE.