EP 121 - Matías Peire: How Can Latin America Revolutionize Global Biotech?

In this episode, we dive into a groundbreaking conversation with Matías Peire, a trailblazer in the biotech venture capital space. Discover how his innovative approach at GRIDX is reshaping the future of biotech in Latin America.

🎙️ What's in the Episode:
1️⃣ Bridging Science and Business: Matías discusses the unique challenges and opportunities in connecting Latin American scientific talent with global markets.
2️⃣ The GRIDX Approach: Discover how GRIDX is pioneering a new model for venture capitalism in biotech, focusing on nurturing startups right from the idea stage.
3️⃣ Latin America's Untapped Potential: Insights into the rich biodiversity and scientific talent in Latin America and how they can revolutionize biotech globally.

👨‍💼 About Matías Peire:
Matías Peire, a visionary in the venture capital world, has a unique approach to investing in biotech startups. With a background in business administration and finance, and a deep passion for technology and science, Matías is leading GRIDX to transform scientific ideas into successful, impactful businesses. His journey is a testament to the power of visionary leadership in the biotech sector.

🎥 Don't miss this insightful episode where we delve into the world of biotech venture capitalism with Matías Peire. Tune in now to discover the future of biotech innovation in Latin America.

💡 LINKS TO MORE CONTENT
Christian Soschner
Matías Peire

📌 Quotes:
(00:06:32) "We want to transform how scientists create companies in Latin America."
(00:34:35) "Scientists should become entrepreneurs and own their companies, licensing technology from universities."
(00:48:07) "The only reason to become an entrepreneur is if you feel you'll regret not doing it."
(00:57:50) "It's your responsibility to find a way to bring scientific alternatives to the table."
(01:13:32) "You have a huge pool of talent, and almost none are working in the private sector."
(01:32:43) "You need flexibility, ambition, and a soul in the game to succeed."
(01:37:23) "Ambition to transform science into impact in Latin America."

⏰ Timestamps:
00:03:55) Climate Change and Venture Capital: Insights from Washington D.C.
(00:05:43) Expanding Horizons: GRIDX's Growth Strategy in Latin America
(00:18:03) Creating a Venture Capital Fund with a Company Builder Model in LATAM
(00:26:49) Building Confidence in Latin American Science for Global Competitiveness
(00:35:46) Bridging the Gap: Scientists and the Private Sector in LATAM
(00:42:05) Professionalizing University Participation in Venture

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:06
Christian Soschner
It's, you know, that Latin America could be the next frontier for transformative biotech startups.

00:00:08:06 - 00:00:16:08
Christian Soschner
The region's untapped scientific potential is a goldmine waiting to be explored. And

00:00:16:08 - 00:00:22:18
Christian Soschner
today's guest is at the forefront of this exciting venture

00:00:22:18 - 00:00:38:00
Matías Peire
The vision is that we need to transform the way in how we produce and we know that science holds a lot of solutions to that process,

00:00:38:00 - 00:00:46:17
Matías Peire
we really going to need to create like at least two other companies And this is going to happen in the next six or seven years.

00:00:46:17 - 00:01:00:01
Matías Peire
We really ambition to to really bring a new way of creating scientific startups and creating this process of transforming science into impact in Latin America.

00:01:00:01 - 00:01:16:09
Christian Soschner
Matthias Pater is a visionary leader and the founder of Critics, an innovative venture capital fund dedicated to transforming scientific ideas into groundbreaking startups in Latin America,

00:01:16:09 - 00:01:29:03
Christian Soschner
with a focus on biotech and deep tech, with Axis bridging the gap between science and business, turning Latin America into a hub of scientific entrepreneurship

00:01:29:03 - 00:01:42:06
Christian Soschner
in this episode, we dive into five crucial areas that are reshaping the landscape of biotech startups and investments in Latin America.

00:01:42:08 - 00:02:02:01
Christian Soschner
The first one is the power of Latin American science and covered the untapped potential of scientific research in the region. The second one is building startups from scratch. Learn how Grit X is creating a new generation of startups.

00:02:02:01 - 00:02:29:09
Christian Soschner
The third one is the role of venture capital explored the unique challenges and opportunities in Latin American venture capital. The fourth one is Connecting to global Markets, understands the importance of linking Latin American innovation with worldwide investors and the fifth one, the future of biotech in Latin America.

00:02:29:11 - 00:02:35:05
Christian Soschner
To gain insights into the long term vision for the region's biotech ecosystem.

00:02:35:05 - 00:02:55:20
Christian Soschner
If you're a CEO or investor looking to tap into the Latin American biotech scene, this episode is a must listen. Don't forget to subscribe comment and share this podcast. Your engagement is crucial in helping me provide valuable content like this for free.

00:02:55:20 - 00:03:07:17
Christian Soschner
Make sure to watch the entire episode to fully grasp the exciting opportunities that Mathias Payday and critics are creating in Latin America and now try to show.

00:03:07:17 - 00:03:15:11
Christian Soschner
It's amazing. No, no, the the last night was like a wonderful night. Today is like a total

00:03:15:11 - 00:03:22:11
Christian Soschner
Balance temperature, temperature display have a blue sky now. So it's wonderful weather.

00:03:22:13 - 00:03:27:14
Matías Peire
And temperature wise, how is it is the temperatures it's warm like summer or.

00:03:27:16 - 00:03:27:20
Christian Soschner
Do

00:03:27:20 - 00:03:39:15
Christian Soschner
don't know. I think it's like spring. I don't know how to translate into into Fahrenheit. But is it is something between 15 and 2020 said. Yes.

00:03:39:17 - 00:03:41:17
Matías Peire
I mean, Austria, I mean Austria, Europe. So we

00:03:41:17 - 00:03:45:07
Matías Peire
have Celsius. So I'm familiar with not finite scale.

00:03:45:09 - 00:03:47:24
Christian Soschner
Okay. So

00:03:47:24 - 00:03:51:21
Christian Soschner
you're part of the reason our.

00:03:51:23 - 00:03:56:01
Matías Peire
What what brought you to Washington, DC.

00:03:56:03 - 00:04:04:03
Christian Soschner
Is we I was invited by the IDB to, to do a panel about climate change

00:04:04:03 - 00:04:17:00
Christian Soschner
and investments in with venture capital approaches and in climate change or in climate in general. And we also have the IDB and as an

00:04:17:00 - 00:04:22:01
Christian Soschner
LPC fund. So, so I do the time also

00:04:22:01 - 00:04:27:03
Christian Soschner
to, to connect with all the team here in, in Washington.

00:04:27:05 - 00:04:45:02
Christian Soschner
It was my first time here in D.C. so, so it was a good moment to connect with people from this, like multilateral, which other organisms that are close of what we are talking about in terms of development and investments and that kind of stuff.

00:04:45:06 - 00:04:53:20
Matías Peire
That sounds great, but your fund is located in Argentina. Can you tell me more about your organization?

00:04:53:24 - 00:05:25:15
Christian Soschner
Yes, technically our fund is located in kind of like that. Just a matter of of of of where where is the best jurisdiction for to place the the fund. I am located. And part of the team is located in Argentina, not only in Buenos Aires, but also in Rosario. But we also have a team, a partner in Barcelona, and we have part of the team is in Brazil and we have a person in Mexico.

00:05:25:17 - 00:05:43:21
Christian Soschner
So we're from Argentina. We were born in Argentina, but we are operated, operating in all the region and and we are expanding to the to the region. The idea is to to grow mostly in Brazil and Mexico in next year's.

00:05:44:01 - 00:05:48:16
Matías Peire
What is the vision of your organization?

00:05:48:16 - 00:06:03:23
Christian Soschner
The vision is that we need to transform the way in how we produce and we know that science holds a lot of solutions to that process,

00:06:03:23 - 00:06:45:24
Christian Soschner
but we know that it's difficult to transform scientific knowledge into real impact. So we are focused and we are like very confident that we can do that job in Latin America. AT is in John most difficult Latin in the rest of the of the world because the culture around science, it's very far away from from from doing business so to to to to reduce the vision is that we need to we want to transform the way how how scientists create companies in Latin America.

00:06:46:01 - 00:07:00:17
Matías Peire
It's a great vision. That's a great vision. Tell me more about your journey. You're at the moment at this time you're operating and said, I would say translational venture fund, you translate science into business. Is that the right understanding?

00:07:00:19 - 00:07:32:16
Christian Soschner
Yeah. Yes. We like to define us as a venture capital fund. No, like simply money into 224 years, a doubling of capital 1012 years of of of of the life of the fund. But we are particularly that we need to do something different in the region. When we started, there were no startups to invest in, so we started trying to be a venture capital fund, investing in science based startups in the region.

00:07:32:17 - 00:07:59:24
Christian Soschner
But the first conclusion was that there were no startups to invest in. So at that point we decided to create this model where we help the scientists to formulate their own projects into investable startups. And in the process of doing that, we held them also to connect with business entrepreneurs and help them to create the companies together.

00:08:00:02 - 00:08:09:09
Matías Peire
It's a great it's a great approach. What brought you to this position? Tell me more about your journey. How did you become a venture capitalist?

00:08:09:11 - 00:08:11:05
Christian Soschner
A Well,

00:08:11:05 - 00:08:42:23
Christian Soschner
my background, like my academic background, is in business. I study business administration, and then I did a master's degree in finance. But my whole career since the early twenties, it wasn't an entrepreneurial career. I started like at the age of 22 to 3, a grade in and on in a company that was an electronic and software company in the early 2000.

00:08:43:00 - 00:09:24:00
Christian Soschner
No, I editing catch the wave of internet. Now I am a little bit late, but that was a fortune for me because I was like a very into and really into something. So I was sure that I was become an entrepreneur, but I didn't get the wave of the of the dot com. No. So that's puts me in a situation to start a company by myself of opportunity and liberty or you name it, why that was developing technology, not using technology, but debate, developing technology.

00:09:24:00 - 00:09:56:07
Christian Soschner
That's not the most common companies coming out from from from Argentina, from the from the from the region in general. When you talk about technology and when you talk about shut up or venture capital or you are talking about companies using technologies to develop some business, in my case was a different case because I started a company where we needed to create new products and in electronics and so forth to to, to solve problems.

00:09:56:07 - 00:10:42:17
Christian Soschner
So in my case was a appliances, hardware and software to monitor like the broadcast signals and of of of cable and satellite and that kind of stuff, very technical stuff, very, very niche oriented stuff. So I had this company for more than ten years, and in that process I became myself like a translator between like this engineers and the market in my company, my partners, my employees, my customers also and suppliers and so on, all of them were engineers.

00:10:42:19 - 00:11:08:12
Christian Soschner
So I was the only business guy in around all of them. So I like from four myself into a translator between those those languages. And also I learned how to talk to them and I learned how to translate that. So, so I became very, very soon like this kind of of translator. And it's just like in technology, but not like a technology user.

00:11:08:12 - 00:11:31:14
Christian Soschner
No, I know the fun of having the last iPhone or the last gadget of so and I didn't care about that, but I like when I see stuff being made known. So like, like, like engineers, like, no. So, so I started liking that kind of stuff. So after more than ten years of that company, I was trying to do something different.

00:11:31:16 - 00:12:02:10
Christian Soschner
We didn't raise venture capital with this, this company. There was no us such an industry in the region at that moment. It was more difficult, more and more and more fast. So we didn't. But I started like looking for this kind of of, of of financing pathways, and I was attracted by that. Now to, to, to, to grow we're fast and to to personalize our the company my, my partner at that time didn't want to go through that way.

00:12:02:10 - 00:12:29:08
Christian Soschner
So I started like studying about venture capital, getting closer and understanding. So at what point I said, okay, I know what I want to do in my next venture. I want to to invest in projects, but not in any in like the Internet, because I didn't have the experience and there was a huge opportunity in the region because there were no investors investing in in deep tech in general.

00:12:29:10 - 00:13:09:24
Christian Soschner
Even didn't exist that name at that point. No deep tech. Yeah. So, so so I saw an opportunity there. I was a huge fan of science. Well, because of this process. So. So I thought, okay, maybe there is an opportunity here to do something sustainable and something that can really impact in the region. Connecting this scientific landscape. I didn't know nothing about the scientific ecosystem, but I knew that it could be and potential and the deep into capital industry.

00:13:10:01 - 00:13:34:00
Christian Soschner
So what I exited my my participation in in, in this company, I sold my participation to to my partner. So I there I decided, okay, I don't know nothing about science. I don't know nothing about venture capital. So it's going to take me no less than three years to understand where I am, what can I build here? So I took to my to my wife and say, okay,

00:13:34:00 - 00:13:36:04
Christian Soschner
three years of total uncertainty.

00:13:36:06 - 00:13:39:14
Christian Soschner
Let's see what happen, what I think we should do.

00:13:39:16 - 00:13:42:07
Matías Peire
What did you say?

00:13:42:09 - 00:13:48:01
Christian Soschner
She said, okay, it's like a rhetorical question because if I say no, what you are going to do.

00:13:48:01 - 00:14:08:17
Christian Soschner
Yes, yes, yes. No, she is so. So she, she she gave me a great support, not only because of going with me, but also for for trust in me that that that there was a a way to go here. And I was capable to to find a way to to really build something new.

00:14:08:19 - 00:14:41:11
Matías Peire
A You mentioned in this the last couple of minutes and also on your website and on the materials that are I revisited that you researched Free. Yes. Yeah. It took three years to find a model to preach science. Which business basically. What sparked your curiosity that match that you decided to go three years into uncertainty while also somewhat before if your background was easily and easily found in outcroppings in other company.

00:14:41:16 - 00:14:45:03
Matías Peire
What sparked this curiosity of you?

00:14:45:11 - 00:15:14:10
Christian Soschner
Well. Well, I wanted to do something, something new, something different, something that would impact Noah. So at that point I saw that there were there was a huge opportunity because nobody was investing in the region in science based startups, and that was like, make no sense because we have a not so huge like Europe or the US. But we have we are, we are we have a, an important scientific system.

00:15:14:12 - 00:15:38:23
Christian Soschner
You know, in Argentina had three Nobel prizes in science. So so we have a like a culture in science, but there there were no companies emerging. So so this gave here is something and why three years because I make the math I say okay this is what can I what I can invest it the the constrain the constraints were well, the limits.

00:15:38:23 - 00:16:06:14
Christian Soschner
No. So so so I say, okay, I'm going to need time. I'm going to need time first to understand how how this business works and how this this business can be applied in this specific sector. So the first year I, I thought that it was going to take me three years. No, but I but I think that maybe I could do it in less.

00:16:06:16 - 00:16:36:15
Christian Soschner
But but I consider that that that I should keep like three years of of of of of margin to do this now so the first year was a studying so it was a very particular year because in general we are a we work with a with a with a demand, with a daily demand. You always have a mail coming.

00:16:36:15 - 00:17:06:20
Christian Soschner
You always have a text message coming. You have like your schedule. You have no every every every morning. Your work is to answer something that somebody is asking to you in general. And that year was amazing because I like I got off all this this daily work and there were no mails getting in. So there were no like phone calls going in or text messages.

00:17:06:22 - 00:17:42:09
Christian Soschner
So nobody was asking me nothing. So I really went deep into a journey of studying about developing in the region, about the scientific system in the region, about venture capital, investing in science based startups. So this kind of about I was starting to to understand about biotech and also something like that. So was like a full year of understanding both the business and this the situation of the scientific landscape in the region.

00:17:42:11 - 00:18:04:09
Christian Soschner
So at that point after the first year, I said, okay, there are no startups to invest in the region, so we have to create them if I want to, to, to, to, to, to take this, this opportunity, we have to work in the process of creating them. And to do that, we need to have a model to create this.

00:18:04:11 - 00:18:38:14
Christian Soschner
These companies. We also need to have a fund to promise investment after all, the process of of that creation. And that's going to be the bottom. It's going to be a venture capital fund with a company builder model and that that seed with particularities to to adapt that to to the region. So what that I went out to, to to to say to to start talking with investors to say okay I have this idea no these fundamentals know us very strong supported.

00:18:38:16 - 00:18:59:21
Christian Soschner
so I need like $5 million to, to do like a prototype for this thing. And the people say, okay, I think that is great. I think that somebody needs to do this in the region. But you don't have experience doing this. You have track record in this way. You are going to be the right person to do this.

00:18:59:23 - 00:19:26:22
Christian Soschner
Okay, So but I need the money to do it. I don't know. So, so so what what I did was I, I, I stopped the process from raising and I said, okay, I'm going to start doing, trying to do this company builder process myself, go in through the scientific ecosystem, mainly Argentina. So I started traveling all around Argentina.

00:19:26:22 - 00:19:54:21
Christian Soschner
Argentina is a very big country. So so it could take like a two or 3 hours plane to the north from when I say this and two or three hour plane to the south to Patagonia. So I started doing all that the trips. So I started mapping projects and scientist that can be turned into entrepreneurs and can turn their scientific ideas into startups.

00:19:54:23 - 00:20:29:07
Christian Soschner
And it and from there I, I, I mapped like some hundreds of projects and I started working with five, four or five projects myself as the NGO parallel site and and and that at that point I realized that first the scientists didn't, or they wouldn't transform themselves in the timing that you need to transform into in Germany entrepreneurs, maybe they jump out from the academy, but they wouldn't be there, right?

00:20:29:12 - 00:21:13:14
Christian Soschner
Interface between the company and the world investors and buy ins and whatever. so I saw that the benefit of somebody like me was very, very high in those projects. But I also realized that I wanted to create many of these companies. So at that point I said, okay, to this model, we need to add something. It's not only about helping them, but also trying to build the founding teams with like candidates business profiles like me that wants to shine like in a full life project into this science space.

00:21:13:16 - 00:22:03:10
Christian Soschner
And they are not afraid of understanding science and are afraid of, becoming this kind of like nerd or wannabe nerd. No. So in the opposite way, you know, like a business guy or an engineer there trying to became a nerd, understanding the science. And so so that I add that to the to a model. So we need to connect scientists with entrepreneurs because it's need to be done because I think it's going to take like three or four years to to to translate the learning curve of understanding the language, the codes and the esthetics and, you know, the the, the way how you have to moving in this endeavor now in our venture capital

00:22:03:12 - 00:22:26:19
Christian Soschner
landscape. So that's once a second year. So I mean like four or five projects. And I also started working with some entrepreneurs trying to convince them that it was a huge opportunity and it was also at 16 I came back to investors, but they are I took a decision. They say, okay, I think this is not yet so clear.

00:22:26:21 - 00:22:54:15
Christian Soschner
So instead of asking for a final $5 million to do this prototype, I'm going to ask fund of one 1 million to do this. This this prototype. So in 2016, I started organization with first segment that is very important businessman in Argentina. But he have companies around the world. He's based in Spain in the mainly in the pharmaceutical industry by doing a lot of businesses.

00:22:54:17 - 00:23:27:13
Christian Soschner
So I present him the idea like in the middle of 2016. And he he told me, okay, I'm okay. I like this. I'm going to present you another investor so we we can join that first meet under are to to to to start this this process so interest and 17 after all the paperwork and so on we launched this first one like a pre prototype that was to less money to to to have management fees and so on.

00:23:27:13 - 00:23:53:10
Christian Soschner
So we had something but my to do list and to even to read the team. But at that point I joined it and I joined or a scientist joined the team. Maria that is, today's our partner at Radix. I needed a scientist in the team to, to help me, to, to, to do all this process of understanding this business.

00:23:53:12 - 00:24:19:19
Christian Soschner
So we just, as in 17 Mariana like run all the, all the stuff to, to, to invest in these first five startups that we invested and added bonus it. Okay if this work then I come back with a like a more strong proposal so just sending was again 2018 I say okay now he's working now we need to to to create a team and now you need to diversify these because it's very risky.

00:24:19:19 - 00:25:03:00
Christian Soschner
Just to have five project, you need to have 30 projects. No. So and the 20 day okay And they put they the four initial investors put $5 million and and they help me to get the other $5 million together with other investors. So we raced these like prototype fine off of of $10 million. So at the end of 2018 five years after the three years that I, I took my wife then there were we were like just like something like a break even or something like we have enough money to to, to build a team and to, to, to, to kind of afford a life with this project.

00:25:03:00 - 00:25:03:24
Matías Peire
No,

00:25:04:08 - 00:25:28:16
Matías Peire
She was probably happy then. It's everything back, not fine. And I'm curious to learn more about your decision making in the first year. I mean, you absolutely right. Opportunity is where nobody operates yet. So looking in a direction and your judgment about Latin America is is okay. I mean, there is no translation. No, no translation of science into business yet.

00:25:28:22 - 00:25:53:23
Matías Peire
So somebody has to do that. But on the other side, when nobody operates in an area, it can also be that it doesn't work. So everything else failed already or it's completely uninteresting. And the idea is just, let's put it bluntly, stupid. And I think every entrepreneur has to face the situation to to to ask himself, am I the only stupid person going in that direction, or is there a real opportunity?

00:25:54:00 - 00:26:11:09
Matías Peire
And what I'm curious to hear from you and then from your thinking is how do you manage? How have you managed this process in the first year to reassess the situation and say, okay, is it worth continuing or should I put it out? How what was your thinking back then?

00:26:11:12 - 00:26:49:17
Christian Soschner
No, no, that wasn't a maybe the first month. No, it was something that I talked to people. People say they obvious thing that why nobody did it. Maybe it's because it's not going to work. No. So but as I say, starts understanding about the scientific ecosystem, Argentina, I start looking like and convincing me of of real fundamentals of why this should work.

00:26:49:19 - 00:27:49:20
Christian Soschner
So one was that the the, the, the, the scientific ecosystem was real, very competitive. So we have like a huge critical mass of scientists doing their possibly PhDs or postdocs abroad, coming back to Argentina, many of the research institutions doing collaborations with institutions in Europe, in the US. So you have like the talent is real competitive. So because one of the question what was some of the points of of people that said this, this is not going to work and was around that and this the the Latin American science shouldn't be competitive abroad and I agree that could be in maybe in the cancer research on in in generally in medicine stuff and new molecules.

00:27:49:22 - 00:28:25:14
Christian Soschner
But you have a lot of stuff like that. You have like a very niche oriented things that you are you have like a maybe Brazilian, Mexican, Argentinian research in a very small conversation of maybe ten, 20, 50 scientists around the world. So they're in a topnotch position discussing that that that science and that gave me the confidence that like the raw material talent, scientific talent was going to be competitive.

00:28:25:14 - 00:28:57:24
Christian Soschner
So I was I was really, really convinced about that. I didn't have really a doubt. Never. No, I know, I know. And I now like totally convinced that that that that that this is, is true. And, and the other part was that I believe myself like a like I can do something that maybe the others couldn't do that was becoming this like, translator.

00:28:58:01 - 00:29:32:13
Christian Soschner
And also that I was like, a business guy, like also worry about things to that that is sometimes not directly related to like profit or only profit or, or just a win money and so on. So I consider myself like somebody that can really dog in a different way with the, with the scientist. So that was like something that I believe.

00:29:32:13 - 00:29:56:10
Christian Soschner
I don't know why, but that's okay. So people telling me that is this is not going to work because of two. And I see two things now. That way is going to work and white we can do something different. That was doing in the past. One was that there was no true that the the the the scientists shouldn't be competitive.

00:29:56:12 - 00:30:37:19
Christian Soschner
That was a fact. No. And the other day I thought is okay, you don't know how to talk to a scientist or talk to like a technical guy. Maybe that's why you are not getting the right opportunities and and maybe I can. I didn't know as well, but I thought that I could. No, so, so, so so in those two two things I like build the the the the the security to the confident to to to to to face this uncertainty.

00:30:37:21 - 00:30:57:15
Christian Soschner
And it was very clear for me that here, wasn't it? And it was just a matter of execution and it still being a matter of execution and we we we didn't cross the river yet. No, we are still doing a of stuff and we have to show our stuff. Nobody I think it's a lot of execution. Just just about it.

00:30:57:22 - 00:31:19:14
Matías Peire
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, it's biotech, generally speaking, is this united space. And the majority of my audience on the podcast is also from the biotech space, more Europe and the United States. And I'm very happy to have you on the show. Shining more light on Latin America, especially in Argentina. Beautiful country. And the challenges, I mean, to be operated in a similar way, operating in a similar field.

00:31:19:14 - 00:31:58:23
Matías Peire
And the challenges I faced in Europe in this early stages is mapping in for me quite simple. On one hand, venture capital is you should enjoy having a build team, are already executing de-risked with going to be talking about cancer research ideally with something like three clinics a clinical candidate hope maybe and then they are happy to invest the spin outs from universities and I feel like that's as you said, it's usually a scientist and then you have to negotiate a deal with the university, which can also be tricky.

00:31:58:23 - 00:32:31:21
Matías Peire
It's the second problem. On one hand, venture capital is very late. There is a gap in between in funding. Then you have to tech transfer offices that have different ideas and they would like to explore. Until your opinion on this tech transfer phase in Europe, I saw many different terms demands from tech transfer from 90% equity in the company down to like son in Europe, US to percent Outlicensing fee when the company creates revenues.

00:32:32:01 - 00:32:39:23
Matías Peire
So it's pretty much very late. What's your opinion on this tech transfer? Which model do you favor in your work?

00:32:40:04 - 00:33:14:19
Christian Soschner
I think it also depends a lot of on the majority of of the of the contract system so so and you have a like a very mature interpret it dictum for obvious you can deal with more margins. No but I think the starting the starting point for for for a conversation should be that the technical project is different than the creation of of a company project.

00:33:14:21 - 00:33:50:10
Christian Soschner
They are like different projects. No one project is to create some technology. Somebody have the knowledge to create that and the compensation for that kind of project is related to what you can sell of that technology. So the company, the project of creating a company is a life project that the compensation of that project is to have equity that cover valuation, a growing valuation of.

00:33:50:12 - 00:34:02:09
Christian Soschner
And you can have this these opportunities to to, to, to capture value in this process of rolling valuation of this company. So I think

00:34:02:09 - 00:34:35:16
Christian Soschner
the starting point is to clarify that what you are giving to the scientific or the technical project or what you are giving to the the project to create a company that is very different. So in that way, I think that scientists should jump out from the institutions, have to become entrepreneurs, have to have ownership in the in the companies have to change the life project to create a company.

00:34:35:18 - 00:34:57:13
Christian Soschner
And from that platform they have to license their technology from the universities that really owns that, that that technology. And if this technology is successful, I think that the company have to pay royalties for that for for that technology.

00:34:57:15 - 00:35:07:00
Matías Peire
And it's it's an easy process to negotiate in Latin America. Or there are also some some some challenges in how much time for us to take.

00:35:07:04 - 00:35:51:00
Christian Soschner
Now it's you know, we are just starting on this now because a us in a historical perspective, Latin America never have like, like a real professional process of connecting the scientific landscape with the private sector. Why? Because multinational companies doesn't do R&D in the region and companies with national capitals. They didn't do it as well because as they can be followers of the trends of the world, they they don't need sometimes to do R&D.

00:35:51:00 - 00:36:27:06
Christian Soschner
So for scientist historically, they were always disconnected to to the private sector. And in general, of course there are exceptions. So about the but but in general, the countries that grew up today in the region, 300,000 researchers. And if you have to find success cases of have children translate that into into into business. We we we have like a like a few cases still so there's not like a tradition no.

00:36:27:08 - 00:36:53:18
Christian Soschner
In that so it's really, really starting and you have in that process of starting a sometimes maybe is that they don't care about no in general you have the tech nonprofit is much more like a matter of formality now on and so on the need to do something. But in general, the scientific system they don't care about. No, they are not, because it's not their role.

00:36:53:18 - 00:37:02:24
Christian Soschner
It's no their mission. But as this is growing and this is happening, you know, because this is starting and speeding up,

00:37:02:24 - 00:37:20:24
Christian Soschner
the first reaction of of the scientific institutions is more like the funding strategy. Say, okay, we didn't care about this. And now this is happening and why somebody from outside is coming and taking value of what we created.

00:37:21:01 - 00:37:52:14
Christian Soschner
So they are what we are trying to explain. Okay, if you have like a huge and put in button library of IP, we are going to be very interesting in that in general they don't they They don't. They what they have is like the scientists and the knowledge and the capabilities from the scientists that can build the IP, but they don't have like a library of, of, of IP knowing who could could care about that kind of IP.

00:37:52:15 - 00:38:24:21
Christian Soschner
They do not have that. No, there's no like a huge library of IP in the in the region. So you do you have you have this so help me in the process of convincing this scientist that he have to jump out of the academia. So for being the best opportunity for you to license this technology that nobody is going to care about just scientists that that live like the last years developing this technology.

00:38:24:23 - 00:38:49:16
Christian Soschner
So help me to to in the process of this scientist to come out because that is going to be the best opportunity for you to take some advantage of these technology, because if not, nobody is going to get it because you don't have a professional in the in the university selling this IP to to somebody and make, you know, all the journey that you need to to do to to to property.

00:38:49:16 - 00:39:15:02
Christian Soschner
Well sell this kind of technologies to to different companies. So so it's a little bit messy the conversation right now because they were not taking care of the advance and and somehow his company and say okay what do we have to do here? No, we have to be defensive or we have to help these guys. But they the capitalism they are trying to do to steal our knowledge from the university.

00:39:15:02 - 00:39:34:16
Christian Soschner
So sometimes we have to work very in a sensitive way, not to look like a threat, but to look like for like an opportunity, you know, And that is not so. So we see, you know, but and we are learning every day how to improve that approach, not not for being a threat and for being more an opportunity for them.

00:39:35:08 - 00:39:49:19
Matías Peire
And I totally I think we have the same challenges here in Europe like you have in Argentina, at the universities in Argentina or Latin America in general, privately funded or public funded universities.

00:39:49:19 - 00:40:14:04
Christian Soschner
No, most of the universities or institutions don't. Where where you have researchers are publicly funded not only the salaries of the scientists, but also the grants that can allow them to do like, like different staff level infrastructure or whatever. So so almost all the science is funded by the public sector.

00:40:14:06 - 00:40:43:05
Matías Peire
Now, it's similar to most of the European or European entities and amalgamate is usually that they say that the success criteria of universities are very fulfilled with publications and studies. Scientists conduct so similar to what you say when someone comes along and says, okay, I can help you turn part of the IP into useful products that 5 to 10 years down the road create more value for you.

00:40:43:07 - 00:41:04:10
Matías Peire
I think it's an asset, very often misunderstood asset for a university because sometimes times when they open the newspapers to read of the next best deal and just happens to be 1 billion and this number then sticks in the minds and say, But in ten years you can get 1 billion and I have nothing. So you rip us off.

00:41:04:10 - 00:41:24:23
Matías Peire
And I think this is a very sensitive conversation in the tech transfer area. We need to have 50 titles to not end up in the situation that to say, okay, give us 90% right away of 900 million that are not there yet and go more towards the way to say, look, I mean, the faster you spin it out of universities, the better it is for you because time is of the essence.

00:41:24:23 - 00:41:25:18
Christian Soschner
You

00:41:25:18 - 00:42:06:12
Christian Soschner
a 30 and I think in a more mature conversation and if universities understand how is the process of participating in a venture capital pathway, they're in a more mature conversation there. We can find ways on how to compensate not only by your royalties but also with the equity. But I think that that could happen when you have like a right interface in the university to create this, because you have to understand about governance.

00:42:06:12 - 00:42:41:09
Christian Soschner
You have to to to understand about the assumptions that the investors are going to see when they invest and they see in the capital. Will universities that have like a board of directors and maybe even they have 1% would be like a mess? No. Imagine they have to take a decision between a day another and a They usually have to do the consultant with all the board that there are maybe people that don't understand nothing about what we are talking about, and that could be like a maybe a dealbreaker for for for a specific deal.

00:42:41:15 - 00:43:15:16
Christian Soschner
So that kind of of, of, of threats, let's call it could be a deal breaker for for a venture capital investor. You know so if universities start professionalizing that process of understanding how is the process how is the venture capital process, A maybe could take the chance to think not only about royalties but also about equity. But I think is I mean, it's difficult to explain that it's not a matter of greedy of the of the companies not getting involved.

00:43:15:16 - 00:43:25:04
Christian Soschner
The university is a matter of sanity of all the process. No. And and that is very difficult to to to explain.

00:43:25:04 - 00:43:57:10
Matías Peire
I mean, we are talking about venture creation and I like to separate the agendas. So one thing is for me, the licensing rights to intellectual property and in my mind are tied to royalties. The second part is equity, but equity in my mind is tied to people who bring capital to the table. And the first part is service fees, which, for example, scientists who participate in the development or studies the venture does for university, creates payments for university, like to have a separate it.

00:43:57:10 - 00:44:04:18
Matías Peire
But some things are tricky because other people want to throw it all together and interlink it. And I like it is free packets.

00:44:04:21 - 00:44:44:24
Christian Soschner
Totally. Yes. I didn't mention that opportunity for universities that are all the services that they company now funded gunfire and infrastructure and use equipments, also human resources and so on. That's also a huge opportunity for the university. You know, they they are they can have like fresh funds. No coming out from the companies and a lot of companies is doing that with universities but sometimes they are it's so I'm asked to do this like contracts with them and so on that they say okay we prefer not to do it now because it's very complicated no matter.

00:44:44:24 - 00:44:58:19
Christian Soschner
But but I agree with you that we have to think in these three like like streams. No license in services and equity in a separate way.

00:44:59:04 - 00:45:11:08
Matías Peire
To get a warning in Europe, never call it services, but it's always a mistake because they said scientists don't want to be service partners. They are scientists and they always forget it was created in mass ten years ago.

00:45:11:10 - 00:45:13:21
Christian Soschner
Given the error in the collaboration, yeah.

00:45:13:23 - 00:45:38:02
Matías Peire
This is the right term. It's it's I always come out with this. I also have a business background and they help the scientists be excited. But my friends know that they always make the same mistake when we talk about venture creation. Why? They were speaking 10 minutes ago, I looked up to name it was my Hutchinson. She had a speech last year in Miami at the Orleans summit, and

00:45:38:02 - 00:45:42:01
Matías Peire
the topic of her speech was Can we really create ventures?

00:45:42:01 - 00:46:08:22
Matías Peire
Can we create entrepreneurs? And the example she brought was that you look from ten people, whatever event to build a thousand. She has also a structure in the United States similar to yours in tech areas. Is it whatever eventually that does two of these ten entrepreneurs will succeed anyway. You can't change that. So they are the best, They are good, they do what they do and they will win.

00:46:08:24 - 00:46:33:21
Matías Peire
And on Q&A, had you said fear for will definitely fail and whatever eventually that does, nothing will come out of it for whatever reason. And the question she raised, she said, and the big question is can we make a difference with the five, almost four or five others in the middle that I'm not yet at the top, but they are too good to fail.

00:46:33:23 - 00:46:53:19
Matías Peire
Can we make a difference? And since you are running eventually, basically since 2016, I would like to hear your opinion. What is your experience with these ten entrepreneurs that you get into on on your table? Did you decide to work with? How do they develop under your guidance?

00:46:54:01 - 00:47:26:13
Christian Soschner
Great. Is first is that we can work with with people that sometimes they don't consider themselves as entrepreneur entrepreneurialism. Not it's not like something that you bring from in your genetics Now, entrepreneurialism idea of action. You are creating a company or we are not creating a company. So if you're are in the process of creating a company, you are an entrepreneur, period now.

00:47:26:15 - 00:47:51:17
Christian Soschner
So I don't think there is like a into Brunel so that you should have to to do it. I think that you need to answer one one question because if you analyze an entrepreneur career, it makes no sense to to compare to like a like corporate career or another career, you know, for a business guy makes no sense to become entrepreneur.

00:47:51:19 - 00:48:18:14
Christian Soschner
The only reason to become an entrepreneur is that you if you feel that you are going to regret not doing it, is the only the only reason that you should consider to jump in and into an entrepreneur career. So that's that's the baseline know all the time and awareness that we are considering all of them should have that that question answered.

00:48:18:14 - 00:48:49:07
Christian Soschner
Now, is there a moment for you? Are you regretting if you're not doing this? Yes. Yes. Okay. So you have to to take the chance. And from there in this kind of of benchers, we are seeing a lot of that. They intersperse because as the companies are not created, created in the vision of the entrepreneur is created trying to execute something that the scientist brings to the table.

00:48:49:09 - 00:49:18:09
Christian Soschner
No, that's none of your super exciting enterprise in the middle. If there are good executors, no. If they are like constantly, they understand, if they are coachable, if they are they are like is straight, buoyant and so on. I think that's like middle range of of of tomorrow's could be very valuable as well. We would do not have or we don't have yet the math of of ten year period.

00:49:18:14 - 00:49:50:04
Christian Soschner
No. To understand where we are yet in understanding that. No. But what we are seeing is that we are not kind of have like like only the outliers. We hope to have double layers, but it's not going to be a matter of looking for one company of 1 billion is going to, we think in this kind of companies is going to be like having like more ten companies of 100 millions rather than our our outlier when 1 billion.

00:49:50:06 - 00:50:25:17
Christian Soschner
And in that math maybe you are going to find like enterprises that are not going to be like that top tier enterprise. But if they are they have discipline. They are open to to understand and to to be helped by investors and all the environment that they will. I think that they can success as well because of the of the project that they are dealing with them because the science could be so powerful that if you are good managing, maybe they don't need to be like the outlier.

00:50:25:17 - 00:50:26:10
Matías Peire
And

00:50:26:10 - 00:50:56:01
Matías Peire
I mean, what I am curious to, to hear from, from to hear your opinion translation from science into business is very tricky because as you mentioned before, on one hand, you have scientists who are proficient in their art. And usually when scientists found the company to have something in the working that a handful of people understand in the world that they are specialists.

00:50:56:03 - 00:51:17:24
Matías Peire
And on the other hand, when they look on the hardcore finance, they head to other specialists who only focus on specific parts of business and finance. How did you experience in your work the complexities and challenges of bringing business finance people and scientists together?

00:51:18:01 - 00:51:55:11
Christian Soschner
Yeah, I think there is one common place for all of them that is, if you sit on the table, people that are really a caring about impact. And that's the the central conversation in the table. And they know that they cannot face that or achieve that kind of impact without the other. They have to figure out how how to work together.

00:51:55:13 - 00:52:19:07
Christian Soschner
Imagine you're in your ship now and you have the the the the cup. Then you have live the or especially in the in the wing or whatever. I don't know nothing about ships but and you have to face the storm now and everybody want to live 1 to 2 to stay alive in that process. No. So they are going to find a way or they are going to try to find a way of leading to that to us.

00:52:19:12 - 00:52:46:17
Christian Soschner
So I think impact to today, he says a very important connector for that conversation, because you really have like a sincere interest that, really want to want to impact to to do something different. Now the understanding that they have to to to win money in a capitalist system to to do it. No but but they really want they are doing what they are doing because they want to really transform something.

00:52:46:19 - 00:53:20:09
Christian Soschner
And the scientist naturally, I more impact driven so they are thinking how this knowledge that they were working on and as you mentioned, maybe 2050 people that really knows about this, this, this stuff, how this can really impact to somebody is and can really transform something. So I think impact is is if we can find a appropriate conversation between them, then they have to figure out how to how to manage the differences.

00:53:20:11 - 00:53:23:01
Christian Soschner
Because the only a common project.

00:53:23:01 - 00:53:23:07
Christian Soschner
now.

00:53:23:10 - 00:53:36:06
Matías Peire
It's a great strategy to define an outcome. Both parties on both sides are passionate about and lead them towards that outcome. Hopefully not in a way like to ship that you say, okay, you get.

00:53:36:06 - 00:53:37:19
Christian Soschner
This.

00:53:37:21 - 00:53:42:03
Matías Peire
Or we anticipate or die of your time.

00:53:42:05 - 00:53:46:22
Christian Soschner
Yes, yes. You know, but but but they are constantly facing that

00:53:46:22 - 00:54:11:12
Christian Soschner
in their when they are talking. No. Because if imagine a scientist that is saying, no, I don't I don't understand this guy. I know why is doing this and why he's so different, why he's saying that this. But if I push so much thinking that I have the reason, the the alternative is, is that my approach is not going to impact No.

00:54:11:14 - 00:54:33:12
Christian Soschner
To have to stop because I know that if I push so much, so I'm going to die and then I'm going to die. And also the prejudice is going to die. So the analogy with living and dying is, is, is is useful for it for us. We we always say to this to to the to the to the funding teams don't die.

00:54:33:14 - 00:54:38:11
Christian Soschner
Don't die because you are not linear, like in a binary chance

00:54:38:11 - 00:54:58:16
Christian Soschner
of doing a company. But if they do work, okay, you're going to do another company. No, no. We are put in ten, maybe 20 years of experience in something, so keep it alive. And so. So we will not agree in this conversation to fail fast and so on.

00:54:58:16 - 00:55:24:16
Christian Soschner
All these this kind of stuff that you seen in the like the last 20 years and then terminal and mindset in the in the digital space. So this don't die is not fail fast is don't die because you know that you have something different you have it in the standard or something different. So maybe what you need is more time and and different approaches and different conversation with this partner that you find.

00:55:24:16 - 00:55:45:04
Christian Soschner
There's a business guide on how you connect together and find a way to really put all this knowledge and this value in a right perspective to, to, to, to attempt the market. And investors know so don't die is is a is the maximum for for for for in our perspective.

00:55:45:09 - 00:56:08:21
Matías Peire
Yeah I think this is the conversation interesting to have him in the spirit of fail fast on board hand which can be I mean then we exited the power loss of most of the companies need to 5 to 10 years period until to really take off and when I to fail fast thinking it could also mean killed the company before you can prove that it really works.

00:56:08:23 - 00:56:31:19
Matías Peire
And they also like the attitude sometimes, especially in this times Europe. Now we have a recession. It's all about survival. So keep pushing, keep pushing forward. You need five years to really find out better something, books and know what's happened. Tell me more about this approach that you brought up failed fast process. Don't say survive.

00:56:31:19 - 00:57:12:12
Christian Soschner
No. So so we think that we need to transform the way in how we produce and and and in general, because we are going to have like more and more pressure in terms of changing this means of production. and as I mentioned, science holds that no knowledge, no. So if you are like an expert in and very specific stuff that really a with fundamentals supporting, you can really bring something to the conversation of changing the way of how you produce in something, some stuff.

00:57:12:14 - 00:57:50:23
Christian Soschner
No, I think it's your responsibility to find that, find a way of how to do this. And sometimes it's not to just take a chance of becoming an entrepreneur. And if you don't raise your first couple of million dollars. Okay, let's go to a no, no, no due to to doing other stuff now is to really be very like deeply responsible of what you are going to to do to really bring something to the table in terms of how to bring some some alternative to on on the means of production.

00:57:51:03 - 00:58:21:15
Christian Soschner
So I think it's a matter of responsibility now. So so we know that there are fundamentals that can tell you that your enzyme is better than the agrochemicals that you are using it. It's obvious that it is, but it's not. So it's not so obvious when you have to to to, to to run this last mile or to think about how to put that in the market.

00:58:21:15 - 00:58:58:11
Christian Soschner
No. So take this this, this process in the deepest, responsible way, because it doesn't change the fundamentals that this new like bio fertilizer or whatever is going to be better than the synthetic fertilizers. That is the fact. No, this is better than that. And this maybe is not a better business. So we have to take this responsibility to make this a better business than the business that is bringing harm to the to a planet or to or to or to the people.

00:58:58:13 - 00:59:15:20
Christian Soschner
So I think it's a matter of now we know that we have the solutions. Now we have the responsibility to make these solutions a good basis to finally replace this solution. So I think it's a matter of responsibility

00:59:15:20 - 00:59:16:05
Christian Soschner
then.

00:59:16:05 - 00:59:26:23
Matías Peire
Absolutely. Absolutely. When you know you have something that works, bring it to market, makes makes a lot of sense, But it won't be easy in most cases. And

00:59:26:23 - 00:59:27:03
Matías Peire
why.

00:59:27:03 - 00:59:50:23
Christian Soschner
Not? I No, no, it's going to and it's not going to be easy. But but it's worth to commit ten years on that to to see if you can do it. Of course, if you take ten years and it's okay, maybe it's not that this doesn't work, maybe need the I don't know how to make it work, but I think it's worth to take ten years thinking about how to do it.

00:59:51:00 - 01:00:15:01
Matías Peire
I think is is one of the key, key points of entrepreneurship that are not really mentioned very often in conversations that I think any company that wants to achieve something significant needs at least 10 to 20 years planning. Yeah, it's not two years, three years or four years, it's a minimum of ten years. And you mentioned tech, digital, digital space before.

01:00:15:01 - 01:00:33:15
Matías Peire
I mean also, when they look on the influence and your business models, Jerome, for example, one of the famous podcasters from the United States, he started back in 2006, seven, eight and in 2020 hated to deal with Spotify. So although in the digital space, it takes ten, 15 years to achieve something.

01:00:33:20 - 01:00:34:11
Christian Soschner
Tony

01:00:34:11 - 01:01:08:19
Christian Soschner
yes. Because to build stuff, take a lot of a lot of time know so So we say this if you're if you take to the decision that you would regret not to do this, then you have to think that it's going to take at least ten years to to to to see if this can work. No. And it's a Trump maybe it's a trap because maybe you're going to spend the first three years and say, okay, this is looks like maybe it could work.

01:01:08:21 - 01:01:35:20
Christian Soschner
Let's take another four years. Okay. This just looks like it's going to work and let's take another four years now. And after that, nine or ten years again. No, no, this is not working. So so maybe it's tricky because you can have like with signals in the process, but those are good talking about maybe are not the Daphne is an idea that that gives you the certainty that this is going to work now.

01:01:35:22 - 01:01:49:04
Christian Soschner
So it's going to I totally agree that is it's anything that you can build as you are aiming to build. It's going to take not no, no less than ten years to to start seeing if it's going to work.

01:01:49:06 - 01:02:10:07
Matías Peire
Then entrepreneurs should have that in mind when they start a company. And I think this question that you bring up is key to success, what you requested. I think also Jeff Bezos said something similar in one of the interviews that he says when he started Amazon, he asked himself, When I met with, I regret not having tried it.

01:02:10:07 - 01:02:15:10
Matías Peire
And he also said the answer was yes. And I think this is the right motion to start the company then.

01:02:15:10 - 01:02:30:00
Matías Peire
And when they look at Europe, at scientific companies, we have one significant challenge. And this challenge is after starting a company, we get public funds here in Europe plenty off and this works fine when the idea is good.

01:02:30:00 - 01:02:35:09
Matías Peire
And when they found this option that and show the will to go a minimum of ten years.

01:02:35:09 - 01:02:36:23
Matías Peire
But after series.

01:02:36:24 - 01:02:44:07
Christian Soschner
And when they're lucky. And when they're lucky yeah because you need like a lot now so what.

01:02:44:09 - 01:02:49:08
Matías Peire
Interoperate and what role do serendipity play in your opinion in entrepreneurship.

01:02:49:12 - 01:03:01:10
Christian Soschner
No, I think it's a it's it's a balance. A balance of three things no capabilities, effort and serendipity or like

01:03:01:10 - 01:03:07:10
Christian Soschner
so. So it's those those those three.

01:03:07:12 - 01:03:08:06
Matías Peire
I totally agree. It's

01:03:08:06 - 01:03:32:21
Matías Peire
like we can't manipulate. I mean, sometimes it's work, sometimes not. But we can go to the right places. And this brings me to the next question. When scientists found the company, you should it after Siri say, to have a problem that we don't have sufficient venture capital here in Europe. So what's the need to do is moving towards the United States or UAE or Southeast Asia.

01:03:32:23 - 01:03:47:15
Matías Peire
How is the situation in Latin America? What's your strategy when your companies move forward, your confidence there can be pequenas can you find in STEM in Latin America, or do you also need to to look towards other places?

01:03:47:18 - 01:04:11:05
Christian Soschner
No, we need to do we need to do that much more sooner? No, because there are almost no investors in the region investing in in early stages in this kind of projects. A So we're one of the few investors in the region, but we all only do this. This company be the process. Then we can do follow on investments.

01:04:11:05 - 01:04:45:13
Christian Soschner
But we need to like invest first in our investments. So what we do is we try to connect this startup as soon as possible with a US investors, mainly a because the pathway is going to be there. So they need they need to start the process as soon as possible there because they don't, they, they don't have like seed round if they need to raise after our investment like between one or two or 3 million of us there, there are no investors in the region to it to invest it.

01:04:45:13 - 01:05:07:06
Christian Soschner
And if I'm out maybe you can have some exceptions but but there's not an ecosystem of investors so we need to to to connect them to us as soon as possible. And and that one of the points that people tell me at the beginning, you know, why these scientists are going to be competitive. And that's one of the thing that we think that we achieved.

01:05:07:08 - 01:05:44:21
Christian Soschner
No, we didn't cross the river, as I mention in terms of the whole business. And we didn't have a full cycle of ten years know of the fund, but we really can say that we achieve is that we are successfully funding startups from Latin America in in the for landscape with the worldwide venture capital landscape. And we are already invested in 66 companies and almost half of them already raise funds from other investors in abroad.

01:05:44:23 - 01:05:59:09
Christian Soschner
So they are coming out from here and they are going to the US and they are competing. It's more difficult for a Latin American startup to raise funds in the in the U.S. But but it's happening. It's happening.

01:05:59:09 - 01:06:01:20
Matías Peire
You said 16 companies.

01:06:01:22 - 01:06:03:12
Christian Soschner
You have 66.

01:06:03:14 - 01:06:05:07
Matías Peire
66.

01:06:05:09 - 01:06:06:12
Christian Soschner
66.

01:06:06:14 - 01:06:07:22
Matías Peire
Six, six. Well.

01:06:07:24 - 01:06:10:06
Christian Soschner
Six, six in the in the portfolio

01:06:10:06 - 01:06:17:18
Christian Soschner
and almost the half of the of those already raise funds and almost 15 or a race to succeed in series X.

01:06:17:20 - 01:06:20:15
Matías Peire
I congratulations this is huge success.

01:06:20:17 - 01:06:57:18
Christian Soschner
Yeah yes this is still it's still we we have to a long way to go no to to to pay back the the the funds to our investors. We had one exit one of the companies was were us acquiring 2020. So so we pay back in almost the first fund but we're still in the process of of looking for for more access to to to show not only that this is possible of having these Latin Americans raising funds abroad, but also to make a business for for the investors are trust in this.

01:06:57:20 - 01:07:08:23
Matías Peire
There seems to be still a big opportunity for investors in Latin America. Where do you see the ecosystem heading towards in the next ten years?

01:07:09:00 - 01:07:57:23
Christian Soschner
Well, I think it is yet difficult for for the the, the LPC. The progress in Latin America in general, our family offices and individuals, we don't have like a many like institutional investors. We also have the IDB being the American Development Bank. Now there is maybe the biggest institutional investor for for b C in the in the region, but beside that and maybe IFC or, or or other like developing multilateral development banks do not have like money is real money for for for venture of industry and less to science based setups now or deep to extend them.

01:07:58:00 - 01:08:29:01
Christian Soschner
So what we are seeing that is is is difficult because in this specific space, deep tech because and or biotech non-pharmaceutical biotech is our niche is difficult because a because they the the the this this cycle is not complete yet but not only in Latin America in the US also you have a full cycle of investments in this kind of startups.

01:08:29:03 - 01:09:16:24
Christian Soschner
So it's it's more difficult to understand what you can expect as an investor. Okay. If I put 100 bucks and what are the odds to have a kind of return or range of return? We don't know yet. There's no the maths yet because it's not the full cycle yet, so it's difficult. So I think that in the next five years I don't, I don't know about the next ten years but well what we can see is more like investors from abroad, from Europe, the US coming to ready America, understanding the the reasons that they are seen in the in in the US and a B in the peace of this kind of funds in the

01:09:16:24 - 01:09:46:17
Christian Soschner
region. But I'm not seeing like local investors to growing are growing presence of local investor investing this kind of of of of funds. I think it's going to be much more difficult maybe like in my read more of like a philanthropic or in a matter of like a more enthusiastic businessman that likes these now rather than like a strategy of diversification of some part of a portfolio management of their own fortunes.

01:09:46:19 - 01:10:13:05
Christian Soschner
So I see maybe in the next five years as this is happening and we are we are are showing like, like some results, I think that is going to be more attractive for investors from abroad that have appetite with Latin America, even though our budgets are not focused on Latin American or worldwide solutions. But you need to to to to have like some sensitive about the the Latin American risk.

01:10:13:07 - 01:10:46:06
Christian Soschner
So I see more like foreign investors coming into the region to a missing these kind of of of of funds. And we don't see that we're going to have like a nickel system to have like seed and Syriza's investments affordable system in the next ten years in the region. I think it's going to take longer to to to have at least what you have in Europe now in maybe it's going to take like 15 or 20 years to to at least have enough investors to invest in seed in the U.S. in the region.

01:10:46:08 - 01:11:12:18
Matías Peire
Now, 17, 15 years, 15 years is a good timeframe. I think Europe was at the same place in biotech in 2006 when I started in this area, and it evolved naturally over 15 years. So many companies are not there anymore. Some got sold some exits, some did typos, but money was flowing back, basically fully followed us and to always give back, it takes them.

01:11:12:20 - 01:11:17:14
Matías Peire
But yes, it's really great talking to you. But I just checked 8:00 and I'm okay.

01:11:17:18 - 01:11:19:20
Christian Soschner
Okay. So again, I'm going.

01:11:19:22 - 01:11:37:09
Matías Peire
To I'm I'm afraid to offend, too. I enjoy this conversation a lot. But let me ask you, which topic would you like to cover next? What did what question should ask you? What parts did they not cover yet?

01:11:37:11 - 01:12:10:23
Christian Soschner
now I think the that we can talk a little bit about the, the, the opportunity, the Latin American opportunity. Now what we are seeing here and and why are we looking of why Latin America should be a great opportunity for this kind of investment. So. Well, what what we are seeing is, like three, three things. One is the, the availability of this pool of talent.

01:12:11:00 - 01:12:47:13
Christian Soschner
A as I mentioned, there are like 300,000 researchers in the region. Maybe we don't have the right numbers, but we estimate that we have 200,000 researches related to life sciences in general. So, so we are like initially to think about at least a 10% of that talent working on, on startups, doing, doing, doing science, you have that huge pool of talent and almost none of those are like working on the private sector.

01:12:47:15 - 01:13:15:24
Christian Soschner
So it's not so easy because you don't have the culture in that talent to work in a company. But it's an opportunity because you are not competing with like a big companies or startup raising $300 million that are hiring this kind of this. No. So as startup you can grow very fast, you know, a hiring people that is available in the market, that that's a huge opportunity.

01:13:16:01 - 01:13:45:11
Christian Soschner
The second opportunities there is a cost arbitrage opportunity because that kind of teams could cost like a 10th of what you can spend in Europe or the US. And are showing that they're very competitive, very good, good talent. Yeah, they build up in great stuff from, from the, from the region. And the third thing that we seen as a competitive advantage is the biodiversity that we holds here in, in, in the in the region.

01:13:45:11 - 01:14:23:01
Christian Soschner
Now in general, when you talk about biodiversity a people thinks more about conserving and because a matter of balance in nature and I agree on that and of course we have to think about that. But in general we are not talking so much about the asset of the value that is in that biodiversity. No, As we are speeding up the process of transforming biological data into binary code, no sequencing this, this, this information and speeding up the process and descending course on that.

01:14:23:01 - 01:14:49:13
Christian Soschner
And this the speed of having this kind of information that we can have is going to is going to grow. so as we have, the more biodiverse region in the world, the amount of data that we can have, there could be a real asset for, for, for, for the region. So I think it's a huge opportunity for the region as well.

01:14:49:15 - 01:15:14:18
Matías Peire
And it makes the region unique. I mean, I think there is nothing comparable in the world when it comes to biodiversity and accessing the information of nature to produce. I mean, you said you have more focused on biotech except pharma, but when I think about track development, maybe there is also a niche there because biodiversity means there are a lot of potential drug candidates hidden in nature.

01:15:14:18 - 01:15:18:20
Matías Peire
Still. How do you see that opportunity for pharmaceutical investors?

01:15:18:22 - 01:15:43:15
Christian Soschner
No, I think I think for for for enterprises coming out from the region is more a matter of platforms that they can develop to do these discovery processes rather than all the process of put a new molecule in the market normally I think is much more difficult for for startups coming out from America to compete in that arena.

01:15:43:17 - 01:16:13:24
Christian Soschner
Well it is is very difficult and we have a lot of opportunities in this kind of technological platforms in the agriculture, in in food, in biomaterials, in industrial biotech and and so on. Rather than go through a molecule, we we sometimes discuss with scientists in the region because they they say, okay, look we discovered this in biodiversity in this could be we can cure cancer, whatever.

01:16:13:24 - 01:16:43:15
Christian Soschner
And now with this new molecule. Okay, how do you discover this now? Because we are doing like is corporations in the Amazonia or wherever, and we have all this library of all these different microorganisms and we are like screen and all that. So that is your basis, not to, to, to put a new molecule in the market because it's going to be much more difficult now for for you and you and you show that you are doing very well.

01:16:43:16 - 01:17:06:14
Christian Soschner
The other stuff know how to to to explore, to screen, to to select the right molecules or the right microorganisms to to to find different opportunities do so. But sometimes the scientist wants to themselves to to put the new molecule in in the market. But is it okay we are not going to do it.

01:17:06:18 - 01:17:44:14
Matías Peire
I know it's it's very attractive to the idea of finding to cure to disease but the failure rate the thing is still 99.9% of molecules don't. It's the market and. Drug development is a science by itself. So clinical trial development especially. And so I think very interesting for scientific companies. I mean, you can easily take IP and scientists and put it in a corporate shell but wants to complete pretty pre-clinical work there and a completely different game is nothing to do with basic research.

01:17:44:16 - 01:17:52:05
Matías Peire
This is nothing to do with translational research or drug discovery. It's completely different skillset needed in scale.

01:17:52:09 - 01:17:54:12
Christian Soschner
To it now,

01:17:54:12 - 01:18:26:11
Christian Soschner
and it's very difficult to jump in the that conversation coming out from Latin America. Sometimes it's difficult coming from a university in the center of the United States, so it's difficult for them also to be competitive. Boston or or with Berkeley or whatever. No, you mentioned the Ivy League university. So so we decided not to do that kind of stuff because it's very it's very difficult.

01:18:26:11 - 01:18:39:22
Christian Soschner
And sometimes we have like like companies doing and they accept to transform what they are doing more into a firm rather than into a pipeline of, of your molecules.

01:18:39:24 - 01:19:03:22
Matías Peire
Now, totally agree. The first that I worked with was a spin out from Novartis. It was the Department of Rutger Nova, who later created Stand, CRISPR Therapeutics with Emmanuelle Charpentier in Switzerland, then morphed the company naturally to to Boston. So this is on the Nasdaq and it's like intellia. So I mean, a chip at the end. Jennifer Doudna got the Nobel Prize.

01:19:03:24 - 01:19:28:11
Matías Peire
Yeah, but from what I hear from you, I mean, you have this platform technologies, you have biodiversity. So there seems to be a huge opportunity the other way around. Drug developers from Europe and the United States could hook up with your scientists and take their innovation from their platforms and select some that qualify for developing over therapeutics. And maybe there's a area for collaboration.

01:19:28:11 - 01:19:30:20
Matías Peire
How do you see that possibility?

01:19:30:22 - 01:20:05:12
Christian Soschner
No, no, no. That's a huge opportunity. No, they're are not like the the the bridges to the data and the connections to data are not built, know about the opportunities there. And sometimes it's difficult from the the raw opportunity to a clear opportunity to to build the right connections to to to make it happen. It's not so easy but it's clear a good opportunity I think is the opportunities more to for like Latin American startups to develop their stuff.

01:20:05:14 - 01:20:14:03
Christian Soschner
And from Latin America they have to go to Europe or U.S. and show that they are they are an opportunity.

01:20:14:03 - 01:20:39:16
Christian Soschner
We are seeing the opportunity more there rather than less. The European or the US scientists coming out to Latin America and see what happens. We're seeing more in the opposite way in in if you find a way of selling, but you have a company that can raise funds and that can be an opportunity for this like pharma industry or whatever, then that that's right.

01:20:39:20 - 01:20:41:04
Christian Soschner
The right way to do it,

01:20:41:04 - 01:20:54:09
Christian Soschner
to show you that you have a company, that you have a platform that you have science behind, that it can be strong. And that's the way to to attract this is that's the way we are doing it.

01:20:54:11 - 01:21:13:05
Matías Peire
So yeah, I had a team from Latin America biotech on, I think one and a half years ago on my podcast who did exactly what it is crap started in Latin America and then moved off into the Netherlands and started traveling Europe to find collaboration partners. And it seems to work fine. So it's a great strategy.

01:21:13:10 - 01:21:19:13
Christian Soschner
Okay, great, great. I didn't know the it's good to to, to to know where they are.

01:21:19:15 - 01:21:20:14
Matías Peire
Yeah.

01:21:20:16 - 01:21:21:02
Christian Soschner
Take it in.

01:21:21:03 - 01:21:34:18
Matías Peire
You can send it to link after about I afterwards. When investors get interested to connect with scientists in Latin America, what would you advice to them? How should they do it?

01:21:34:18 - 01:22:14:08
Christian Soschner
No I think the the the point is that the Latin American project should shown themselves like a scientist that knows something specifically and they know how to put in the in the market. And after all that process, if the investor discovered that they are coming out from Latin America, maybe he can he can start thinking about white. He is investing in Latin America.

01:22:14:08 - 01:22:46:16
Christian Soschner
But I think that what this kind of startups have to show is that they are bringing something that is truly competitive. No. And and that it that is possible to to to to to make something different and the investors really need to to rely on somebody else. So it's very difficult for them to to rely only on the promises from the from the entrepreneurs.

01:22:46:16 - 01:23:26:04
Christian Soschner
No. So that's why we are trying to do them. For example, we are we are doing that kind of work with individual in San Francisco, New York, where if you know that there are a huge US territory in biotech and they really in in 11 companies from a portfolio and at the beginning was was way this is coming up from Argentina from America on and now they they use us as an interface to understand what is coming out from the America of course then they have to see the project to us as they as they see any project.

01:23:26:04 - 01:23:47:02
Christian Soschner
No, they have to believe in what they doing. They have to believe in the science and so on. But A, you need to put in equal conditions to any other university that they know and they rely on to start the conversation. I think that we are trying to do that. So, okay, as you know that they are coming out from grade X now.

01:23:47:03 - 01:24:06:13
Christian Soschner
Now you can understand this startup as any startup coming out from any university from the world, because you know that that they are going to be here to be a scientist. They're going to be doing serious stuff that they are going to have true commitment and what they are doing. They have a good process of how they licenses, technologies and so on.

01:24:06:15 - 01:24:29:01
Christian Soschner
So so we need to to put that like I think interface to to to build a confident with investors know. So it's difficult for them by themselves to to to understand and to do that diligence in the scientific side without having this interface of trust.

01:24:29:01 - 01:24:55:15
Matías Peire
no. I think this is a great approach to connect with you and build from the. So what you've built before in Dubai, you basically makes a whole lot of sense when you really have a footprint in the region. When I look towards the future, I mean, 2030 is a little bit closer, you know, if 2023 But let's look further, 2040 how do you envision the future and patrol should your fund play.

01:24:56:03 - 01:25:13:19
Christian Soschner
Well with as a matter of us, we are we are like looking for it. We we are quite pessimistic about the future of humanity. You know, if you're seeing not only what is going on, but also the

01:25:13:19 - 01:25:29:10
Christian Soschner
dynamics of how we and the motivations and the system on how we all know. If you extrapolate that no to to the future, the odds are not in our favor.

01:25:29:12 - 01:26:18:14
Christian Soschner
So so so the future it's look to be complicated in because of the climate crisis because of the inequalities because of the instability that it's going to bring. Both know we're seeing we're going to see more war because even more energy, civility, more tensions more of of of things that is difficult that that that that stop doing. We have to be like like a clear and that no so so the future is not so optimistic but that's give us like more reasons do what we do because we have to keep pushing we have to keep bringing in new companies that can really from design, bring somebody something, something, something different to the table.

01:26:18:16 - 01:27:05:19
Christian Soschner
And of course, as we are keeping using this capitalism, every is the model we need to to understand how it works. And we need to show profitability. We need to show value to to the investors by but by design we need to design stuff from scratch that have a clear correlation between profits and positive impact. No. So and and we don't know how to grow is going to happen that but we have analyzed on that in the past anything ecology that really change no was had an exponential growth.

01:27:05:21 - 01:27:42:22
Christian Soschner
We don't know which technologies can transform the world how we produce but we know that when those appears it's going to they are going to grow exponentially because it's happening in the past. We in this capitalist system is going to happen. So we we have to keep pushing through to to, to to bring like solutions to a table to see which is going to finally get this condition of growing or how many it's going to be maybe, maybe many technologies, not only what the knowledge, you know.

01:27:42:24 - 01:28:15:04
Christian Soschner
So that's that's an ally of the behavior of humanity that when really understand something and really perceive the value on something there, the growing the growing exponentially know so so so we know it's going to happen, but we don't know when so so and and we don't know. Maybe we are in a Spanish but but we are not seeing yet the like the the the the more the how do you say this this is the slope more for how you know.

01:28:15:06 - 01:28:42:14
Matías Peire
You have what's the upwards extraction. Yeah that's true with true. Can you really plan success. Sometimes this risks serendipity and when you look at the technology do you think venture capitalists can can see which one or the winners or is it just a matter of diversification to to say, okay, I mean, I know one of ten companies will succeed, but I cannot tell which.

01:28:42:14 - 01:28:44:05
Matías Peire
How do you see that?

01:28:44:07 - 01:29:16:05
Christian Soschner
No, no, no, no. I think it's impossible to know who is going to be the winner. It's impossible. So you can have like baselines then, you know? Okay. I don't know. I know that if they don't have this, they. I'm sure they are not going to be winners. No, but I have I should have a lot of baselines, though, to have at least all this to to to to to to to think that maybe from all this we can find a a winner.

01:29:16:07 - 01:29:46:17
Christian Soschner
So that's I think that's that's the, that's the the the work to, to, to do that. And and I think that the the the challenge is how you can put in that conversation the right ones that have everything that you need to have to become a winner and then becoming a winner is is a different game. Nope. But upfront, you know, okay, this guy or this team have everything that you need to have to be a winner.

01:29:46:19 - 01:30:13:03
Christian Soschner
I can be sure they're going to be a winner, but they all they have all that you need to to have. I think that that's the most challenging thing to assess an investor on is a bunch of companies to the end. And it's a battle between the mandate to deploy the capital and the money to choose no to the kind of profiles that that assure you that at least you have the minimum to to success.

01:30:13:20 - 01:30:56:22
Matías Peire
And let's talk about the qualities needed. I mean am now close to 50 so I was a student in the nineties and when I look now in the public market, I think the obvious app for Microsoft media in the United States, S&P 500 and NASDAQ, I mean now knows yeah, these are the big winners when you look back to the nineties or Amazon or a Google was not really the yet Amazon as I so I watched an interview of Jeff Bezos titled the nerd of the Amazon it didn't didn't look like a winner and a lot of people tried selling books over the internet back then it was close to failing in 1997.

01:30:56:22 - 01:31:16:05
Matías Peire
They needed support from Microsoft and Microsoft. Were the bad guys in that game? Yeah, when when we wanted to identify qualities in founders. But you confidently can say this looks more like winners. What qualities should investors look for in your opinion?

01:31:16:10 - 01:31:56:23
Christian Soschner
No, they have to be like learners. No, they have. They have to have a builder mindset. And a builder might, in my said, include a patient, include an openness, include a resilience, anti anti fragility. We like more, but then the fragility rather than resilience. includes like a deep commitment, you know, like I like the again that phrase is not like skin in the game.

01:31:56:23 - 01:32:44:17
Christian Soschner
It's like a soul in the game that you need to, to put the so you need flexibility. No. A Because it's not going to work as you thought it was. No. So and you need also to be ambitious, too ambitious about what you want to achieve. so I think it's a little tough on that. But, but we want to, to see all that in both in that and to bring insight and the scientific side both have to of to build their own end to real profile together.

01:32:44:19 - 01:32:54:10
Christian Soschner
So so I think it's more like, like that kind of personal stuff and soft skills rather than anything else.

01:32:54:10 - 01:33:10:20
Matías Peire
Yeah that's true. Especially soft skills, understanding to work together with diverse skill sets that people usually tend to not really understand each other but needs to trust one another. I think this is this is very important. What you mentioned.

01:33:10:22 - 01:33:15:11
Christian Soschner
Totally and finding the balance is to to

01:33:15:11 - 01:33:34:20
Christian Soschner
to trust. But but also to say the right words when you are not trusting the other. But could of course it could have been you have to have like a a blind trust in your partner. No. Is is sometimes you are seeing that is not working and you're not trusting what the what he's saying.

01:33:34:20 - 01:34:04:08
Christian Soschner
And you have to be as assertive as you can to to show why and when you are not trusting in this in this case and to have open, open conversations and and trying to, you know, not not feel like you're having like personal conversations. No. So I that kind of of teams really find a way to to success.

01:34:04:10 - 01:34:21:12
Matías Peire
Yeah, that's true. That's true. Let's come to the closing questions. What what's the best piece of advice you've ever got during your career that you would like to share with other investors and entrepreneurs?

01:34:21:14 - 01:35:13:08
Christian Soschner
I don't know about Once 111 investor told me that the right manager are all the time trying to to create and conflict. No, because when you are pushing boundaries, you are creating conflicts in your team. But then creating conflict, having the skills to solve those conflicts. So I think that was a a very, a very interesting advice and approach that you can't be a manager or a leader always having everybody happy.

01:35:13:10 - 01:35:42:18
Christian Soschner
You have to push the boundaries. But when you push it, you have to know that it's going to happen conflicts and then you know, you have to know how to to to solve those conflicts. If only push boundaries, then you're going to have chaos. But if you push boundaries because you need to push boundaries, because you need to achieve something different or something new, then you need to to to re accommodate that.

01:35:42:19 - 01:35:51:22
Christian Soschner
And I thought it was a very valuable insight and advice that I received from from one of my investors.

01:35:51:24 - 01:35:57:14
Matías Peire
That's a great point there. There is no company without friction, basically, then.

01:35:57:16 - 01:36:21:13
Christian Soschner
Yes yes, we have we have to deal with conflict and friction, the tensions. We have to deal with those kind of tensions. We have to you have to know how to deal with tensions. And mostly when you when in the in our case that we are putting together like like this business languages with scientific languages, if you don't know how to deal with that kind of tensions,

01:36:21:13 - 01:36:27:16
Christian Soschner
if you're not tense tension in so much, you are not making nothing nothing new.

01:36:27:18 - 01:36:31:17
Christian Soschner
So, so, so needed to to create that tension.

01:36:31:19 - 01:37:00:15
Matías Peire
That's true. That's true. And it needs also a bit of resilience from everybody to accept a certain amount of tension and friction in the company. And it can't be always a place of harmony today. Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a great point. When you could go back in time and give advice to your younger self, what would that be?

01:37:00:17 - 01:37:03:07
Christian Soschner
And

01:37:03:07 - 01:37:23:16
Christian Soschner
I think it could be keep pushing. It's okay follow what your what you're feeling and keep pushing and it's going to be okay. Whatever it is it's going to be, it's going to be okay. But keep pushing, you know, keep working.

01:37:23:18 - 01:37:36:00
Matías Peire
That's great advice. It's great advice. What's next in the coming 3 to 4 years? What's the big challenge that you would like to solve with critics where you look for outside support?

01:37:36:14 - 01:37:39:21
Christian Soschner
Well, we really know our team.

01:37:39:21 - 01:37:53:05
Christian Soschner
We really ambition to to really bring a new way of creating scientific startups and creating this process of transforming science into impact in Latin America.

01:37:53:05 - 01:38:17:21
Christian Soschner
Now, we are we're too young even we have already 66 companies. But with the second fund that we are running, we're going to reach almost 100 companies. And but we think that to be really in a position to say, okay, we now have enough information, when are

01:38:17:21 - 01:38:26:13
Christian Soschner
we really going to need to create like at least two other companies And this is going to happen in the next six or seven years.

01:38:26:21 - 01:39:01:01
Christian Soschner
So I'm from there. We can say, okay, we can we can we can stop and say, okay, where we are now, what, what, what is what is next? But at least we don't have enough information to have like deep conclusions. And we think that enough information is going to be come out from something like 200 companies, a and I know the pathways of those companies know at least we don't have a data.

01:39:01:03 - 01:39:35:02
Christian Soschner
That information we can think in the next step. So what do we have to do? So we are very focused right now on on deploying this second fine and pushing these companies to to, to, to, to connect to to to worldwide investors to think about our next that's going to be in two or three years and to to reach that amount of companies because we think they are we going to have like enough information to to see we are doing or not something something right in the middle.

01:39:35:02 - 01:40:00:12
Christian Soschner
We constantly iterate and and consider the past year to two things about improvements. No, but but to make like a real balance, we think that we have to face that. And that's our main objective for the next year to do to reach that kind of companies. Because so much of the information that that that we can have there.

01:40:00:14 - 01:40:05:20
Matías Peire
Let me some this up So your fund started in 2016.

01:40:05:22 - 01:40:08:01
Christian Soschner
No yes in so 17.

01:40:08:03 - 01:40:21:05
Matías Peire
717 2016 was the first year of exploration 2017 before, now 2023 it's six years. So basically you create 10 to 12 companies per year in average.

01:40:21:07 - 01:40:22:20
Christian Soschner
Yeah.

01:40:22:22 - 01:40:25:12
Matías Peire
Wow, that's impressive. That's impressive.

01:40:25:14 - 01:40:52:23
Christian Soschner
And the process and, and we are not only we are in in Mexico, Brazil, all the way, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica. We have companies from those. We have one small team in Brazil. We took two persons, we have one person in Mexico. And our idea is to two, to two to grow and to have like more territorial presence in mostly in Mexico and in Brazil.

01:40:53:00 - 01:41:10:22
Christian Soschner
And we think that instead of creating 10 to 12 companies per year, we can create between 20 and 20 something per year if we have more presence in the countries. No. So, so so we ambition that to to reach that amount of 20 companies in the next six or seven years.

01:41:10:24 - 01:41:15:03
Matías Peire
And the next closing of your next fund is in 2 to 3 years down the road.

01:41:15:05 - 01:41:27:16
Christian Soschner
Basically yes. In 2025, we're going to start the fundraising process for the third fund that we hope to to starts employment in 2026.

01:41:27:18 - 01:41:45:23
Matías Peire
So basically any institutional investor, family office interested in diversifying their assets and thinking about also having a footprint in Latin America can reach out to you in the next 2 to 4 years to start exploring whether there is potential for collaboration.

01:41:46:00 - 01:42:04:23
Christian Soschner
Yes, we we are constantly doing fund raising money for a variety of reasons. And now no. And so so whenever they want to reach out, we are going to be very, very happy to to to answer any question they have and start to start a conversation with with all of them.

01:42:05:00 - 01:42:08:07
Matías Peire
What's the best to connect with you?

01:42:08:09 - 01:42:52:13
Christian Soschner
So sometimes link is is the the best way. No, you you can assure they are. That's not the the context is it's going to be a a I'm going to read the contact but we are we have a huge presence in social networks and in in Twitter, in in in Instagram. No. So so we are open. But myself, I think that the best way is it could be LinkedIn and with my profile or Twitter that is and Mbadi the Islamic surname my using Twitter.

01:42:52:15 - 01:42:56:10
Christian Soschner
So I think both are easy ways to to to contact

01:42:56:18 - 01:43:00:12
Matías Peire
Right. I will put it in the description of the podcast and later.

01:43:00:14 - 01:43:01:15
Christian Soschner
Right. Thank you.

01:43:01:17 - 01:43:09:03
Matías Peire
Do you have any final thoughts on messages you'd like to leave to the audience before we and the conversation?

01:43:09:24 - 01:43:11:06
Christian Soschner
I think that's the

01:43:11:06 - 01:43:42:06
Christian Soschner
that we face the last 20, 20 years, like a huge revolution in the in the digital digitization space. Now, today, the biggest companies in the world are those know we'll digitize the world. We have a lot of stuff to do in that. There's many stuff to digitize, but I think that we need to think about the next 20 years with this opportunity of transforming the means of production.

01:43:42:11 - 01:44:09:21
Christian Soschner
And for that we need to to bring a new generation of startups, a new generation of of of of investors is not going to be the same. It's not going to be even the same business as it was with the the decision of of the world and for the last 20 years. I think we have to be open to discuss new models, new approaches, new understanding of which kind of companies we are funding.

01:44:09:23 - 01:44:18:00
Christian Soschner
Yeah, but we really need to, to, to think on this as a huge opportunity.

01:44:18:02 - 01:44:18:14
Matías Peire
Matthias,

01:44:18:14 - 01:44:30:01
Matías Peire
thank you very much for this conversation. I enjoyed a lot. Learning more about the challenges in Latin America. I wish you all the best for the future. Let's stay connected.

01:44:30:03 - 01:44:36:01
Christian Soschner
Yes, Thank you very much, Christine, and for your audience. And thanks for showing this.

01:44:36:03 - 01:44:39:01
Matías Peire
Thank you for your time and have a safe trip home.

01:44:39:03 - 01:44:39:19
Christian Soschner
Bye bye.

01:44:39:21 - 01:44:42:06
Matías Peire
Bye.

01:44:42:06 - 01:45:17:23
Christian Soschner
Thank you for joining in on this inspiring journey with Matthias Pater. We have explored the untapped potential of Latin American biotech, the innovative approach of IDEX in creating startups, and the crucial role of venture capital in transforming scientific research into global business opportunities. Mathias vision for a thriving biotech ecosystem in Latin America is not just inspiring, but a call to action for investors and entrepreneurs worldwide.

01:45:17:23 - 01:45:26:14
Christian Soschner
If this episode sparked your interest or provided valuable insights, please show your support

01:45:26:14 - 01:45:47:12
Christian Soschner
like comment and share this podcast. Your engagement is vital in growing the show, which in turn helps me attract more incredible speakers like Mathias. Every, like, every comment and every single share makes a significant difference in the world of social media.

01:45:47:12 - 01:45:53:08
Christian Soschner
Remember, every big change starts with a single step.

01:45:53:10 - 01:45:57:19
Christian Soschner
Whether you're an inspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned investor,

01:45:57:19 - 01:46:06:19
Christian Soschner
or simply someone passionate about innovation and growth. Your actions and decisions have the power to shape the future.

01:46:06:19 - 01:46:26:13
Christian Soschner
Let's be part of this exciting journey together, exploring new frontiers and turning visionary ideas into reality. Stay curious, stay motivated, and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Regardless of the friction you create.

01:46:26:13 - 01:46:36:12
Christian Soschner
Thank you for being with me today. And don't forget to tune in for more inspiring episodes. Have a great day.