Starting with any relevant education, walk me through the twists and turns of your career to date? How did one opportunity lead to the next + what was the key takeaway/ experience in each role + how did this lead you to where you are now)
We both have finance backgrounds and a long experience in capital raising. Prior to co-founding EVAH, we collaborated in a prior Animal Health (AH) company which was a great success. It was a start-up founded on the back of an academic innovation in animal vaccines, which successfully went through R&D development and obtained market authorizations and commercial launches in key markets. It was then sold to a major AH company. For that venture, we raised $30 million over 8 years. Following the exit, we founded a new company, EVAH Corp., acquired four technologies in AH and then went on to raise $28.5 million in just 2 years. Our innovative business model and our technologies rooted in the One Health approach generated a lot of interest in Canada and Europe. Three technologies are for terrestrial food-producing animals and the fourth is in aquaculture.
We are witnessing increased investor interest and innovation in our sector. Funding in Ag preceded funding in the Ag-Food and Ag-Tech sectors, which in turn precedes funding in aquaculture and the Blue Economy. VC and institutional funding is not aligned with the sector’s returns and longer development time, despite climatic changes, One Health initiatives and Antimicrobial resistance. Our greatest hope is that this trend will rapidly turn. There is urgency to find solutions to an endangered planet, and sustainable food chain to feed a growing global population.
We have also struggled in pitching the R&D and biotech model of our companies to investors, a model of incurring operating losses for many years before reaching commercial success or a divestment opportunity and providing returns to investors. This is what led us to co-found EVAH and establishing an innovative business model.
What was the pivotal moment that put you on your current co-founders’ path?
In our previous life, we reached commercial success in developing a swine vaccine, although it took 15 years from the start-up stage to exit.
This time around at EVAH, we are focusing on developing four technologies in parallel through a much faster development cycle. We acquired the IP on four technologies in April 2021 and are fast-tracking their development up to the late clinical development stage, at the pre-regulatory stage. We believe that is the inflexion point between IP value and return on investment for our shareholders. EVAH’s business model is to monetize the assets by selling them to large AH health companies. The assets are de-risked and at mature development stages for market authorization filings in key markets and large AH companies will be interested in an acquisition of such mature technologies at a premium value. This business model will also allow us to retain our experienced human resources, our know-how and trade secrets, to repeat the R&D cycle with acquisition of new technologies.
Can you provide a quick summary of the technology/ area of innovation and its potential application?
Our mission at EVAH is to better feed the world by developing alternatives to antibiotics and finding solutions to better animal welfare in the production animal food chain. EVAH specializes in the development of vaccines to prevent bacterial diseases in food animals. The company also designs microbiome solutions for improved growth performance and medicated feed against parasites. As antimicrobial resistance continues to be a major global health challenge in food animal production, effective vaccines are crucial for animal welfare and the sustainability of the food chain, in keeping with the United Nations’ One Health approach. EVAH's cutting-edge solutions aim to reduce the use of antibiotics and ensure safe and healthy food for all. Routine use of antibiotics is banned or severely restricted in many countries and need to be replaced by effective vaccines.
What stage are you at?
Our technologies are at varying stages of development. The most advanced is at Technology Readiness Levels 6, and our intent is to monetize it at Level 7, by 2025. The other three technologies are at Technology Readiness Level 4.
Discuss the biggest challenges of getting to this point? With the benefit of hindsight, what would you have done differently if anything?
The biggest challenge has been to connect to clusters of animal health companies and expertise. We had to travel to Europe, the US and Asia to find communities of interest, KOLs in specific animal diseases etc. Thankfully, because we have developed a good network since 2010, many of our contacts have been interested in participating in the EVAH venture. With hindsight, we could have integrated a cluster of comparable companies and shared knowledge and expertise in order to move forward our technologies in the most efficient way possible.
How have you approached funding?
We first approached funding through our network of private and strategic investors who had received a good return on their investment in our past venture. Then, we approached the provincial and federal governments in Canada who are more proactively investing in R&D and innovation for the future. The Canadian government has just announced a 5-year Pan-Canadian action plan on antimicrobial resistance and we are closely following the Farm to Fork programme in Europe. Currently, we are seeking funding from specialized funds in Aquaculture and the Blue Economy for our most advanced technology and from Impact investors that want to make a difference for a better way to feed the planet.
Have there been any pivot points in the company’s lifetime? What triggered these? Has the value proposition changed?
EVAH was founded in 2020 so our business plan is recent and has gained a lot of attraction and support. The value proposition will not change but will be confirmed successful with the first asset sale in 2025 and more technology acquisitions in the meantime.
What has been the greatest source of help/ guidance along the way?
The greatest source of guidance comes from senior practitioners in the field of Animal Health, namely experienced veterinarians, and expert scientists. Through our network of contacts developed over many years in AH, we have been successful at attracting that expertise to our company, our people, our business model and our culture.
Best advice you’d pass on to other founders?
Think globally. Beyond seed funding from angel investors or Friends & Family, the best advice would be to participate at investor forums globally, network and propose your innovation or solutions to the world. Be aware of making a deal too early as your counterpart may change strategy and focus during the development period, or lose interest in your technology, thereby diminishing your freedom to operate.
What do you think are broadly the biggest needs and opportunities in the Animal Health and Petcare markets?
Collaborative efforts from stakeholders could help propel innovation to market. There are regulatory hurdles and animal testing facility bottlenecks. There is a need for more ambitious funding and risk taking.
What’s going to have the single biggest impact on change in your area of the market?
There are many new trends in AH since Covid, in particular in the way skilled and experienced people in our industry work, network and develop innovative solutions to feed the planet. We want to be at the forefront of these changes and scout for the best innovation to develop them quickly and efficiently. This ambition requires collaborations, strategic partnerships and capital.
What do the next two years have in store for you?
We plan to monetize our first technology by 2025 and scout for more. Our investors will get a substantial return on their investment and will have made a positive impact.
