Pattern Sequence A pitch deck: PhageLab’s $11M deck

As a species, we’ve got an issue. Micro organism have gotten an increasing number of immune to antibiotics. Is smart: Antibiotics kill off all of the micro organism they will, however the remaining ones that by some means survive proceed to develop and unfold. Guess which gene all of them have in frequent? That’s proper, the one which makes them immune to antibiotics.

We’ve recognized this for years, however as a substitute of accelerating, the work on new antibiotics is slowing down considerably. Why? Capitalism: It’s actually costly to develop new medication, and as soon as they’re developed, it’s exhausting to make some huge cash on them.

PhageLab needs to come back to the rescue with a distinct method: utilizing a phage (brief for “bacteriophage”). Phages are a kind of virus that infects micro organism and kills them. Not like conventional antibiotics, phages will be designed to focus on very particular micro organism, and that lets us use them to kill solely the micro organism you don’t need (say, salmonella), whereas your intestine micro organism keep roughly intact.

In fact, the method shouldn’t be with out downsides. One of many causes broad-spectrum antibiotics work so nicely is that docs usually don’t know precisely which micro organism are wreaking havoc, and you probably have a phage that assaults solely a handful of micro organism, that might pose a problem.

Nonetheless, I like phages normally, and the thought behind PhageLab is fairly rad. The group shared their pitch deck with me, so let’s see what the corporate confirmed traders to boost its $11 million Sequence A spherical.

We’re in search of extra distinctive pitch decks to tear down, so if you wish to submit your personal, here’s how you can do that.

Slides on this deck

The web page numbering on the deck is wonky (Web page 1 is labeled 1, however web page 3 is labeled 2) so remember the fact that once I refer to slip numbers on this teardown, I’m referring to the web page variety of the PDF, not what’s on the slides themselves. The ultimate slide is web page 26 of the PDF, however it’s labeled 32, so it’s clear that some slides had been deleted from the deck earlier than PhageLab shared it with me. The corporate says the usage of funds slide has been eliminated, nevertheless it’s not completely clear what else was deleted.

Nonetheless, let’s evaluation this deck as if this had been the total story and see the place that takes us.

1. Cowl slide
2. Abstract slide
3. Downside slide
4. Downside overview slide
5. Downside impression slide I
6. Downside context slide
7. Downside abstract slide
8. Downside impression slide II
9. Downside impression slide III
10.   Market measurement slide
11.  “This is how we do it” interstitial slide
12.   Worth proposition slide
13.   “What are phages” slide
14.   Why now slide
15.   Resolution slide I
16.   Resolution slide II
17.   Area trial outcomes slide
18.   “Meet our team” interstitial slide
19.   Group measurement slide
20.   Headquarters slide
21.   Group slide
22.   Abstract slide
23.   Closing slide
24.   Contact slide
25.   Appendix interstitial slide
26.   Appendix: Movies slide

Three issues to like

There’s some actually implausible storytelling on this deck.

So what about huge pharma?

Startups on this house all the time have to fret concerning the huge pharma firms. They’ll undoubtedly outspend you, so the query is the way you’re going to outsmart them.

[Slide 6] Effectively that’s the way you compete: They’ve given up. Picture Credit: PhageLab

This slide goes a great distance towards answering that: The enterprise case for growing new antibiotics is plummeting, which opens the door for PhageLab.

That makes the urgency clear . . .

[Slide 9] Yeah, that’ll get their consideration. Picture Credit: PhageLab

I do have a factor or two to say about how the corporate outlines its downside assertion, however slide 9 made me catch my breath. If we’re 25 years away from this doomsday state of affairs, it’s apparent that there’s an enormous alternative for startups that may make an actual impression on this house. It’s highly effective storytelling.

That’s a hell of a promise of success

[Slide 17] So does it work? Picture Credit: PhageLab

Micro organism are fairly nebulous, so the place do you even start? It appears to me like PhageLab requested itself: What’s a micro organism that everybody is aware of exists, is aware of the place it exists, and is usually within the media? Salmonella matches the invoice properly. The corporate has accomplished its analysis and reckons it may take away salmonella altogether — an enormous and apparent profit for meals provide chains.

In the remainder of this teardown, we’ll check out three issues PhageLab might have improved or accomplished otherwise, together with its full pitch deck!