Skymab, i-Lab 2020 winner

Skymab Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company currently incubated at IncubAlliance Paris-Saclay, is among the winners of the 2020 edition of the i-Lab competition.

The leading seed funding program in France, the "i-Lab" National Competition for Supporting the Creation of Innovative Technology Companies, is now a key event for promising startups. Among this year's winners is Skymab Biotherapeutics, a biotechnology company currently incubated at IncubAlliance Paris-Saclay. We look back on this success story with Aiphi Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Skymab.

To begin, can you introduce Skymab to us in a few words?

Skymab is a biotechnology company, a spin-off of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), specializing in the identification, design, engineering, and development of antibodies targeting GPCRs, a large family of therapeutic targets in oncology for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Specifically, thanks to two patents licensed to us by the CEA, we design and deploy scientific programs to develop biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of solid tumors.

Why did you choose to apply to the i-Lab competition?

While i-Lab was on the "must-do" list for a young biotech company like ours, I must admit that I hadn't initially planned to participate this year. The idea started to take root in late 2019, during a meeting with InnoBio, Bpifrance's investment fund dedicated to companies in the healthcare sector. During this meeting, my contacts explained that i-Lab was considered a good indicator of quality by most investors and that it was therefore in my best interest to participate as soon as possible. Which I decided to do in early 2020, putting in a lot of effort! I dedicated a significant amount of time to it whenever I could, evenings and weekends, for over a month until submitting my application in mid-February.

What happened next?

I had to wait until March 23rd to learn that I had been selected to pitch during the second week of April. It was a pitch I had worked on extensively, and due to the lockdown, it took place via video conference! In the meantime, I also had to take a kind of test to determine my entrepreneurial profile and an interview with a coach from In Extenso, which, apparently, went well.

How did you receive the news of your nomination among the winners… as well as the award of a grant which is known to generally be between 200,000 and 300,000 euros?

We received the news by email in June. We were, of course, delighted to see our work rewarded and the quality of our project recognized by a jury of leading professionals in the world of innovation. It was a pleasant surprise, even though the feasibility of our program doesn't depend on obtaining the i-Lab grant. After an initial fundraising round and French Tech Seed certification, which opened doors to various Bpifrance funding opportunities, we now have the necessary resources to launch our program. However, it's clear that the i-Lab grant will help secure and strengthen our approach, beyond simply providing the company with significant exposure.

Can you tell us a little about this program?

It involves positioning our molecule for the preclinical development phase. This is a crucial step, not only scientifically, as it allows us to transform a molecule into a therapeutic candidate eligible for drug development, but also from the perspective of our financial roadmap. By strengthening our credibility with investors thanks to this initial success, it increases our chances of raising funds from them.

What role does IncubAlliance play alongside you?

A facilitator role. When creating an innovative company, the sheer number of existing support mechanisms and procedures is so vast that it's easy to get lost. In this complex ecosystem, IncubAlliance's advisors provide invaluable guidance and greatly facilitate networking. By offering an external perspective on our project, they allow us to gain distance from our work, confirm certain structures and directions, and help us adjust others.

In short, what advice would you give to future candidates for the i-Lab competition?

I would tell them that every detail counts and that no step should be overlooked, neither the substantial thirty-page report they have to write nor the thirty-minute pitch they're expected to deliver. For my part, I really defended my project by approaching each step like a legal argument: I told myself that with every sentence, every figure, every diagram, I not only had to tell a story, but that each one had to contribute to supporting the robustness and quality of the project! In short, you have to work hard… and cross your fingers for a bit of luck! Because ultimately, i-Lab remains a competition where you never know who your competitors are.

To learn more about Skymab : https://skymab-biotherapeutics.com