Institut Curie enhances its start-up incubation program by creating a Mentor Network

Thanks to an original, integrated incubation program, Institut Curie has already created 32 start-ups since 2002. From detection to creation and follow-up, the Institute's researchers, doctors and caregivers benefit from "tailor-made" support to create their company in the best possible conditions.

To ensure success for the projects it supports, and to promote the emergence of evermore therapeutic and diagnostic innovations, Institut Curie is strengthening its incubation offer by creating its Mentor Network, a mentoring program based on the support of experienced entrepreneurial profiles: "serial" entrepreneurs, business angels or former corporates.

Accelerating and securing start-ups at Institut Curie

During their early stages of development, companies face many obstacles that threaten their very survival. Team failure, lack of a market or business model, too much competition - there are many reasons for start-ups to fail.

The Mentor Network aims to provide young entrepreneurs with the know-how they need to build their teams, strengthen their inventions, develop their activities and make themselves more attractive to investors, by providing them with key skills: business, strategic, scientific, regulatory or commercial.

The mentor's role is to provide an objective, informed perspective, based on his or her experience, as well as answers to the most common problems faced by a start-up company. What price positioning is right for the sector? Which marketing strategy to adopt? "Mentoring offers incubatees the strategic support they need to structure their company, as well as the human support they need to benefit from a mentor's advice and friendly eye on their company's growth," explains Dr. Cécile Campagne, Director of Institut Curie's Technology Transfer Office and Deputy Director of Carnot Curie Cancer.

Striving for excellence with experts in investment and business management

Jean Pascal Tranié, Chairman and founder of Aloe Group Equity, a recognized venture capitalist with over 20 years' experience, and Sylvain Berlemont, investor and “serial” health-tech entrepreneur, are among the first mentors to have trusted Institut Curie to share their expertise for the benefit of a young company. They are supporting two future Institut Curie start-ups[1], which are still in the process of being structured.

"Institut Curie is a center of excellence in cancer research.To transform this potential into a company and finance the development of disruptive new therapies, you need to integrate the experience of entrepreneurs and investors, experienced in market analysis, knowledge of regulatory constraints and fund-raising. I was happy to become a mentor to bring this knowledge to exceptional scientists and help bring their innovations to the market and to patients."

says Jean-Pascal Tranié.

"I agreed to become a mentor because I felt I could be useful to the project, in its thinking, strategy, and business positioning. This opportunity enabled me to work with the project leaders, to understand their challenges, to recognize our complementarity, and ultimately to join them as CEO of the company we created."

adds Sylvain Berlemont.

If they wish, mentors can consolidate their commitment by taking up a position within the "mentored" start-up (co-founder, CEO, investor, board member, etc.). A dynamic of virtuous innovation, sought after by Institut Curie, as Dr. Campagne explains:

The mentees will be able to draw on the expertise of the mentors who commit themselves to them, while the mentors will be able to draw on the agile methods of new companies and contribute to the development of disruptive technological solutions for the benefit of patients. A win-win partnership!

[1] At this early stage, both projects are still confidential.