The Charleston region's commitment to the biotechnology industry helped the area land the Southeast BIO seventh annual SEBIO Investor Forum, event planners said. The event will be held Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at the Charleston Place Hotel in downtown Charleston.

"We thought Charleston was a perfect place to have our meeting because it's a growing center for biotech innovation, and we recognize that there's been a significant increase in research dollars going to South Carolina's three major research facilities," said Anne Wein, SEBIO's executive director. "Of course, we always try to do the forum somewhere attractive, and Charleston is a beautiful venue."

The two-day event provides networking opportunities to connect emerging life science companies with potential investors. The forum explores market, financial and research trends with leaders from the investment and biosciences industries. Participants include entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers, biotechnology executives and other professionals in the biotech industry.

SEBIO, a regional nonprofit organization that fosters the growth of the life sciences industry in the southeastern United States, selected 32 companies to participate in the forum. Argolyn Bioscience Inc., located in North Charleston, is the only local company selected as a presenting company. "This is a great opportunity to get in front of many investors at one time," said Pearce Gilbert, Argolyn's president and CEO. "We're very focused on this meeting, and we hope to make quite a presentation."

"Argolyn is at looking to raise capital," Gilbert said. "Those kinds of investor dollars are few and far between in Charleston and in South Carolina, so we also need the outside investment community. A lot of investment capital potential will be in that room."

Hotbed of biotechnology

The SEBIO Investors Forum was started because the biotech industry felt the need for one meeting in the Southeast region where Southeast companies could come together and present on a worldwide platform to capital investment companies, Wein said. Typically, the conference rotates between Pinehurst, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga., with another state the third year.

"Our founders realized that no one state could attract all venture capitalists. It had to be a regional stage for companies to raise money. Investor relations companies made up of venture capitalists are vouching for this region as a growing hotbed of biotechnology," she said.

Said Gilbert: "It's a tremendous opportunity, a rare opportunity for Charleston to showcase life science activities for the regional biotech community. This conference attracts anybody and everybody that's interested in the life science industry in the southeast."

The southeastern United States is currently home to 32 public and 188 private biotech companies. According to Ernst & Young, in its annual report on the biotechnology industry, the Southeast ranks third in concentration of companies among U.S. regions. Total revenues in 2004 for the public companies in the Southeast were $2.6 billion, a 42% increase over 2003.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree survey showed that venture capital investments in biotech companies in the Southeast reached $216 million in 2004, which was a 25% increase over 2003. The event is expected to attract more than 400 attendees, including investors from around the world.

Companies presenting at previous SEBIO forums have raised more than $1.2 billion in venture capital funding. Each year the event showcases more than 30 emerging life science companies. Presenting companies, which have completed at least one round of institutional financing, are allowed to hold 10-minute presentations to an audience of venture capitalists and angel investors on the main day of the conference. Early-stage presenters attend a series of presentations focused on best practices for growing an early-stage company and present their business plans to a specially selected advisory panel of early-stage venture capitalists, angel investors and business and legal advisors.

"We're not going to get a deal done at the meeting," Gilbert said. "We're hoping to impress enough investors to get together a round of investing in the weeks following the meeting to get to the next milestone. We're looking for something in the $5 to $10 million range, and we'll be more specific on stage at the conference. It's a process. And at each stage of development, companies have to raise money to get to the next, to show that they're worthy of going to the next milestone. It takes many stages before a liquidation event."