Showcasing Opportunity
Pioneer Group’s Life Sciences Investment Showcase brings together some of the UK’s most promising early-stage and scaling life sciences ventures with leading investors in the sector. The event is designed to accelerate innovation by creating space for real, focused conversations between companies on the cutting edge of science and the people who can help fund their growth.
Held at Victoria House, the Showcase offers a space where innovation meets opportunity. Featuring pitches, panels, and direct networking, it’s an event with a track record of results – from multi-million-pound raises to long-term partnerships.
Below, you’ll find highlights from our most recent event, followed by a look back at our inaugural showcase in 2023.
Investment Showcase 2025
Against the stunning backdrop of Victoria House, a room full of life science investors – including AbbVie, Daiichi Sankyo, Longwall Ventures and Innovate UK – and scientific innovators gathered for an evening that could shape the future of healthcare.
Supported by the British Business Bank, Pioneer Group’s Investment Showcase 2025 returned for its second year on 25 March 2025, providing a platform for 20 carefully selected companies to pitch to investors and partners. From pre-seed spin-outs to Series A+ scale-ups, the ventures represented a broad range of cutting-edge innovation across biotech, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health.
Adding an extra dimension to the evening was a scientific mixology experience, blending chemistry with cocktail making in an interactive session that sparked further networking and collaboration.
Life Sciences Investment Opportunities
Each of the 20 companies presented a concise, 10-minute pitch, offering a glimpse into innovations spanning biotech, medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health. These fast-paced presentations ensured that the life science investors in attendance could quickly assess a variety of investment opportunities while gaining insight into the cutting-edge research and commercial potential driving each company forward.
Companies present included: Avectas, Bea Fertility, Capri Medical, HAON, intoDNA, Melio Bio, Neobe Therapeutics, Rinri Therapeutics, Signacor Health, Wobble Genomicss, Astratus, Branca Bunus, Klas Therapeutics, MetHealth, Microneedle Solutions, Microplate Dx, Mitotype Precision Labs, Myomakers, NunaBio, and Transdermal Diagnostics.
Pitching to a Curated List of Life Science Investors
Founded in 2021, Neobe Therapeutics began as a collaborative effort between Deep Science Ventures and Cancer Research UK to address unmet needs in oncology. The company has developed a live biotherapeutics engineering platform, using synthetic biology to program safe strains of tumour-colonising bacteria to break down local barriers to immune cell infiltration and facilitate immunotherapies in non-responding cancer patients.
“Pioneer Group is one of the most incredibly well connected ecosystems in the UK. To be able to come to an event like this, where we have the opportunity to pitch to a curated list of life science investors, is incredibly beneficial and a key part of taking us to where we want to go as a company.” – Pedro Correa de Sampaio, Neobe Therapeutic’s Founder & CEO.
Bringing The Science Directly to Investors
Astratus is a University of Reading spin out company modernising traditional microbiology laboratory methods. The company’s rapid, accurate, high throughput laboratory platform significantly reduces time to result and is less labour intensive.
“Astratus is a platform for conducting rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing. It’s good to be able to talk about the technology – to bring it out of the university and in front of the people that will eventually push you towards commercial success, hopefully.” – Dr Oliver Hancox PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Astratus.
Connecting With Others on a Similar Journey
Wobble Genomics is a pioneering healthcare and biotechnology company specialising in long-read RNA sequencing. It has developed a novel diagnostic platform that can detect low abundance full-length RNA from whole blood to provide more accurate information on the status of disease in cancer patients.
“Every time we have the opportunity to connect with others on a similar journey, alongside those evaluating us and guiding us to the next round, it creates a great environment to reflect on what we’re doing well and where we might need to improve. It’s a truly valuable experience for founders, CEOs, and leadership teams to participate in these events and gain insight into what it really takes to reach the next level.” – Dr Richard Kuno, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wobble Genomics.
Life Sciences Investment Shouldn’t Be Complicated
Beyond the pitches, the event fostered valuable networking opportunities, allowing founders to engage directly with life science investors and potential partners in a relaxed but focused setting. The conversations sparked over the course of the evening could well lead to transformative funding deals and collaborations in the months ahead.
“Pioneer really understand what is needed in this space, because they’ve been investing in companies as well as supporting companies in Accelerator Programmes, so they’ve got a real feel for the ecosystem. The investment side shouldn’t be complicated – it’s all about the potential of the businesses that you’re backing. It’s not a numbers game, it’s all about people and opportunity. And fundamentally, it’s about people realising a dream.” – Rebecca Todd, Venture Capital Investor at Longwall Ventures.
“An event like today is just inspiring; investors are inspired, investees are inspired, and the whole ecosystem is inspiring. People here are progressing humanity – how can that not be exciting?” – Jenny Knott, Non-Executive Director at British Business Bank.
The Inaugural Showcase: 2023
In 2023, Pioneer Group launched its first Life Sciences Investment Showcase in partnership with British Business Bank and Innovate UK. Hosted at Victoria House, the event featured a select group of early-stage companies, many of which have been part of our Accelerator and Scale-Up programmes, including: Endocryne, Fast Biopharma, Invizius, NanoSyrinx, NuVision Biotherapies, Phenotypeca, Rinri Therapeutics, Apeikon Therapeutics, Bioliberty, Eupnoos, Mint Diagnostics, Neurobell, and Vitarka Therapeutics and Maxwellia.
The event featured 10-minute presentations from each company, providing investors with a unique opportunity to discover a succession of game-changing, future-focused innovations.
To cap off the night, guests were treated to a guided tasting of premium wines, courtesy of Haynes Hanson & Clark‘s impeccable expertise.
Founder & CEO of Maxwellia, Anna Maxwell, said: “Having face-to-face meetings with investors is really important, and being introduced in this way, was actually quite powerful.”
Investors were also impressed with the innovations and exciting new technologies on display, with Jennifer McMahon of Seroba commenting: “There’s lots of enabling technologies out there which are helping the delivery of new drugs. I feel really excited about what we’ve seen at this event.”
Life Sciences Investment: A Virtuous Circle
Louis Taylor, CEO of British Business Bank, said: “Life sciences is incredibly important for the UK economy. As a future-focused industry, it helps to power innovation, employs a lot of talented people, and after a while becomes a virtuous circle. The attraction of partnering with Pioneer Group is that it is creating an ecosystem around life sciences – almost a brokerage between investors who find it difficult to find opportunities and companies who find it difficult to find investors.
“From my personal perspective, the most exciting part of putting money into life sciences companies is the realisation of the science, which is solving huge issues that mankind has wrestled with for a long time. I feel hopeful that the connections formed at Pioneer Group’s life sciences investment showcase will be really fruitful.”
Join Us Next Time
A single event can change everything. Just ask the start-ups who raised £33 million after attending the inaugural Pioneer Investment Showcase.
To find out more about how Pioneer Group helps bridge the gap between discovery and investment, and how your venture could be part of next year’s showcase, please get in touch.
