The official J.P. Morgan conference is a global healthtech mecca that kicks off each new year, bringing together 8,000 privileged attendees for keynotes and conferences, and giving way to a large number of satellite events organized throughout the city. These events attract thousands of startups from all over the world, looking for funding and partners in the U.S., including 30 French companies with Business France this year.

“France was the only country to present such a large delegation,” says Jérôme Revole, Business France’s Director of Healthcare in North America. “This demonstrates the dynamism of the healthcare sector in France, which relies on world-renowned expertise in the medical field.”

For this year’s event, Business France took over a 380 m² coworking space in the Financial District under the French Healthcare banner. For three consecutive days, one-to-one meetings took place, as well as panels with renowned American experts such as AbbVie Ventures, Johnson & Johnson, ARTIS Ventures, along with meetings with officials and a networking cocktail party on Monday January 8, which brought together 200 guests.

Biotech, Pharma, Medtech and Digital Health… Whatever their expertise or therapeutic area (oncology, cardiology, neurology, audiology, etc.), the Frenchies’ innovations won over the North American public.

The French delegation was also able to benefit from practical recommendations on setting up a business in the United States, thanks to Business France’s partners: Genchrome Life Sciences (a firm specializing in setting up partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry), ICOSA (a specialist in intellectual property), LallianSe (a life sciences innovation integrator), ORCOM US (a consulting, tax and accounting firm), and Voisin Consulting Life Sciences (regulatory expertise for market access).

« Thanks to its state-of-the-art hospitals and research centers, France is positioning itself as a major global player in healthcare innovation, with groundbreaking startups under development and a vibrant ecosystem. During the J.P. Morgan Week, American investors have the opportunity to discover the best that France has to offer by connecting with innovative companies, » states Jérôme Revole, Managing Director for Healthcare & Life Sciences at Business France North America.

For this fourth edition, Business France had included in its offer access to the B2B meeting platform, “BIO One-on-One Partnering”, of the famous Bio International Convention held in June every year (June 3-6, 2024 in San Diego). Around 500 meetings between French companies and American investors and industrialists took place over the three days, at the French Healthcare Corner and in the space offered by BIO, within the Marriott Hotel.

Ludmilla Potiron, Head of the Healthcare Export Division at Business France, commented: “Business France’s actions, organized alongside the J.P. Morgan Conference, bring real added value to French healthcare companies, with access to a functional, privatized space in the heart of the Financial District, enabling them to meet prospects under the French banner, through networking highlights and quality panels.”

The Director of the Agence de l’Innovation en Santé, Dr. Lise Alter, also made the trip to California. This was an opportunity for her to meet her American counterparts, academic institutions such as UCSF (University of California San Francisco), incubators and American companies interested in developing in
France. Mr. Frédéric Jung, Consul General of France in San Francisco, also honored the French with his presence.

Despite a cautious investment climate, “French companies have been very successful in San Francisco and have been able to make interesting contacts for their fund-raising and development projects in the area”, notes Ludmilla Potiron. What’s more, 2024 could be a plateau year, followed by an upturn in investment
towards the end of the year. This is the optimistic but realistic conclusion of the panorama offered by EY in San Francisco.

• Brenus Pharma is developing a next-generation immune therapy based on adaptive and multi-specific targets to educate the immune system to anticipate tumor plasticity and resistance to treatment.
• Lys Therapeutics is a biotech developing innovative drugs to treat patients suffering from neurovascular or neurodegenerative disorders, including stroke and multiple sclerosis.
• Qubit Pharmaceuticals develops algorithms inspired by quantum physics for unrivaled precision in drug discovery and design.
• Cilcare is a biotech dedicated to harnessing hearing science to reshape the future of healthcare through early diagnosis and targeted treatment.
• WhiteLab Genomics has a platform that harnesses machine learning to help discover and design new genomic therapies.
  
  All the companies in the French delegation can be found here.