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Science: An Unstoppable Force, an Unforgettable Friend
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Sean O'Sullivan
Sean O'Sullivan
November 16, 2020

Post-IndieBio Demo Day 2020 reflections

If you missed them, watch IndieBio New York Demo Day 2020 and IndieBio San Francisco Demo Day 2020.

2020. What a year. From the million expected to die from the Coronavirus pandemic to “megafire” forest devastation; from global warming to the historic high in hurricanes forecast to hit our shores, 2020 has shown us time and time again the undeniable truth; that as an enemy, science is an undefeatable opponent.

Many of the challenges we now face as a society are a result of our leadership’s inability to recognize that to defeat a scientific challenge, you must harness science as your ally. Denying science, particularly when it enters into a reinforcing spiral of exponentially increasing threats, leads to loss of life, devastation of natural lands and ecosystems, and economic chaos.

2020 has also shown us, however, that when we embrace, nurture, and invest in science, it can become an unforgettable and unstoppable friend in the fight for a more sustainable and equitable planet.

IndieBio team members signing off after virtual Demo Day.

A few weeks ago, SOSV and IndieBio hosted our first-ever two-day virtual Demo Day, featuring 19 startups that leverage science to tackle some of the most significant challenges that we face in the world today. These startups, led by scientists-turned-entrepreneurs, are creating solutions and products that:

  • address infertility, bringing new solutions to a persistent problem faced by families across the world.
  • improve treatments for cancer, a disease that in some way touches every person on the planet.
  • use research-based technologies that modify microbiomes to promote skin and feminine health
  • tackle issues related to planetary sustainability through innovations in our food systems, production of fabrics, efficiencies in protein farming, and degrading environmental contaminants.
  • improve upon and develop new ways of treating medical challenges across the globe, including mosquito-transmitted illnesses, urinary tract care, and blood loss.

The issues that our IndieBio startups are addressing through their products are issues that are fundamental to all of us in our daily lives. In order to tackle these enduring global challenges, they are embracing the power of science as the commanding friend that we know it to be.

IndieBio is a place that recognizes, above all, that science is king. We start by finding startups that come out of the greatest research environments from around the world. Most of the 19 founding teams embraced science and math before they were even teenagers and have been working relentlessly to master the tools and framework of science for one or two decades to put them in the position to now harness the forces of nature.

When we look out the window, we see surrounding us the incredible nurturing power of nature. Companies across the SOSV portfolio have risen to the toughest challenges and questions posed by our world… and sculpted solutions created by science, out of the laws of nature, for the benefit of humanity.

SOSV’s portfolio has 40 companies that are actively fighting COVID-19, including diagnostics which dramatically improve COVID testing, disinfecting technology/robots, and new therapeutics to help those who get the condition (you can read more about them here).

These companies have been the “first responders” that ran into the burning building of the pandemic, while many of us were forced to work at home. Created from the strong foundation of responding to the moral obligation to do good, these SOSV startups pivoted quickly to produce and ship testing services and medical equipment in record time, receiving hundreds of millions of orders for products that were created or adapted just in the past eight months.

When confronting the unstoppable force of science with denial and political positioning, what you see is what happened to the United States in 2020… hundreds of thousands of dead already and hundreds of thousands more with lifelong disability.

When confronting the unstoppable force of science — with science — great things can be accomplished, outbreaks can be suppressed, and our economy can continue to grow and heal. We thank the founders for their inexhaustible human spirit for providing the remarkable inspiration for solutions that the world requires us to deploy. And for allowing us to support their dreams and execution.

I’m writing this at a time when many things in the world are uncertain. As I write this, the US election was 6 days ago, with Joe Biden selected as the new President; but even with new leadership on the way, the virus has entered the deadly winter season at a rate 4 times higher than when we left the winter season 6 months ago.

In fact, uncertainty feels like the only certainty we have to cling onto at a time like this. At IndieBio and SOSV, however, 2020 has shown us time and time again that there is certainty in science. When ignored and under-appreciated, science is certain in its unmitigated devastation. When harnessed, science is certain in its progress in creating lasting and valuable change for every person on the planet.

Thank you to the SOSV startups that have embraced this certainty and continue to create good through translating science into commercially available products and services.

A final note: SOSV is entirely dependent on external, later-stage funders to drive the funding of startups post-accelerator. For every $25 million we invest, later-stage funders put $500 million to work in our IndieBio startups. We invest alongside, but without a community of like-minded investors, the impact of these companies would be much less certain and much less speedy in the marketplace. Thank you to the courageous investors, who embrace a brighter world through investing in these startups, and power the “through line” between these startups and a more sustainable world.

IndieBio Demo Day is an inspiring reminder of the potential we all have to create valuable and enduring change in the areas that continue to significantly impact every person on the planet. Please join us in helping these startups accomplish their vision in doing good through science.

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