Nothing has come as a drop of the hat for Synklino. The company and especially its CEO Thomas Kledal have worked hours and hours to raise funding operating with parallel plans A, B and C for more than a year.
But before diving into the different plans, let us start with the cold facts. Synklino recently received an investment of 14 million euros from existing investors Eir Ventures, The Danish Growth Fund and more than 70 private investors and is preparing for an upcoming listing on Nasdaq First North in Copenhagen.
Thomas Kledal takes a deep breath, straightens his shoulders and burst out in a smile before starting to share the story:
“It has been a roller coaster ride but raising 14 million euros is way beyond our expectations and we are truly grateful for everyone who believes in Synklino and has decided to support us. Now, it’s our job to show that they made the right decision.”
Aimed for venture capital
When the fundraising process started, the Synklino team mainly focused on attracting a Series A investment through raising venture capital funds. Still, despite a lot of interest, one plus one did not equal two, and it was necessary to explore other funding tracks.
“When we didn’t succeed in bringing together a syndicate of venture capitalists, I needed to execute another option. In a fundraising process, I always keep several tracks open at the same time, and I already initiated a dialogue with family offices and private investors about Synklino.”
Not putting all eggs in the same basket paid dividends and this is one of the critical pieces of advice that Thomas Kledal wishes to pass on to other life science entrepreneurs.
“I think our story shows that there is not only one route to raise funding. There are alternative ways and many of the family offices are highly professional and have a lot of experience investing in companies,” he says.
Among the family offices that have invested in Synklino is the Danish family office Schroder and Choleva Family Office.
Synklino teamed up with North Finance, Denmark’s largest independent financial boutique and brokerage firm, to establish contact with the family offices. They support high net worth individuals and professional investors like funds, family offices and institutional clients in accessing a wide range of financial services and a deal flow with highly qualified investment cases.
“I heard about North Finance through people in my network, both investors as well as CEOs in other companies who told that these two young guys sitting in a nice office at Kgs. Nytorv could be exactly the right match for Synklino. Looking back, I can say that people were not wrong, and North Finance has been instrumental in our success raising capital,” says the CEO of Synklino.”
Private investors change the CEO-role
Having a large group of private investors engaged in the company has brought another kind of responsibility on Kledal’s shoulders.
“My role as a CEO has changed. My main task will be to speak to all our investors and keep them updated on Synklino’s progress continuously as they must support us and be our ambassadors when the IPO is launched. Their support is of tremendous value for the company,” he emphasizes.
Nevertheless, during the fundraising process, Kledal got great insights into communicating with others than venture capitalists. While the venture capitalists’ traditional claim to fame is that they have a deep professional sense and a solid understanding of the science that lays the foundation for a life science company, private investors focus on other parameters.
“You need to show them the value of your product much more clearly, so they fully understand where the company will be in one year, three years and five years and what value we will generate. They invest a lot of their money and obviously want to know when they can expect to get a return of investment,” he explains.
Time will tell whether the investors made a good investment, but the first big step in the right direction has been taken.
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