00:00:00
Voice-over: "100 days to success". This is the podcast from G_NIUS, the Guichet National de l'Innovation et des Usages en e-Santé. Around Lionel Reichardt, meet e-health innovators and key experts to help you succeed in your projects.

00:00:20
Lionel Reichardt: Hello everyone and welcome to the podcast "100 Days to Success", the podcast for innovators and entrepreneurs in digital healthcare, but also for anyone curious about this field. This podcast is produced by G_NIUS, the Guichet National de l'Innovation et des Usages en e-Santé. In this episode, we'll be talking about the support given to healthcare companies by BPI, the French Public Investment Bank. To do so, we welcome Antoine Jomier, co-founder and CEO of Incepto, a platform that creates and distributes artificial intelligence applications for medical imaging. We also welcome Clémentine Lamarre, head of the healthcare sector at Bpifrance. Antoine Jomier, good morning and thank you for accepting our invitation. First of all, could you tell us about your background and training?

00:01:11
Antoine Jomier: Bonjour à tous. My name is Antoine Jomier, I'm an engineer by training. Very quickly, I moved into the healthcare field and in fact, my vocation, my passion, is to interface in the medical field between the needs of clinicians and more specifically the people who work on the image of radiologists and the engineering teams. And I love discovering new needs and bringing out new products, new solutions and building new value models around them. I have almost 20 years' experience in this field. For a long time, I worked for a big boutique called General Electric, where I did a bit of everything in sales, marketing and product management. I also took over a startup in 2011 with Startup française for the Group, and my last role was head of the imaging business in France. But in 2016-2017, I saw the wave of artificial intelligence arriving in medical imaging and, taking a step back, I said to myself that this was a major phenomenon in this industry. So I decided to leave General Electric and set up Incepto with Florence Moreau, an engineer specializing in image processing, and the CTO, co-founder of Incepto, and a radiologist, Gaspard d'Assignies, who is the medical director and who shared this passion for the field with different angles and expertise. And we decided to unite around this project.

00:02:36
Lionel Reichardt: You created Incepto in 2018. What is the ambition?

00:02:40
Antoine Jomier: Incepto's ambition is to help radiologists and medical specialists save time and take better care of their patients through diagnostic aids or automatic biomarker measurement tools that enable them to automate tasks on which they waste a lot of time, or to go further in diagnosis with measurements that they had difficulty doing routinely. And so, there's a whole new field emerging with all these diagnostic aid applications, and so our vocation is to accelerate the spread of these tools and put them in the hands of doctors and show their real use value and accelerate the development of this whole ecosystem and its boxes in the field.

00:03:24
Lionel Reichardt: A few months after this creation, you took part in BPI Innovation's i-Lab digital innovation competition, a scheme to support excellence in digital fields, funded by the future investment program. This is the first of many contacts with BPI. Can you tell us about it and what it brought you?

00:03:42
Antoine Jomier: Absolutely. And that's our first contact in January 2018. We created the structure on January 25, very exactly. So we were each out of our previous jobs, which had taken us around three months. And then we started the project. And there was the first wave of the National Innovation Competition, with a strong diagnosis and health theme. It was one of the first actions we undertook alongside others, of course many others. But we responded to this innovation competition. The doctor, the tech leader and I, who was in charge of the business side of things, came out of our job and our store very experienced, and we were convinced of the mission we were embarking on and of the major turning point in the imaging industry. So we entered the national innovation competition. We entered. We hadn't had much contact with the BPI teams. We were shortlisted, but unfortunately, we didn't win the competition. So we were very, very disappointed and very, very offended. We learned a lot, in fact, afterwards, we were able to debrief thanks to this participation, in fact to better understand. We were able to meet BPI's specialist healthcare teams, with whom we were able to spend some time to understand how these competitions are interpreted. And how our project was perceived. This was one of the first elements of feedback on our strengths and weaknesses. And we resubmitted for a second wave. They of course encouraged us to resubmit and it took place in October-November 2018 and there we resubmitted. We went to the oral. We won. And that's it. I remember receiving the letter that came from the Prime Minister, the Secretary General for Investment when we were winners and it was really on Christmas Eve and it was a very nice Christmas present. Our first support with BPI.

00:05:37
Lionel Reichardt: What does it bring to be a winner of this Bpifrance competition, particularly for the company's development?

00:05:44
Antoine Jomier: For us, it was the first non-dilutive financing. We had very quickly raised a million euros from Business Angels. This financing represented 150 euros, and at the time, the team was still quite small. So we had a few extra months. So, a little breathing space before the next fund-raising round. It was also a recognition of our strategy and positioning. BPI's specialized healthcare players were keeping a close watch on artificial intelligence applied to imaging. We were starting to see a number of projects emerge, and this was a validation of the positioning we wanted to take with the funding of an important brick in our platform via this competition.

00:06:26
Lionel Reichardt: A little later, for your seed round, you go through your regional BPI advisor. How does this work? What does BPI's support involve?

00:06:36
Antoine Jomier: In line with the contacts we'd had to debrief our first participation in the competition, the healthcare team also put us in touch with our BPI advisor, to whom we presented the project, explained the milestones, the stages, what we'd done in terms of capital. The project was well understood, and we decided to set up a seed loan to support entrepreneurs. It was a loan of 100,000 euros. So that's all in the financing. So we raised what we call with Business Angels in Love Money 1 million euros. And then the national innovation competition plus the seed loan, that was our roadmap to the fundraising we were planning for spring-summer 2019.

00:07:21
Lionel Reichardt: In 2019, Incepto is raising €5.6 million in Series A, with BPI among the investors through its autonomous patient fund. What role did BPI play in this fundraising?

00:07:32
Antoine Jomier: In the whole continuum of solutions offered to entrepreneurs by BPI, quite quickly, in fact, we also come across BPI's dedicated digital health investment fund, which is called the Autonomous Patient Fund. And we meet Chahra Louafi and Joséphine Marie, with whom we have a very good contact. We had regular discussions about the project and, quite naturally, when we went round the investment funds to present the project and put together a round of financing. We introduced ourselves, and discussions quickly got under way with a lead role for this fund. We signed a term sheet on which we federated two other investors. This discussion with the fund was very important in structuring our financing.

00:08:19
Lionel Reichardt: Your relationship with the BPI doesn't end there, since in 2020, Incepto will join the 8th promotion of the Bpirance hub. A 12-month support program. How does the Bpifrance hub support an innovative digital health company?

00:08:33
Antoine Jomier: We start the program in January 2020, but we've had a few exchanges with Céline and Lucas to prepare for our integration into it. What can we expect from it? What are the program's missions? What support and advice does it try to give companies? And what are our issues? I really appreciated this phase of exchange and preparation, and I was able to understand that there were a lot of resources in the different functional areas. Access to markets, legal advice, coaching for managers, advice on marketing and communication aspects. I found the range very, very broad. In fact, what we've done, I, as a manager, will have a limited bandwidth. But if we really want to maximize this support program, we need to give it to certain key people at Incepto. The marketing-sales manager, for example, will be in contact with experts on marketing and sales issues. In terms of market access and regulatory quality assurance, it's going to be more Florence, who provides technical leadership, and in terms of coaching, we're going to do this session called Green Days with the managers, which has been very, very inspiring and founding for the team. And so, it's really having involved the large Incepto team, which created a lot of value on this program. And then, we were lucky enough to have a person who followed us, called Lucas, and who was extremely committed to the teams. But in terms of follow-up, we have regular updates once a month, with an action plan that is always documented behind the contacts and actions to be followed up. He's really a very, very big promoter of this program and I'd like to thank BPI very, very much for this support.

00:10:25
Lionel Reichardt: What is your day-to-day relationship with BPI? What next steps might you have?

00:10:32
Antoine Jomier: On a day-to-day basis, this already happens through the presence of the Autonomous Patient Fund on our Board of Directors and as a shareholder, so we have regular exchanges as part of this Board of Directors and as part of reporting and monitoring on the company's development milestones. Secondly, we're one of the players in the community, and BPI en santé plays a major role in coordinating the ecosystem, so we exchange ideas, we contribute, and we can take part in certain events. Lastly, I think our ambition is to become the benchmark platform in France for access to artificial intelligence applications in the field of imaging. We're in the process of validating this model, with a very strong presence in hospitals, university hospitals, private imaging centers and clinics. The next step will be to deploy this model in other European countries. BPI will be there to support us in this development.

00:11:30
Lionel Reichardt: In the context of internationalization, is being supported and financed by the BPI a strength for a French company?

00:11:37
Antoine Jomier: It's undeniably a strength. I think it makes a lot of sense in the healthcare field. Already, in terms of our business in France, over 50 of our customers are public hospitals and university hospital centers. The programs we sell help to improve patient care. We reduce waiting times in emergency departments. We're going to reduce waiting times for critical examinations like pet scans, and so we're going to territories where there are long waiting times for critical examinations in cancer follow-up, and we're going to help reduce these waiting times. So I'd say that by funding us, we're helping to improve the healthcare system. In our own small way, of course, but it's a virtuous circle. It's very much linked to one of BPI's missions, linked to activities that are a public service of the State, which is extremely regal, structuring and critical, as we've seen over the last twelve months. I think this is already very, very important in France. And then, on the international level, we're aiming to create French and European champions in the digital sector, in the field of artificial intelligence. We work a lot with companies from the Netherlands and Belgium. There's this capacity to export know-how and share it with other players. I believe that by financing us, BPI is helping to encourage the ambition of innovative projects in France.

00:13:12
Lionel Reichardt: To conclude, Antoine Jomier, what advice would you give to a digital health innovator who would like to be supported by the BPI?

00:13:18
Antoine Jomier: The advice I'd give is to go and meet, go and meet your BPI advisor, whether they're in the Paris region or anywhere in France. You have an advisor, they know the schemes, they encourage entrepreneurship, they find the right vehicles, the right financing that can help you get through the stages, cross the milestones, and which are very well suited to this entrepreneurial journey that takes place step by step, with a lot of ambition, but a lot of humility, where you have to go step by step. Meet the teams who specialize in the sectors in which you work. In healthcare, there's a dedicated healthcare team. They're passionate about it, they've worked in the field, they're recognized and therefore have contacts with industrialists. They know the ecosystem well. They're a very good mirror partner for gauging, testing and getting feedback on your project. In healthcare, but also in defense, aeronautics and other fields, there are specialized teams, and you have to get to know them, meet them, discuss and exchange ideas with them. That's really the main advice I'd give.

00:14:35
Lionel Reichardt: Antoine Jomier, thank you for your testimonial. You have questions about how Bpifrance, the Banque Publique d'Investissement, can support you in your project. Here's an answer from Clémentine Lamarre, healthcare sector manager at Bpirance. Clémentine Lamarre Hello, can you tell us about your background and training?

00:14:55
Clémentine Lamarre: I trained as a biochemical and molecular biology engineer. I then worked for around ten years in different environments: start-up, pharmaceutical company and in a technology transfer acceleration company that valorizes the work of health researchers. And now I've been at Bpifrance for over two years in the Expertise Department team, where we're in charge of evaluating healthcare innovation projects in response to national calls for projects and in liaison with the various ministries.

00:15:23
Lionel Reichardt: So you're in charge of the healthcare sector at Bpifrance. What does that entail?

00:15:29
Clémentine Lamarre: At Bpifrance, the Public Investment Bank, it's a French organization whose general mission is to support companies in terms of growth, competitiveness in France or for export, developing a favorable ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation. This is mainly what we do in our team as health sector manager, but I also work with companies to find financing that could accelerate their growth and access to markets. Bpifrance has several missions: it's effectively public financing, as I just said in our team with different sectors and also investment since BPI France has investment funds, particularly for e-health, it's the Patient Autonomous Fund that was created in December 2017, which is headed by Chahra Louafi, also fund of funds missions, meaning that Bpifrance is a subscriber in French funds or funds that invest in France and also support missions. There are gas pedals that help transform SMEs into ETIs in France, which may or may not be thematic. There is no health or e-health theme today, but these are things that can be set up later. There is, however, a specific support program for healthcare start-ups. The [Inaudible 00:16:36] hub, which is headed by Céline Rioux and includes companies such as [Inaudible 00:16:40] and Incepto médical in this gas pedal [Inaudible 00:16:42], recently set up a specific support program for digital health start-ups, in conjunction with the Fonds Patient autonome. This is just a small sample of what Bpifrance can offer entrepreneurs.

00:16:56
Lionel Reichardt: How can a project owner contact you and access Bpifrance?

00:17:00
Clémentine Lamarre: The gateway for entrepreneurs is really the regional branches. To be as close as possible to its customers, Bpifrance has around 45 regional offices. So for an innovative start-up that would like to know a little more about the different missions and what Bpifrance could bring to its business, d is to contact the innovation business manager. To do so, go directly to the Bpifrance website. From there, it's possible to make a contact request, and the business manager usually comes straight back to the company for an initial 30-minute callback, which enables entrepreneurs to introduce themselves, their company and their needs, and for the business managers to present BPI and the initial offers, and then to meet for more in-depth discussions on the different types of aid available. And for national calls for projects or acceleration strategies that also exist, companies can directly file, when they have identified a call for projects, directly file online too.

00:17:54
Lionel Reichardt: You participate in calls for projects, calls for expressions of interest. What are the major items you evaluate? What are the key aspects that a project leader needs to pay attention to when applying?

00:18:06
Clémentine Lamarre: In general, we look for all calls with different degrees. But we obviously look at the team that makes up who makes up the company. The technology that is the basis of the company, its value proposition, what is actually the contribution that this technology is going to have on the care pathway or in terms of treatment? Of course, we also look at the company's market access strategy, and how it will finance its development. What are the company's development and financing plans, as well as its current financial situation, since we're also looking at the company's equity capital. And then, of course, there's intellectual property, which will also help solidify the company and ensure its development. In particular, I'd say that for e-health or digital health companies, what we've observed that might be missing from the files. It's really the definition of the value proposition, but quantified, i.e., yes, we often see "I'm going to improve the care pathway, reduce costs". But how? Why and by how much? What are the metrics? What will I be looking at? And commercial differentiation: "what can I do better than the competition", because in terms of digital health, there are many solutions emerging today. This is one of the main pitfalls we see. And then there's the database. How would you characterize this database? The characteristics we see in it, since it's essential for the development of a digital health technology, and also the evaluation and market access approaches that are sometimes really lacking in digital health, little looked at.

00:19:39
Lionel Reichardt: The BPI can intervene at different points in the life of an innovative project. What are the main ones?

00:19:45
Clémentine Lamarre: Bpifrance, indeed, offers financing at all stages, from a company's creation to its development and market launch. At the company creation stage, so really at the start of the adventure, we'll have grants available, the classic IPTEC grants that will in fact enable us to have additional financing for solutions with a strong technological aspect. Then, we'll have funding available for fund-raising. The idea is to show entrepreneurs that there's no continuum between financing and investment. Things can really be done in parallel. We'll have investment accompanied by financing. We have attractive bank loans available for first-time fund-raisers, which are also linked to the age of the company. These are things that really need to be looked at and monitored throughout the life of the company, and even on more commercial aspects. We'll also have loans. After that, it's true that the types of financing will change according to the company's stage of development. The younger it is, the riskier it is, the more we'll have subsidies, and the more advanced and de-risked the technology, the more we'll have repayable advances or loans. But the idea is really for us to follow the company throughout its development.

00:20:56
Lionel Reichardt: To conclude, Clémentine Lamarre. What advice could you give to a project owner who wants to be supported by Bpifrance?

00:21:03
Clémentine Lamarre: The advice I'd give is indeed, as I said earlier, to contact an innovation business manager directly since he or she really has a vision of everything Bpifrance can offer. Not just financing, as Bpifrance can also offer a wide range of support services. And he also has a vision of local and regional financing. There are leverage possibilities between Bpifrance financing and the financing of each region. It's a really important gateway for entrepreneurs. It's obviously important to keep an eye on the new calls for projects that are regularly posted on the Bpifrance website. For digital health, we currently have the Innovation Vague 7 competition, which concerns diagnostics. So, it's not all digital health solutions, but there are some. And don't forget IPTEC's development grants, which are now relatively well suited to digital health companies. They can therefore also apply for these grants, which are in fact, in terms of amount and speed of disbursement, fairly well adapted to digital health, if indeed they are IPTEC-qualified. In digital health, we have the AMI Santé Numérique, which was also launched on March 8, and whose two Shift dates are April 8 and June 16. And the Grand Défi Santé Numérique, which is also launching a new call for projects today, probably at the beginning of May. So, to actually stay tuned because there are many calls today, given that digital health is part of the acceleration strategies desired by the State.

00:22:38
Lionel Reichardt: Our episode is coming to an end. Thank you for listening to us. We thank our two guests for their availability. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast on the listening platforms. We look forward to seeing you very soon for a new episode of "100 days to success".

00:22:57
Voice-over: Those who are making e-health today and tomorrow are on the G_NIUS podcast and all the solutions to succeed are on gnius.esante.gouv.fr