„Learning about biotech entrepreneurship in Boston was eye-opening”

You transitioned from practicing medicine to becoming one of the most innovative investors in biotech startups. Do you ever think about returning to medicine?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: In truth, I never gave up being a physician. While I don’t treat patients in the hospital anymore, much of my thinking around biotech building and investing is informed by that clinical experience and goal to improve patient care. Learning about biotech entrepreneurship in Boston was eye-opening. I had never been exposed to venture capital investing or heard about startups in biotech while I was studying or training in Germany and France in the 1990s.

You are the founder of the incubator LabCentral and the CEO of BioLabs, which have helped launch more than 1,200 biotech startups. What makes these organizations unique?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: At our facilities, we offer best-in class lab functionality for startups and founder teams. But more importantly, we build a community of innovators. This is now by far the largest network of co-working lab facilities around the globe, with 26 facilities and more than 600 companies currently resident. When we designed the concept for Biolabs, we were trying to emulate what is special about Boston: a community of like-minded people, generous sharing of ideas, physical density to enable serendipitous encounters and create opportunities for new connections. So, we are “community-first”, even though many people think of us as real estate or infrastructure. This is what separates us from many of the copycats.

A few years ago, you began expanding BioLabs to France and Germany. What are the differences between launching a space like this in the U.S. and in Europe?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: I came to the US with no formal business training, so I learned about investing, startup building, by being an entrepreneur in the marketplace here. I learned my business in the US-so I thought this is the standard, the way things should be done. When I started expanding Biolabs in Germany, it was eye-opening and also heartbreaking for me to see the differences between founding businesses in Germany and in the US. There are no ways to sugar-coat what I am seeing in reality: Germany makes it incredibly hard for businesses, compared to the US.

What do you mean by that?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: I am speaking about regulations, bureaucratic delays, red tape, restrictions on use of public funding. Also, the much-described friction, cost and delay imposed by the requirement for notary functions, and many more that in aggregate amount to a severe burden or a tax for new businesses and position Germany as a much less competitive country compared with the US and others. It is heart-wrenching for me to see my home country burden itself unnecessarily while the world is rapidly advancing and I want to help guide our decision makers to create a framework for the future that will make it better.

You are a member of the bio:cap Steering Committee—why is that important to you?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: I believe Germany and Europe have enormous opportunities ahead – based on a well-trained workforce, strong and reliable infrastructure and good governance. Many of the ingredients are here to build the businesses of the future, especially in biotech. I am hoping that we can use the platform of bio:cap to help steer capital flows in Europe towards investing into biotechnology here, to create the industries and jobs of the future, and to help position Europe competitively in this century.

How can bio:cap help here?

Dr. Johannes Fruehauf: bio:cap is helping by raising awareness, by educating investors and policy makers about the opportunities that exist in unlocking the innovation engine that waits in Europe.