Rafael Natanek was raised and educated in Sweden. He spent 15 years working out of the UK, serving life science companies across Europe and the U.S. Today he is located in the Netherlands, investing in and supporting life science companies across Northern Europe to grow their businesses.

“The largest difference is really between the US and Europe,” he says when I ask him about differences between the countries’ life science industries. “The USA is by far the larger life science hub, as over the last century it has been able to successfully weave together research, funding and entrepreneurs.”

At the same time, it has been encouraging to observe the growth in the European life science landscape over the last couple of decades, he adds.

“Over this period we have seen a rapid growth in venture capital and private equity funding, supporting an increasing number of entrepreneurs in growing their companies. This has translated in the expansion of biotech hubs across the continent, not least in regions like the UK, Scandinavia, Switzerland, BeNeLux, France and Germany.”

Different approaches to education and career

As a student of chemical engineering at Lund Institute  of Technology and biomedical sciences at Lund University, Sweden, Rafael observed a very sequential approach to how he and his fellow students approached education and career.

“In contrast, people in several European countries seem to interweave academia with their professional career a bit more.”

“You typically finished your studies by getting your Master’s degree. Unless you decided to pursue a PhD, you entered the career stage of your life, which continued until your retirement,” he says. “In contrast, people in several European countries seem to interweave academia with their professional career a bit more,” he continues, and gives us an example:

“A student in the UK might, after having finished their Bachelor’s, move to a company and work there for a year or two before returning to school to do their Masters or an MBA. Having finished that, they might take another stint in the private sector before returning to do a PhD, and then move into a life science company.”

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The different parts of the life science value chain

His own studies took him to UC Berkeley, California, where he did research for his Master’s Thesis. After having graduated, Natanek moved into consulting, first at McKinsey and later as a Partner at Bain & Co in London. “There I split my time between serving life science companies and leading healthcare due diligences for private equity funds,” he describes.

The benefit of working in an international management consulting firm is that you have the opportunity to serve different types of industries on a varied set of issues across the globe, he believes. “On the corporate side, I worked with management teams of healthcare, pharma, and medtech companies, helping them accelerate growth, enter new markets, improve their organizations, implement digital solutions, and pursue M&As.”

“The interesting part about healthcare private equity is that you get the opportunity to deeply assess different parts of the life science value chain, such as CROs, CDMOs, healthcare logistics etc.”

On the private equity side, whilst at McKinsey and Bain he led over 50 due diligences of medium sized and global corporations across Europe and the USA. “The interesting part about healthcare private equity is that you get the opportunity to deeply assess different parts of the life science value chain, such as CROs, CDMOs, healthcare logistics etc,” he says.

Today capital is abundant

Since the end of 2018 Rafael has worked as an investor with Gilde Healthcare Private Equity, located in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Gilde Healthcare Private Equity invests in the full range of healthcare businesses be it pharma, pharma outsourcing, medtech, medtech outsourcing, patient care, services to clinics and healthcare IT.

“We also have a large venture capital arm that invests in biotech, medtech and digital health,” he says. “We make investments across Northern Europe and the USA and have invested in several Nordic companies e.g., KLIFO, Admescope, Ascendis Pharma.”

 

Since the end of 2018 Rafael has worked as an investor with Gilde Healthcare Private Equity, located in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

 

On the private equity side, Natanek and his colleagues look for “growing profitable companies with high quality products/services that are run by a strong and ambitious management team.” One such example is Gilde’s investment in Symeres. “We initially entered the business in 2017 by merging two Dutch mid-sized CROs. We then worked with the management to help them invest in expanding lab capacity, accelerate their BD efforts whilst acquiring three additional companies. When we sold the company in 2021, Symeres had grown to become a leading independent integrated discovery/pre-clinical CRO in Europe,” he explains.

“Firstly, you will typically spend the next 5-6 years working closely with your investor. So does he truly understand you, and your business. Do they share your vision of where you want to take the company?”

For Nordic life science companies looking to raise capital, Natanek says that today capital is abundant. “If you have a good company and a strong management team, you will find many investors showing interest in your business,” he says. “Therefore, my advice to companies raising capital is to consider two criteria when choosing the partner to go with. Firstly, you will typically spend the next 5-6 years working closely with your investor. So does he truly understand you, and your business. Do they share your vision of where you want to take the company?”

“Secondly, how will this investor add tangible value to your organization? For example, will they provide you with critical strategic insights? What talent can they bring into your management team or board? What new customers can they introduce you to? How will they help you expand into new markets? Do they have actionable M&A opportunities on day one?” he says.

 

Utrecht, the Netherlands. View of the new station square with the central station, a large roof structure and Hoog Catharijne shopping mall.

 

Many companies are struggling to hire enough new talent

The most inspiring part of his job, Rafael says, is that he spend his days meeting and working with talented management teams of great life science companies. “I do what I can to support them grow their businesses, so they in turn can develop and deliver better treatments to patients,” he says.

For young professionals and students aiming for a career abroad he says that, in general, if you have the right academic qualifications and speak English or the local language it is relatively straightforward to get a job across the European Union, especially in multinational companies.

“Apply directly to multiple companies, as the largest barrier is often the outreach.”

“In addition, at this point in time, many of the life science companies are struggling to hire enough new talent, making them search for new hires wherever they can find them,” he says. “Therefore, the advice I can give is simply to apply directly to multiple companies, as the largest barrier is often the outreach.”