CCRM’s unique structure as a nonprofit organization and public-private partnership is accelerating scientific discovery and commercialization to new heights
Some questions have no simple answers— such as, what, exactly, is CCRM? The multi-fold answer reflects the complex needs of nurturing a startup ecosystem. CCRM is many things: a source of venture capital, a commercialization partner, an incubator, an industry network, an educational centre, and more. Its unique structure as both a nonprofit organization and public-private partnership allows CCRM to wear numerous hats and collaborate widely, all in the service of its mission to help develop and commercialize cell and gene therapies and regenerative medicine-based technologies.
CCRM, headquartered in Toronto’s Discovery District and hosted by the University of Toronto (UofT), connects the too-often siloed, but complementary worlds of academia and industry to maximize both the health and economic returns of regenerative medicine. Living therapies (treatments made from biological material) have the potential to cure some of the most elusive and devastating diseases, and also significantly improve quality of life for many as they age.
What once sounded like a sci-fi fantasy is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most promising industries. Since CCRM was founded in 2011 with seed funding from the federal and Ontario governments, as well as academic and industry partners, possibilities have already multiplied many times over.
We sat down with CCRM’s President and CEO, Michael May, PhD, to learn more about how the org has put Canada back on the map, its global ambitions, and what early-stage founders looking for investment from CCRM should focus on.
Toronto’s stem cell legacy
Canada’s economic centre comes by its regenerative medicine cred honestly— the first stem cells were discovered in Toronto by UofT researchers James Till and Ernest McCulloch back in 1961. “That created a legacy of excellent scientists across Canada. We were doing great science, publishing lots of papers, and generating IP thanks to our clinical infrastructure, but all the companies were eventually moving to Boston,” says May.
Unfortunately, as startups flocked to other cities like Boston and San Francisco, they grew to overshadow Toronto’s reputation as an innovation hub. CCRM aims to restore the city and country’s ability to grow, attract, and retain the best and brightest in the field.
“The question became, how can we build a sustainable ecosystem? In order to do this, you have to create things that influence companies to stay, that are sticky,” says May. “Our strategy for that was tackling manufacturing. If you have manufacturing, you have receptor capacity and talent development. You have an environment where there’s a percolation and recirculation of talent, entrepreneurial and otherwise.”
The other key issue was access to capital, which is often much more plentiful south of the border. However, CCRM sees no reason why Toronto can’t compete in its own unique ways with its American competition.
“We believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle here in Toronto, and Ontario, and Canada. It’s about being strategic.”
“We believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle here in Toronto, and Ontario, and Canada. It’s about being strategic,” says May. “CCRM is about being strategic and actually executing a strategy to build an industry based on our scientific strengths.”
So far, the plan appears to be working wonderfully. By its tenth anniversary, CCRM had already supported the launch and scaling of 14 portfolio companies that had raised over $770 million. Other accomplishments included building 30,000 square feet of specialized infrastructure to industrialize cell manufacturing (a partnership with Cytiva) and manufacture clinical-grade cells and viral vectors under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) conditions for clinical trials (with University Health Network). CCRM also launched the Canadian Advanced Therapies Training Institute with Montreal-based CellCAN to plug a training gap in manufacturing and, in late 2021, CCRM launched CCRM Enterprises, its for-profit venture capital arm. The list of achievements goes on.
“Thirteen years ago, despite all the great things happening in Canada, the world didn’t really have us on their radar. Now, I guarantee you if you go anywhere in the world and mention Canada and regenerative medicine to someone in the field, they’ll say they know CCRM and what we’re doing,” says May.
He says you can’t build a hub with only resources; you must also create and grow its reputation.
One of the biggest changes overcome from 2011 is that CCRM is now entirely financially sustainable. “We started with modest amounts of government funding but, from day one, we committed to making ourselves sustainable so that we wouldn’t rely on government funding for our core operations. After about 11 years, we hit that sustainability. That’s rare in the not-for-profit world.”
CCRM’s President and CEO, Michael May
Franchising CCRM’s ‘secret sauce’
The core of CCRM’s sustainability comes down to its unique model as both a nonprofit and public-private partnership, alongside its role in multiple parts of the entrepreneurial journey. “The fact that we’re driven by sustainability and not by a government plan or grant that gives us money for five years and then we have to put our hand out again, that’s really unique.”
“We’ve stemmed the tide of people, IP, and companies leaving Canada, and now the only thing leaving Canada is our model.”
The few similar organizations that do exist tend to have a particular area of focus, like manufacturing. Rather, CCRM provides a combination of investing, manufacturing, company creation, training, and more. Now, May says they’re finding CCRM’s model is in demand around the world, almost like a franchising operation would be. “I always joke that we’ve stemmed the tide of people, IP, and companies leaving Canada, and now the only thing leaving Canada is actually our model.”
CCRM has begun establishing hubs around the world, starting with Australia followed by Sweden. The goal is to facilitate expertise-sharing, IP bundling, and access to funding across major markets, “but also making sure that Canada’s at the centre of the global network of CCRM hubs around the world. That kind of global vision is also unique.”
The capital bottleneck
While there are many hurdles Canadian innovators face on their path to success in the living therapies space, May cites access to capital as one of the major bottlenecks between academic research and commercialization. When CCRM was first founded, there was a drive to have the chair of the board be a famous scientist, but he fought back and insisted it should be a venture capitalist. “Because everything we do needs to drive toward creating a product or vehicle that will attract capital into the ecosystem,” he says.
CCRM is now launching its first investment vehicle as, in May’s words, “one of a continuum we’re going to create over time to fill the valley of death. We don’t have enough capital in the community to drive things, and that’s a bottleneck.”
Speaking of funding— what does CCRM look for when investing in early-stage startups? “The bottom line is there has to be excellent science. That doesn’t mean it’s always going to work out, but there has to be a great basis in science. The second is, as much as we invest in science, we invest in people,” says May.
Some key characteristics it looks for in founders: prior experience growing a company and the ability to build a team with a full suite of business skills, from fundraising to operations.
“I also like to describe being an entrepreneur a little differently than others do,” says May. “The classic entrepreneurial attributes are networking, being a leader, having a great idea, being able to sell, etc. But I think being an entrepreneur is inherently about being a risk manager.”
“Being an entrepreneur is like a contact sport; you have to have grit.”
This is because he views the key to their success as being able to manage the risk appetites of many competing factions, from scientists to investors, pharma companies, and board members. Not only does everyone have different risk tolerances, they each have their own types of risk they’re more or less comfortable with. For example, an investor may be more comfortable with financial risk, but less so with scientific or commercial risk. A pharma company may be more comfortable with commercial risk, but less so with financial and scientific risks. “An entrepreneur has to sit there and say, ‘What is the risk everyone is comfortable with? Can I manage all those risks and make everyone comfortable?’” says May.
He advises one of the best ways to reduce risk is to actually execute. For example, if there’s a 50-50 chance a clinical trial will be successful, before the trial begins those odds remain 50-50. However, once it’s done and if it’s successful, that jumps to 100 per cent. “Execution is the way that you reduce risks that are very high at the early stages, and you have to be persistent. Being an entrepreneur is like a contact sport; you have to have grit.”
What’s next for CCRM?
For CCRM, there’s still a lot of work ahead, much of it starting with growing its international hubs. “In five years, we want to create an absolutely novel network-like enterprise that sees our hubs working together in ways no one has ever seen before. This global network is the future… and we’ll be able to attract risk capital in a way that’s not possible from a single institution or country”
More than capital, CCRM’s hubs will also focus on managing global logistics, supply chains, and manufacturing to create and commercialize truly global, life-changing products. “We’re going to create the Star Alliance of cell and gene therapy and there’s going to be a lot of magic that happens when we pull that off.”
If you would like to learn more about CCRM, visit its website: CCRM.ca.
RBCx offers support to startups in all stages of growth, backing some of Canada’s most daring tech companies and idea generators. We turn our experience, networks, and capital into your competitive advantage to help you scale and make a meaningful impact on the world. Speak with an RBCx Advisor to learn more about how we can help your business grow.
