EPISODE 65: MAHESH NARAYANAN, PROGRAM DIRECTOR & VENTURE PARTNER AT NEWCHIP
Mahesh Narayanan is an entrepreneur in biotechnology with extensive experience in the healthcare and life sciences industry, and a strong focus on business development and business start-up strategies. As an active member of the Small Business community, he provides business and scientific guidance in the development of therapeutics and medical devices. He has experience in taking an idea from concept to consumers and considerable knowledge on patents, business plans, fundraising, and incorporation. Mahesh received his Master’s in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor’s degrees in History and Pre-Medical Sciences from Boston University.
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Episode’s transcript
Julio Martinez: 0:00
Welcome to the Latin Metech leaders podcast. A conversation with Metech leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America. Please subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform, apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcast, Amazon music is teacher tune in. I heard radio Pandora or welcome to the LA me leaders podcast. A conversations with leaders who have succeeded or plan to succeed in Latin America today. Our guest is Mahesh Naja. I hope I'm pronouncing your name right. Mahe all right. He's a program director and venture partner at Newchip and accelerator are new chip. An accelerator that since 2019 has helped founders raise over 300 million with over 70% of their graduates successfully. Raising capital Mahesh is an entrepreneur in biotechnology with extensive experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries, and has a strong focus in business development and business startup strategies. MIH provides business and scientific guidance in the development of therapeutics and medical devices. He receive his master's in biotechnology from the university of Pennsylvania and his bachelor's degree in history and pre-medical sciences from Boston university. So mien, I'm really pleased to having you here in the show today. I look forward to our conversation. How are you doing today?
Mahesh Narayanan: 1:26
Absolutely. Thank you, Julia, for the invitation and thank you for that great, uh, introduction as well. Appreciate it.<laugh>
Julio Martinez: 1:31
Sure. I mean, you deserve it. You are the guy here. I mean, I'm, I'm so, so thrilled to having you here and to hearing about your activities in Latin America, finding innovation in the region, clinical research. I mean, you've done all in Latin America, so let's get started with, uh, your journey to the region houses that you guys started, uh, getting involved with Latin America.
Mahesh Narayanan: 1:54
Absolutely. So I actually started, uh, again as with most things, uh, in life serendipitously, I<laugh> had a good friend, uh, that I met, uh, at a conference, uh, who actually at that point was doing his, uh, graduate studies, uh, in, uh, university of Texas, uh, a and M uh, and, uh, so we met at a conference and we really hit it off. Um, he was also a very young, um, inner scientist, uh, looking to become an entrepreneur and I just started, uh, his own biotech company. Um, so I started, uh, my first biotech company back in 2013, uh, and, uh, you know, that was kind of, uh, more in the, the, um, digital health space now had a quick exit and then, uh, moved into the therapeutic side, uh, of it, uh, kind of using, uh, similar technologies, but more applying those, uh, um, you know, the digital aspects into a therapeutic development. Uh, and so, um, you know, that's, that's the, uh, current company pep backs. And so, um, you know, our, our goal, uh, you know, between our combination there is that, uh, he had a particular technology that, uh, he needed help in delivering, uh, into patients. Uh, so he had a, um, a particular, uh, RNA technology. So back then, not a lot, not a lot of people knew about RNA. Now, everyone knows because of all the vaccines, you know, how well RNA works. Uh, but, uh, he had a particular RNA therapeutic, uh, for, uh, pancreatic cancer. Uh, but he, he was really struggling to get it delivered into, uh, patients, uh, and, uh, you know, cuz the RNA breaks down very quickly and uh, for a vaccine it's good cuz you know, you get it, it expresses and it's done. But when it's being used as a therapeutic, when you're actually trying to treat a disease RNA, it has to stay there for a long time. Uh, and you know, and, and you have to make a lot of it in order for it to work, uh, for a therapeutic and he wasn't able to do that properly. And so he came to us because we had a lot of experience in, uh, actively delivering, uh, any types of, uh, DNA and RNA based, uh, therapeutics. Uh, and so we started collaborating, uh, you know, uh, quite early on to, uh, see if we can help him deliver his, uh, therapeutic into patients actively and uh, you know, do well. And that was my really first interaction with a, uh, Latin American company because he is actually was originally from Costa Rica. And so he ended up going back to Costa Rica, started his company there. Uh, and, and that's when we, you know, our interaction with a Latin American company started to come about is, you know, I was like, oh, he he's a great company. He started, you know, he was in the United States, but it ended up going back. And the reason he, he went back, uh, was actually, um, you know, because of the opportunities that he saw in Costa Rica that he wasn't able to see in the United States. Uh, and primarily that comes down to how quickly he was able to recruit patients, how quickly he was able to use certain, uh, you know, facilities that were readily available in Costa Rica, but no one was using them. Uh, and, uh, you know, so there was not a government aid that was available, but no one was aware of it or no one was using it. And, and so he kind of, you know, dug deep into the research and then said, okay, I have a lot of, um, ways to get funding and a lot of ways to get my company going, uh, in Costa Rica. So we decided to go back to Costa Rica. And so we start, we pretty much followed him there. That's
Julio Martinez: 4:59
Ironic, right. It's easy to, to develop a product in Costa Rica in the United States.
Mahesh Narayanan: 5:05
Exactly. So, so, you know, while research is great here, you know, there are a lot of regulatory pathways in Western Europe, as well as in, uh, you know, United States that make it quite hard to, uh, quickly develop, uh, therapeutics, uh, you know, in certain, um, indications, especially in cancers, rare cancers where, uh, you know, it's late stage or, you know, it's, uh, you know, there aren't that many people, uh, to test, it becomes very hard in, uh, in America, but it's actually not that hard to recruit those type of patients in Latin America, primarily because they don't have too many other options here. You know, that that's where it pretty much comes down to access. Right. And so in the United States, you have so much access to, uh, in some advanced therapeutics that most of the world, uh, in know, uh, countries, uh, don't really have access to. Uh, and so in Latin America, that's quite, uh, you know, uh, prevalent as well. And so when, when they see that there's a experimental, uh, in a clinical trial that they're recruiting patients for, it's much easier to recruit them because, uh, they're like, oh, I don't have anything else. So might as well try this. Uh, and so that's a, you know, that was an opportunity that he saw, uh, in, in Costa Rica, but the other aspect is, and this is something that, uh, a lot of people don't realize as well. You can actually conduct, uh, experiments in Costa Rica and Brazil and take those results to the United States FDA, and actually, you know, use it actually to, uh, you know, uh, at least show them that you have, uh, initial human data and it's safe. And then you can actually expedite your process with the FDA into phase two and phase three,
Julio Martinez: 6:34
As long as the data is captured, following ICH, UCP standards.
Mahesh Narayanan: 6:38
Exactly. Exactly. So, and, and, and that's not offered in all countries by the way, just because you follow the FDA guidelines in another country doesn't necessarily mean that they wanna approve it. So, uh, the, the FDA has, uh, identified a few countries that they have gone to the facilities they've worked with their, uh, you know, uh, FDA equivalent, I believe in Brazil, it's a, a VC, uh, and visa in cost, a visa, sorry. And, uh, the, uh, in Costa Rica, there's, I think the CR FDA, but, uh, you know, they, they have, you know, very, uh, similar, um, uh, hierarchies and they have similar regulations. And so the FDA's approved a couple countries out the world where you can conduct it there, and then you can actually bring the data back as long as you follow those particular guidelines. I just mentioned. Uh, and that's pretty much what, you know, he had planned and that's what he's doing at this time. Uh, he, he was actually able to expedite his clinical trials and, and through him, we were able to expedite our clinical trials, cuz our, you know, our, our, uh, device and our dev our, uh, drug delivery platform was also being used for that. And so we actually used that information to come back to the FDA. So he actually, we were able to kill two boards in one stone. He got, you know, he got his approval for his drug and we got approval for our platform all in the same clinical study. Uh, and I think that is, you know, one of the big opportunities that, uh, we can see in Latin America is, uh, you know, um, being able to, you know, if you pick the right countries and you able to pick the right, uh, facilities, and it certainly the right, uh, uh, you know, uh, medical personnel to run clinical trials, either in therapeutics or devices, you actually have a really good chance of getting it approved in the United States, just with that data. And so that's a, that's actually how my journey started in Latin America is you brought me there and then now I've been exploring it for the past couple of years, like where the faster opportunities, you know, the opportunities where I think, uh, you know, we can take advantage of not just in therapeutics, but medical devices and other, uh, aspects that, uh, you know, I feel are important, uh, to be able to bring that type of care to people.
Julio Martinez: 8:38
Yes, yes. Maje, thank you for that, that answer. I mean, it was a fantastic answer and, and, and, and you talk about so much stuff. We can have five different episodes<laugh> with, just with that answer, but a quick con a quick comment here is that, uh, a lot of our clients, you know, we do a lot of clinical research in Columbia and, uh, we can do clinical research over Latin America. We just happen to believe that Columbia is perhaps one of the best countries for this type of work. So a lot of our clients and sponsors use that data, that clinical data, and they sit down for the FDA and with their investors. Right, right. I mean, that represents a huge milestone in the development of every technology that first in human experience, those 20 patients, 15, anywhere between 10 and 20 patients and they sit down for the FDA and they, they can talk about their pilot or pivotal in the United States, if it is a medical device. And, uh, and of course with investors or also with these strategic acquirers, they can now talk to Medtronic FIC and say to them, listen, I already got human experience. Now I'm more attractive. Let's talk about evaluation here. Let's talk about, uh, acquisition.
Mahesh Narayanan: 9:49
Exactly, exactly. So, and it's a great opportunity for early stage companies because, you know, the, the, if you are able to get the funding, I mean, that's, that's the other, you know, I think the, the downside to some of the, the work is that, you know, funding's not readily available. So the funding probably has to come from the United States or somewhere in Europe, but, you know, but the, the work can definitely be done in that, in that region and done really well to the same standards you, you might be able to do, uh, uh, in front sometimes better, you might be able to do in the United States.
Julio Martinez: 10:17
However, before we move on, uh, I wanna make a quick comment here. I've been faced with a few, uh, sponsors, clients sponsors, who have told me, Julio, I'm getting all these financial or incentives tax and financial incentives in Australia in Poland. And I'm like, huh, interesting. Let me do some research in Columbia. Let's see what financial incentives or tax incentives the government has for companies to do research or, or to, um, do trials, any type of R and D work in Columbia. And I was amazed about, I mean, of what I found, I mean about the amount of money that the government is, is offering free government grants. It's not many people know about it and not many people take advantage of it because they don't know what to do for those grants, because there isn't much innovation. There isn't much local innovation. So foreign companies can take a lot of advantage of these opportunities in Latin America, since all these governments or looking at science, technology and innovation as a way to, to diversify their economies and to create knowledge economies, they wanna export knowledge, not export bananas and avocados and mans and coffee, right. Or oil. That's the thing pass. I think America has already passed that. I mean like countries like Chile, Colombia, Mexico, they're already thinking big. So, so yeah, that's, that's an opportunity that very very few companies are, are seeing in Latin America. Uh, there are a lot of grant opportunities in the region. It says that you have to, to wait a little longer, you have to point it with a local company and apply for the grant. You cannot do it from the United States. You have to do an application locally in Spanish, but can be done. There's there's money just recently. Um, I was just talking to a sponsor, uh, we're doing a couple clinical trials for them. They were looking at another indication and, uh, stem cell work, generative medicine. And we were looking at a grant by the Columbia government of almost$300,000. I mean, that's enough for a clinical trial.
Mahesh Narayanan: 12:32
Right. And, and, and that was actually a similar type of grant that my friend was pursuing in Costa Rica, you know, and, and, and he realized that, you know, there was almost for, you know, for using$300,000, he actually got over 10 million of money that no one else had used. Uh, it was there and the government was just holding onto it. Uh, and he's like, well, I want all the money. And they said, okay, here's all the money don't want it.<laugh>. And so, you know, he got so lucky cuz 10 million goes so much further in Latin America than it does in the United States. So, you know, so he's actually, you know, he has enough funding to finish. His phase. One is phase two is phase three, get all the reason, you know, all the trials it needs, uh, and, and still have more left to go do another product, you know, so the, the, the, the, the amount of money goes much further in that America. Uh, and, and, and speaking of, uh, you know, Mexico and, and I, I have another, um, uh, you know, company that I've been working with in, uh, in Argentina as well. Okay. The med, the medical device and equipment market in Mexico and Argentina are unbelievable. Uh, you know, the, the amount of, um, innovation that's coming out of Mexico and Argentina, and even, uh, you know, uh, Columbia, uh, when, when looking at like heart valves, when you're looking at, uh, you know, uh, MRI machines or ECG, they, they are finding new and better ways because they have to, uh, you know, to, uh, to, uh, get it to patients faster, cheaper, more efficiently. And, and so, you know, I think I mentioned, you know, when we spoke before, there's a, uh, a, a, uh, device company that, uh, that was, uh, you know, actually, uh, invested in that was looking at, um, a, a Sonic and light machine in order to kill bacteria, right. Because, because antibacterials are such a big market, but no one wants to work on it, cuz the more you take antibiotics, the less they work<laugh>, you know, cause bacteria keeps, uh, they, they keep mutating and so it becomes less effective. So none of the big companies want to work in, in antibiotics anymore because they don't make any money. Cause the more they sell, the less money they make<laugh>. And
Julio Martinez: 14:39
So,
Mahesh Narayanan: 14:40
So it's like one of those paradoxes in, in pharmaceuticals, but this company, uh, their, this company was started by a doctor in a hospital, uh, in, um, in Mexico. And, uh, he, he saw that, you know, there was so much rampant, uh, MEA, uh, you know, this, uh, Methin resistant, um, uh, bacterium that no matter what you do, they don't die, you know? And so, um, they, they, they actually more patients, he lost more patience to MEA than he did to what, why they came in for, they could have come in, you know, they could have come in for like a wound in their leg. They broke their arm and they died because of MEA, you know, it was like the worst situation for them. And he's like, this, can you look, I can't lose patients, something I can't see, like this is, you know, like I can't treat this way. And so he actually tried to, you know, uh, not try, he actually created this medical device, uh, which, uh, uses light and sound. He realized that you use certain frequencies of light and sound. He's able to kill the cell wall of the bacteria. Wow. So the dies, so there's fascinating. An there's no antibiotics, there's no an antibacterial, you know, uh, uh, agents, you just use light and, uh, sound and the bacterium dies and he did it because he had to, uh, you know, and, and now I think he saved the entire world by doing that because this is so relevant to every country, no matter where you go in the world, Mesa exists, uh, no matter where you go, uh, bacterium exists. And so you, uh, you know, and they will mutate the, the more you take antibiotics, the more they mutate. And so by now being able to just kill, uh, the bad ones, and this is actually what he's working on specifically, cuz there's good bacteria. You don't wanna kill the good bacteria as well. Cuz the entire gut is made of good bacteria, but uh, to be able to identify the bad bacteria and then kill it using specific frequencies, that was brilliant, you know, and that came out of Mexico and we helped fund them. Uh, and now, uh, they're looking to expand the entire world. Uh, and so they're going after markets in the United States, in the Europe, but that came out of Mexico and, and those are the opportunities I feel, uh, you know, that, that the innovation is happening because it has to, not because we want to. And so, uh, and, and you know, that, that innovation is, is, is that's something that I love coming out of Latin America, cuz I don't see that in too many parts of the world.
Julio Martinez: 16:59
Beautiful, beautiful example. I love it. All right. So let's talk about trends in the region. Uh, I know we touched a little bit on that, but let's, let's talk about what trends you see happening in Latin America from the political social economic standpoint. What do you see in the news? What do you see happening<laugh>
Mahesh Narayanan: 17:17
Well, I, I think in, in terms of trends, uh, you know, I think because of COVID the entire world is kind of in a, you know, a depressed model economically speaking, but I think it's coming back up, uh, I mean the, uh, you know, like markets like Mexico and Brazil and, you know, Columbia and Argentina, they're, they're too big to fail and, and they need to grow faster. And, and I think right now is a good opportunity for all of these countries to really step up, uh, their, their game when it comes to innovation. Cuz uh, uh, you know, you often see that innovation happens right after a big economic dip. Uh, you know, new companies take over and we, we saw this in 2008 and we had the whole sharing economy. So we had an Uber and Airbnb and all these other big companies that, that came into place. Uh, and that all happened because of 2008. And so I think there's another big trend that's gonna change and Latin America can certainly be ahead of that. Uh, and I see, you know, some of that coming from the, um, the expanses in, uh, artificial intelligence and machine learning and that's certainly taking place in Latin America, there's a lot of companies working around those aspects, uh, in, in terms of, you know, diagnosing people faster, diagnosing them in different ways. Uh, and then when it comes to, uh, you know, I think, uh, innovation that that's pushed by the government, I think a lot of, you know, uh, governments that around the world are pumping money just to keep the economy going. And you see that in the United States, we see that in, in Latin America, uh, and uh, pretty much every part of the world. So there's money now available for ideas to be, you know, created. And so, uh, you know, I think there's a lot of push for companies to continue innovating and for entrepreneurs to continue innovating in Latin America because there's a need for it and there's a push, but all the governments keep the economy going get people, you know, anyone who's not working. Okay, it's fine. Go start something, start an idea and push that forward. Uh, so the next two, three years, I, I, I see a lot of progress that I'm, uh, that, uh, you know, anticipate, uh, in Latin America, just, just because of where we are economically and where the policies are going, moving forward, where, you know, higher access to care, uh, and, uh, you know, uh, easier access and, and in a more efficient access to care. All that's important now cuz uh, you know, these Latin American countries that are getting older and older populations. And so you, you got, you know, the younger generation has to now take care of the older generation. So things have to be more efficient than the they, they have been before. And I think that is going to drive. So the social economic drive is really gonna push for better healthcare, easier healthcare, uh, and more universal healthcare in, in general.
Julio Martinez: 19:45
Yeah. Yeah. I, I would summarize what's what's happening now in Latin America, uh, with D desperate for business. I mean all these countries, I was in a conference today. I was looking it, it was ahead of, uh, the economic department of Citibank, uh, out of New York. And he was talking about the trends in Latin America. And, um, the growth that is projected for these countries is, is not as good as the growth of the United States and, and China have grown higher than before the pandemic. I mean, these countries has rebounded. I mean, they, they are leading the world now, but Latin America, the growth of Columbia is gonna be significantly less than the, than, than doing 2020, or just a little bit both. I mean, he's just, I mean, in average in Latin, America's, don't gonna grow that much. That's my point, uh, versus, uh, 2020. And, and, and so what I see this country is doing is they're trying to diversify their economies. They're trying to attract foreign indirect investment and they're doing anything necessary for these to happen in the case of Columbus specifically, which is my home country and the country that we focus the most with our business, where we bring our trials and we bring companies that are looking to Australian Latin America. I, I see the work reactivation everywhere in the news. Every headline has the word economic reactivation, economic reactivation, right? So they are bringing, for example, just last week, I was in a, in a, in a meeting organized by ProColombia, which is the, uh, investment promoting agency of the country. And they have offices all over the world and you're promoting these initiative to bring pharmaceutical and medical device companies to do manufacturing in Colombia. And that will lead to clinical research and that will lead to local innovation and et cetera, et cetera, cetera, high paying jobs. So there are looking for very creative strategies to bring more business. So I think it will be a, a, a great, it's a it's, it is a great time for Latin America to, to, to do something different.
Mahesh Narayanan: 21:57
Absolutely. And, and the pharmaceutical industry, you know, is, is a good place to be in right now. You know, it's one of the few industries that actually wasn't effective with the pandemic actually went up.
Julio Martinez: 22:07
Yeah,
Mahesh Narayanan: 22:07
Totally right. And, and so it's, uh, it actually, you know, that medical devices and anything that has do with, with healthcare, uh, you know, that that industry, I think, uh, can really play an important role in recovery as well as, you know, uh, expansion within Latin America. And I certainly agree the, the foreign investment perspective of, uh, you know, getting big pharmaceutical companies to come manufacture. I mean, uh, looking at, you know, something like mRNA, you know, one of the biggest restraints that we had and I'm, and this is in general, and this is I'm seeing this, uh, happening quite actively in that America as well, uh, as actually, you know, synthetic biology, uh, you know, being able to produce, uh, other molecules, other proteins using cells and using, you know, bacterium and using plants, uh, to be able to do it. And, uh, you know, we saw this in with mRNA. It's, it's hard to make, uh, you know, it's hard to manufacture, uh, and as we're moving towards, uh, you know, these type of, uh, treatments in the future, we need more and more of these synthetic biology, manufacturing facilities. Uh, and, uh, I certainly, uh, you know, hope and, and I'm, you know, hoping all countries, but especially Latin America, uh, can really lead the way in, um, you know, creating more synthetic biology and synthetic manufacturing facilities to aid other, uh, you know, um, companies in making their particular products easier and faster, uh, and distributor. So, you know, we don't have to depend on one or two countries around the world to make a vaccine and then distribute it everywhere. You know, Latin America could be, you know, that, that center where everyone goes to manufacture vaccines, where, where everyone goes to manufacture proteins. And I think that is a, a opportunity that, uh, I'm hoping that, uh, you know, uh, countries in Latin America don't miss out, cuz I think synthetic biology is the future and, uh, and manufacturing and putting money there. It's gonna be
Julio Martinez: 23:56
Very, yeah, they are they're they call it nears reassuring strategy. They're attracting nears, reassuring. That's really the name of the game. Now since the relationships with China and the United States is now seeing China as a real competitor. I mean, they're getting aggressively into Latin America. The United States has said we need friendly countries to work with us so that we don't have to depend on potential enemies.<laugh> right. So, uh, we want companies to manufacture their products closer to us here in the, our backyard because we have ignored Latin America. It's right here, Mexico, Costa Rica is a great example of a country that attracted all these Metronic of the world was scientific of the world to do manufacturing in their free zones. And everything is just amazing. So Columbia can easily be a, or get inspired with what Costa Rica is doing. Actually, that is what, that was a topic of conversation during the, uh, event that I just mentioned, they talk about Costa Rica, they talk about India, how India was able to come out of nowhere and, and become the pharmacy of the world. So the Columbian government, yeah, the, the, the, the Columbia ambassador in India was at the event and she is doing, uh, her work to collaborate with the Indian government to learn best practices from India to adapt to Columbia, to attract pharmaceuticals, uh, or medical devices to, to Colombia or
Mahesh Narayanan: 25:30
Right. And, and I think that's one of the things that India did really well is that they became leader in manufacturing, generics, and manufacturing, you know, um, you know, proteins. And, and so, and, and I think that's where, you know, um, countries like Brazil, Argentina, uh, you know, uh, uh, UA, Ecuador, they have so much land and they have so much capability to be able to use that land in a way that's, uh, you know, not just beneficial to them by benefiting the whole world, cuz the next time, you know, uh, God forbid, another pandemic happens, you know, uh, we don't have to rely everything around Asia to manufacture all the drugs that we need in the east, in the Western hemisphere. We can go to Mexico, we can go to Ecuador, we can go to, uh, you know, uh, Brazil and say, Hey, we need a more mRNA vaccine. Let's do this here rather than having to do it in India. So no, it's, it's, I think it's an opportunity that, um, a lot of countries are looking at, but I think not American countries really, you know, take a deep look at it and say, how can we take advantage of this and how can we be there the next time there's a, you know, any major, uh, you know, um, worldwide disaster, how we can lead the world rather than having to, uh, you know, follow some other country and then depending on others that we don't have to.
Julio Martinez: 26:43
Yeah. All right. We're close to the end of the show Mah, but, uh, I, I like to ask you about, uh, more examples that you may have if you have more in Latin America companies that you have funded or you have accelerated, or you have worked with, so anything going on in Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, besides the examples that you gave us.
Mahesh Narayanan: 27:03
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh, you know, apart from just, uh, drug development, I mean, we, we, you know, uh, I personally look at, uh, any type of, um, life science and healthcare type companies. And, and one of the other companies that we, that we recently, um, ended up funding in Argentina, uh, is actually a company that what was doing last mile delivery of drugs from the pharmaceutical, from the pharmacy to the patients, uh, you know, one, one of the things that they realized was that, uh, uh, people aren't taking their medications cuz they don't, they can't, or they don't end up going to the pharmacy. And so the compliance, you know, is, is so low. Uh, and uh, they realize that all they have to do is just get the drug to the patient at their home. And the compliance goes up 40, 50, 60%, uh, depending on the country. Uh, and so this co this, uh, uh, company, um, you know, had an amazing case study of what they were able to do in Argentina. And so we ended up funding them. So now they can actually expand to central America, uh, and, and Mexico as
Julio Martinez: 28:05
Well. Nice.
Mahesh Narayanan: 28:07
And, and see how far we can actually push this cuz you know, uh, I mean components is a, is a problem anywhere in the world, you know, don't get me wrong, but uh, but Latin America and south America, especially compliance is solo. So when the doctor says, take this, you know, tablet, uh, you know, twice a day, they do it once a week.<laugh>, you know, and that's not going treat them, that's gonna,
Julio Martinez: 28:27
They cut in half so they can take the day.
Mahesh Narayanan: 28:31
Exactly. So, you know, you
Julio Martinez: 28:34
See it, isn't it, you
Mahesh Narayanan: 28:35
Know, so it's, it is like, you know, they're doing the things that they shouldn't be doing. And, and obviously what that means is that they're getting sicker. They have to end up going to the hospital more and that increases the cost overall for everyone. Uh, and so for the family have to take, you know, they have to take care of them, uh, longer and there's more problems have to be in the hospital longer. So they, you know, they, they showed a really nice case studies saying we did this for one year and we increased compliance to these families here, uh, over 60%. And we saw a drop on their healthcare cost over 80%, 80% drop in healthcare cost of those families that they were able
Julio Martinez: 29:12
To serve. Wow. That's fascinating.
Mahesh Narayanan: 29:14
Exactly. If we can translate that, I mean, America itself, you know, don't get me started with our healthcare system here, but<laugh>, but if we can reduce 80% of healthcare costs across any country, right. Like that, that's just such an amazing, cause I would say, uh, any country you pick in, uh, you know, in a, uh, in Latin America, healthcare costs is at least 30% of GDP. Imagine bringing that down lower than what you're spending infrastructure, right. A how much cash a, a, a country can save by not taking care of their patients cuz they keep getting sick<laugh>
Julio Martinez: 29:47
Exactly. And you improve their patient's lives.
Mahesh Narayanan: 29:50
Exactly. Yeah. And so that, that, that is a, you know, a, uh, a great, uh, example of not just, you know, uh, uh, life sciences specifically, but healthcare in general. Yeah, yeah, sure. How we can, you know, affect all patients' lives.
Julio Martinez: 30:02
Beautiful. Beautiful. Hey, all we're close to the end of the show. And um, what would be your final words of wisdom to the CEO of any medical technology or healthcare company that is just looking at Latin America as a line of opportunity? What's a place to do business in general? What would you say to him or her if you had him in front of you?
Mahesh Narayanan: 30:21
Yeah, absolutely. I, I would say, uh, you know, first find a partner, right? I, I, I think that there are so many great companies in Latin America, uh, that, uh, aren't, we aren't either, uh, looking at or are not aware of cuz we're not, you know, uh, uh, we aren't searching for them. You know, it's always like we're searching for investors, you're searching for, you know, uh, uh, hospitals here in the United States or in Europe or, you know, Australia, wherever we might be. Uh, but the best way to get into Latin America is through a partner and there's so many great companies find a great partner and then using the partner, you're able to do so much more, uh, in terms of taking advantage of the local regulations, taking advantage of the local grants, taking advantage of, uh, you know, the, the, the local market in general. Uh, and some of these markets are way bigger than what we anticipate. Uh, and, and, you know, like markets like Mexico are growing like, you know, 15, 20% a year, uh, uh, in, in some, some cases. So there, there's definitely a market there. I don't, you know, um, companies should not ignore this market, uh, you know, because they think it's not a big size, more than enough for most startups, uh, to take a look at, to do what they need to do. And then if you wanna look at Europe, if they wanna look at United States later for regulatory application so forth, they can still do that. I think that's what a lot of countries or companies are afraid of. They think if they go outside to Latin America, that not everything, all the work that they do there doesn't count and that's absolutely not true. And so, you know, by, by finding a good partner, either manufacturing, clinical trial partner, or even a good, uh, you know, collaborator to say you have something, I have something let's put this together and see what happens. I think those are the opportunities that, uh, country, uh, companies should be looking out for in Latin America. Uh, and once you find that it's so easy to, you know, tap into that market, go grow as well. You can go from one country, not America to another one, very, very quickly cuz regulations aren't that hindering as it might be from the United States. Uh, and so it, I think that that would be the big advice for me is find a good partner and then grow out into Latin America. Cuz it's a, it's a, there's a lot of opportunity, but you can't do it on your own. You can't do it on your own. I think that's the big takeaway for me.<laugh>
Julio Martinez: 32:33
Excellent Maha. And I will say, uh, before we end here that you are fishing in a blue ocean because you are in a position where you are part of an accelerator, you're looking for companies to apply to your program. You're looking for companies to phone. Those are your metrics and you are swimming in an ocean where nobody else is looking for opportunities.
Mahesh Narayanan: 32:53
<laugh> absolutely. And, and, and they're coming to us as well, you know, they,
Julio Martinez: 32:56
Oh, and they're coming to you. Fantastic.
Mahesh Narayanan: 32:58
They're coming to us. So we are looking, but they're coming to us even faster. So beautiful, you know, absolutely. You know, we love to find companies there. We love to, you know, continue working in Latin American, uh, countries and, you know, making sure that whatever we can provide to help them do, you know, what they have to do better. We are happy to help as well. So, you know, we, we that's, that's really the, the, the, you know, where I see the future really taking shape is
Julio Martinez: 33:22
I'm so, yeah, I'm so happy to see you guys and other accelerators, uh, doing work in Latin America because it's something that is badly needed. There's no ecosystem yet. I, and just starting to, to be, but, uh, specifically for medical technologies, medical biotech, me healthcare, the ecosystem is not as strong as it is in, in, in the United States. And it is not as strong as it is with apps and, you know, technology in general. Absolutely. So there's,
Mahesh Narayanan: 33:51
So we're actually hoping to start a, uh, office in Latin America, especially
Julio Martinez: 33:54
Beautiful office.
Mahesh Narayanan: 33:55
Nice. That's dedicated to just Latin America that that's in the future. Uh, but you know, it is definitely part of our plan cuz obviously it's the closest neighbors, right. Going to
Julio Martinez: 34:03
America. Yes. From
Mahesh Narayanan: 34:04
Here, the closest neighbors. So, you know, we are certainly looking to expand there cuz we see a lot of opportunity that we would like to
Julio Martinez: 34:09
Yeah. S certainly a great place for that. I mean, is one, it is becoming the startup capital of America. Bueno. I SA P you know that, so Mexico city
Mahesh Narayanan: 34:19
<laugh> absolutely. There's yeah. There's a lot of them coming up. Absolutely. Yeah.
Julio Martinez: 34:22
<laugh> awesome. Hey, so how can people get in contact with you?
Mahesh Narayanan: 34:25
Sure. Uh, you can reach out to me through my email. Uh, it is, uh, my first name, M a H E S H. And then my first initial of my last name is N as in Nancy at, uh, new chip.com. Uh, so that's N w C H I p.com. Uh, that'd be the best way to reach out to me. Uh, and you know, any information you might need about our accelerator, any information you want, you know, want to just apply for, to be part of our accelerator or for investment. We are also looking, you know, to, for, for companies for investment. Uh, but, uh, you know, that's probably the best way to reach out to me. And, uh, you can certainly out to me through LinkedIn, uh, I'm quite active in LinkedIn as well as Twitter. So these are all, you know, uh, the three easy ways to get, get to me.
Julio Martinez: 35:06
We're gonna, uh, include a link to your LinkedIn profile on, in our website. So, uh, Mah, thank you so much. Uh, you're being a great, uh, guest. I, I loved our conversation. I'm sure listeners got a lot out of it and I look forward to being in touch. Bye.