More than forty CEOs and managers of CataloniaBio & HealthTech met on Tuesday 20 March at the first edition of the CEO Council of 2024. The meeting was held at the HUB Cambra Digital, at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the special guest was Oriol Pinya, president of SpainCap, co-founder of Abac Capital and vice-president of Barcelona Global and FemCat. The welcome was given by Mariona Serra, CEO of GoodGut (a company of the HIPRA group) and President of CataloniaBio & HealthTech.

The aim of this CEO Council, with Oriol Pinya, was to talk about their investment forecasts for 2024. Pinya is president of SpainCap and co-founder of Abac Capital. He currently collaborates with and is a member of the board of several non-profit organisations, including the Barcelona School of Economics; the HSB Club de Barcelona, of which he is President; Barcelona Global and FemCat, of which he is Vice-President; the Pere Tarrés Foundation; and ACG. With his vision, he has raised, shared and tried to identify what are the challenges and opportunities that we face this year in terms of investment. Starting with global forecasts and focusing on the health sector.

Pinya shared some investment figures of the last years, and how these operations are distributed among the different investment structures (venture capital, buyout...). How these investments have fluctuated in recent years and what has been the behaviour (downward) of the last year, and how it compares with the behaviour in Europe and the world. He also highlighted the fact that the health sector is in fashion and how the growth that has been seen in the United States can be a look for us. After the overview of the context, we were able to review what are the forms of valuation of the company and what aspects, in the world of risk capital, make a company to be considered or not for financing.

After his speech, the conversation was opened with the attendees, in a very participative debate focused on funding criteria, forecasts for this year, how companies have to prepare and the options available to companies in the sector, and the different realities that exist at international level.

CataloniaBio & HealthTech has already announced the confirmation of at least two more CEO Councils for this 2024: in May, with Raquel Yotti, Commissioner of PERTE per la Salut d'Avantguarda; in July, with Vanessa Servera, Delegate Councillor of the ICF; in September, with Josep Maria Argimon, Director of Scientific Infrastructures of the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center. Registration for the first one will be open soon, so keep an eye on the agenda!