Dr. Ilonna Rimm provides strategic advice on raising early-stage capital.
She can fully understand the biological science of an emerging company. Then she can organize and polish the science to present it in a way that is attractive to healthcare investors. She recently provided services to Immuneering Corp., who raised a Series A round of $20M in January 2020, and a Series B round of $62M in January 2021. Immuneering Corp. (IMRX) now trades on Nasdaq. Her advisory skills were developed during twenty years of Financial Services work on the Buy and Sell side of public equity, the Buy side of private equity and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Buy Side Finance Credentials:
Public Equity
Dr. Rimm’s Buy Side experience in public equity includes her current role as the CEO and Founder of Morninglight Healthcare Capital LLC, a family office. Prior to that position, she had a role as a Healthcare Research Analyst at Trillium Asset Management, a socially responsible investing firm, where she led buy/sell decisions for 23 Healthcare equities on the Trillium Buy List. She managed more than $200 million and was recognized as an outstanding Analyst who contributed substantially to the success of the Trillium portfolios. She ranked first among all research analysts for alpha generation/stock picking, generating 383 basis points of excess return within the Healthcare Sector, during 2014. She also monitored the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) status of Healthcare Investments. Dr. Rimm completed the CFA designation in 2014.
Private Equity
Dr. Rimm worked as an Executive-in-Residence at Oxford Bioscience Partners, a life-science venture capital firm, where she advised General Partners on capital commitment decisions for Oxford Bioscience Partners IV Fund ($459 million) based upon analysis of clinical trial results. She participated in due diligence, valuation analysis, financial modeling, and term sheet negotiation.
Sell Side Finance Credentials:
Dr. Rimm has extensive experience on the sell-side of healthcare finance, where she held the Series 7, 63, 86 and 87 licenses. In the most recent sell-side position, she led the Physician Consultation Services at Lazard Capital Markets. In that role, she increased physician calls/events 6-fold and increased client attendance 9-fold. Prior to her Lazard position, Dr. Rimm was a Director at Leerink, Swann and Company (currently SVB Leerink), a Healthcare Investment Bank, where she analyzed clinical trial data with buy-side clients, generating increased revenues, and referred investment banking business to the firm.
Merger and Acquisition Credentials:
Dr. Rimm worked as a Director of Licensing and Technology Licensing in Global Business Development at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. She negotiated contracts, led due diligence, and reviewed 200 companies in Oncology, Proteomics and Genomics. She led due diligence for oncology product licensing deals including anti-angiogenesis, antisense and platinum derivative drugs. Due diligence team members included senior executives from commercial, legal, clinical, preclinical and toxicology groups. Potential deals were valued at $100 million to $900 million.
Medical and Scientific Leadership
Roles in the Harvard Medical Area:
Dr. Rimm led Intensive Care Units as an Attending Physician with full legal and medical responsibility for 20 critically ill bone marrow transplant patients (adults and children). She directed a team of 50 professionals. As a Principal Investigator, she led a team of five professional scientists to develop data for fundable (18%ile) NIH grant applications. She and her team published 33 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Rimm cared for patients for 14 years. She led a scientific laboratory for five years and performed scientific experiments at the “bench” for eight years.
