Posts In Category Incubators
NobleGen Biosciences joins VDC
on by vdc in Incubators, Comments (0)
With a proof of concept in hand, startup NobleGen Biosciences is setting up at the VDC to develop and commercialize a single-molecule sequencing technology that uses arrays of solid-state nanopores and optical detection.
The method comes from the lab of Amit Meller at BU and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Meller filed his first patents on the technology while working at Harvard. NobleGen recently licensed a patent portfolio from Harvard and BU that includes additional IP from Meller’s research at BU.
The company is led by CEO Frank Feist and Phil Buzby, former head of biochemistry at Helicos BioSciences. Feist joined the company earlier this year after serving as executive director of molecular diagnostic firm Advalytix, acquired by Beckman Coulter.
NobleGen’s fourth-generation sequencing platform could conceivably be in the market in the 2014.
NobleGen’s sequencing platform will differ from others in that its biochemistry and readout will be modular and physically separate, making it extremely low cost. Unlike third-generation DNA sequencing methods, the new nanopore method does not rely on enzymes whose activity limits the rate at which DNA sequences can be read.
NobleGen is the third life science startup in the last two months to join the VDC. The others are 4s3 Bioscience and Novophage Therapeutics.The VDC had been working with each while they obtained seed financing.
The Venture Development Center is Boston’s leading startup incubator for technology and life science companies.
Welcome Novophage Therapeutics!
on by vdc in Incubators, Comments (0)
Elects to launch in Massachusetts
A group of up-and-comers backed by biotech veterans in the Boston area is moving to the VDC. Their startup is called Novophage Therapeutics which plans to make engineered viruses that may help combat the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics.
Its scientific advisors include MIT’s prolific biotech inventor Bob Langer, and Boston University bioengineering professor James Collins.
Research related to the firm’s science was led by co-founder Dr. Timothy Lu, an assistant professor at MIT. Dr. Michael Koeris is the CEO of Novophage. The VDC will be the first formal home for the startup.
One year ago, the company won Purdue University’s Life Sciences Business Plan Competition and became eligible to receive free business incubator space in one of Purdue Research Park’s technology centers in the state for up to one year. The elected to launch in Massachusetts. Novophage was a finalist in MassChallenge, the world’s largest startup competition.
The Venture Development Center is Boston’s leading startup incubator for technology and life science companies.
Finally, inspiring office space for tech startups in Boston
on by vdc in Incubators, Comments (0)
Fred Wilson, a VC at Union Square Ventures in NYC, after touring the cool new digs of portfolio company Etsy, concluded: "You feel happy. But when you are less than ten people, it is hard to invest in stuff like this. All you can do is focus on getting your product right and launching it. You will work out of any space that is warm and hopefully quiet."
Why should founders have to wait? After all, you are creating most of the new jobs today. That’s why we built our 18,000 square-foot startup facility in Boston, an affordable, award-winning workspace designed by Sasaki Associates to meet the most demanding needs of technology and life science companies just getting started. Think series A digs at a startup price.
It features fully equipped offices and laboratories served by state-of-the-art infrastructure. Meeting spaces, lounge, kitchenette and coffee bar take advantage of the stunning location on the harbor.
Unlike most of Boston, the Venture Development Center is served by high-speed fiber cable with a 10Gbps network connected to Internet2, meeting bandwidth-intensive requirements such as simultaneous supercomputing, streaming and videoconferenceing.
We agree with a new VC accelerator in the San Francisco Bay area, 500startups: "Space matters. We’re designing an awesome physical space that fosters collaboration and productivity."
In a little survey we did last month why founders choose to launch at the Venture Development Center, Sunil Bhatia, founder of RetireHub, said: "The facilities are world-class, and plug-and-play – we were up and running in a few hours. But for me, it is about the people" at the Venture Development Center. Sure, great people always trump great space. But we also suspect that is because good design, when done well, is invisible.
The Venture Development Center is Boston’s leading startup incubator for technology and life science companies.
Where is the small life sciences lab space?
on by vdc in Incubators, Comments (1)
A Darwinian reality faces Boston area startup life science companies: There’s more space to grow into than to emerge from. Even sublease lab space has dried to a trickle after steady interest chewed up the best sites, according to Richards Barry Joyce & Partners.
Its not uncommon to hear from a startup spending three months from Worcester to Boston hunting for small, reasonably priced, ready-equipped laboratory space. The Venture Development Center has one 400 square foot wet laboratory left.
Why isn’t Boston friendlier to startups? While the region actively works to recruit and retain new medium and large biotech companies, it must also invest in new company creation and catalyze further growth.
We think San Francisco, ahead of Boston in the number of public biotech companies (73 to 59), has got it right. At QB3 Garage, an incubator associated with the University of California, startups can rent micro amounts of laboratory space. This 3-year-old program already has helped four biotech startups close Series A financing.
The Venture Development Center is Boston’s startup incubator that gets you to the point where you’ve built something impressive enough to acquire customers and raise money on a larger scale.
Its all here. (To help you launch.)
on by vdc in Incubators, Startups, Comments (1)
There are a lot of great resources in the Boston area for entrepreneurs with emerging ventures. But these resources are not easy to access. Just ask Greenhorn Connect, which spent a year compiling them. And these resources come and go. For example, Highland Capital Partners just put on ice its summer incubator program. And we all know what Y Combinator did.
So we thought, what if we brought the best features of these resources together in an incubator in Boston that would be around for awhile? Imagine a mash up of Tech Stars, Dogpatch Labs, Cambridge Innovation Center and WorkBar, and QB3 Garage and The Start Project in San Francisco!
This incubator would have it all:
? Mentors by your side all of the time instead of only three months.
? State-of-the-art, full service workspace but spacious and affordable.
? Accessible intern talent without having to do the legwork to find them.
? Entrepreneurial community but not just for geeks, for biologists and chemists, too.
? Dose of cafe culture but for serious entrepreneurs taking a break from hitting milestones.
Surely founders and investors alike would love it. So would the economic development folks. But how would we make it affordable and accessible?
The incubator would have to be on the Red Line but outside the Square. The bet is that folks would ride a few more stops to save money. Also, we’d have to get grants to build it. And the incubator would have to be part of something that is here to stay, like our public university.
So, sensing that the time was right, three years ago, we decided to do this, build the Venture Development Center. We raised the money we needed, hired a world-class design firm, Sasaki, and opened it nine months ago. Then we brought on some outstanding people to operate it.
We have been fielding an inquiry a week from a tech founder during our nine months of operation. An interesting mix of life science, high tech and software as a service startups reside here. They are doing pretty well. Some big fish looking to invest or license are already circling around a few. And 345 UMass Boston students have signed-up for a chance at an internship with these companies.
Is it all here? We invite you to see for yourself. Talk to the companies. Take a tour. Most importantly, tell us what more we could do. Our ambition is to bring it all together like no one else does.
Venture Development Center
Phone: 617-287-6070
Email: VDC@umb.edu
The Venture Development Center is Boston’s startup incubator that gets you to the point where you’ve built something impressive enough to acquire customers and raise money on a larger scale.