Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Spero Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company targeting drug resistant bacterial infections, raised $30 million in Series B preferred financing, matching the $30 million Series A round Spero raised in June. Existing Series A investors Atlas Venture, SR One, MRL Ventures, Lundbeckfond Ventures, The Kraft Group and Partners Innovation Fund all returned to participated.
The Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park has been renamed to Pinkney Innovation Complex for Science and Technology at Montgomery College (PIC MC). The new name reflects the Center’s mission of fostering a more innovative workforce.
The Montgomery College Board of Trustees approved the new name which is relevant to today’s economic environment and to the business sectors who partner with the academic programs represented at the park.
DATE: Wednesday, February 10, 2016
LOCATION: Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20850
Southern Maryland’s Energetics Technology Center (ETC-MD) announces it is opening Montgomery County’s newest technology business incubator as part of the ETC-MD TechFire incubator network at the former National Labor College located at 10000 New Hampshire Avenue. This incubator is sponsored by the Army Research Labs and is purposed to serve companies interested in commercializing ARL developed technologies although other technology companies will be considered as well. Find out how you can work successfully with the Army Research Lab at this informative session.
The World Medical Innovation Forum is shaping up as a fantastic showcase of cancer innovation, breakthrough science and thought leadership from across the oncology community. I encourage you to join me at this unrivaled gathering. For a full list of all of the speakers, visit the website at: worldmedicalinnovation.org/speakers
Alexandria LaunchLabs™ has opened its doors to local, cutting-edge life science startups at 708 Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg, MD.
Alexandria LaunchLabs was created by a consortium of world-class partners to fill a specific unmet need in the market for early-stage life science companies. The consortium, which includes Alexandria Venture Investments (the strategic venture capital arm of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.), BioHealth Innovation, Montgomery County, and the City of Gaithersburg, recognized that in addition to providing early-stage life science companies with specialized state-of-the-art lab and office space, access to first- class supporting resources, services, and capital, is critical for innovation and growth. As such, consortium members will extend their respective networks to Alexandria LaunchLabs’ tenants, while BioHealth Innovation will provide access to its Startup and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Additionally, co-location will provide a collaborative ecosystem in which tenants will be able to further assist one another in identifying resources and sharing best practices. The creative startup environment fostered at Alexandria LaunchLabs will dramatically accelerate the growth of local early-stage life science companies.
Since the World Health Organization started raising alarms about the mosquito-born Zika virus spreading throughout the Americas, deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies have been racing to find a vaccine.
But a seven-person biotech company based in Rockville, Md., is trying something different.
Available lab space in Montgomery County’s I-270 corridor has dropped to levels not seen since before the Great Recession struck in 2008, according to the latest update from Rockville-based commercial real estate group Scheer Partners.
That’s after a remarkably active year for biotechs in 2015, said Matt Brady, a Scheer vice president who specializes in office, research and development, and industrial leasing. “People grabbed up a lot of space in a really short amount of time. That’s the story here,” Brady said.
The president and executive director of Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) has resigned and the agency’s chief operating officer has been promoted to president. TEDCO announced Thursday that Robert Rosenbaum, who has served as the quasi-government agency’s leader for the past five years, would step down effective immediately to “pursue other interests.”
While fourth-quarter venture capital funding slid in most industries amid fears of an economic slowdown, biotechnology investment sprinted ahead. The question is how long the run can last.
Total U.S. venture funding reached $72.30 billion in 2015, its highest level since 2000, despite fourth-quarter investment declines in consumer services, information technology, and other markets, according to industry tracker Dow Jones VentureSource.
Partners HealthCare is expanding its Innovation Fund from $35 million to $100 million, the Massachusetts health system announced today at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
The fund, which was launched as an experiment in 2007 with funding from Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, provides startup capital to early stage life sciences companies. To date, it has funded 25 companies. This second fund, at $100 million, is geared in particular towards therapeutics startups – with aims to provide early seed investments.
