Biotech accelerator LaunchBio awarded $2.1 million in federal funding to develop Dallas startups

A project sponsored by some of Dallas’s best-known philanthropic and business leaders has additional federal government funding.

LaunchBio, a startup accelerator in the new Pegasus Park near the medical district of Dallas, was named an award winner in the U.S. Economic Development Agency’s annual Build-to-Scale program on Thursday. The Dallas LaunchBio network will receive a total of $ 2.1 million, of which $ 750,000 from the federal government and $ 1.4 million in additional match funding from local partners.

LaunchBio’s Dallas network aims to pool the resources of several local biotech accelerators and startup advisors to nurture startups in the area as they grow into successful business ventures. It will serve as one of the cornerstones of Pegasus Park’s Biotech + hub, which has dedicated over 40,000 square feet of office and laboratory space on its 23 acre campus to advancing life science research and commercialization in the Dallas area.

Funding from the Build to Scale Award will help LaunchBio and its local partners expand their business development offerings in Dallas and hire a coordinator to develop internships and apprenticeships for students.

“This is really about economic development and it was a team effort,” said Matt Crommett, director at Lyda Hill Philanthropies. Lyda Hill Philanthropies was one of over 30 local partners who wrote letters of support for the grant application and is a key partner in the development of Pegasus Park.

LaunchBio is a national not for profit that provides resources and networking opportunities to entrepreneurs looking to expand their life science startups. The organization has networks in several life science hubs across the country, including San Francisco, New York, Durham, NC, and Cambridge, Mass.

Pegasus Park hopes to provide a supportive environment for researchers and entrepreneurs in the Dallas area to build their businesses and reverse the trend of company exodus to more established biotech hubs. The former Mobil Corp. office campus. was revitalized by J. Small Investments and Lyda Hill Philanthropies, and has attracted high profile tenants such as Taysha Gene Therapies and departments of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

For Crommett, the grant is a vote of confidence in the groups he has brought together at Pegasus Park.

“It was really a collaborative effort by the ecosystem to apply for this scholarship, which is why it’s so exciting,” he said. “It’s a huge win for North Texas to have all of this business activity and to have it centered around the Biotech + hub in Pegasus Park.”

The Pegasus Park campus is just one indicator of the rapid growth of the life sciences industry in North Texas. The Dallas Regional Chamber estimates the region has more than 60 companies and 27,000 jobs in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors.

“What’s this [grant] it improves a mechanism for our early stage biotech companies to find a place here and grow, ”said Duane Dankesreiter, senior vice president of research and innovation, Dallas Regional Chamber.

Real estate firm CBRE identified the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a major emerging market in the biotech industry earlier this year and reported that North Texas companies had secured over $ 310 million in venture capital funding between January and March 2021 – an increase of 376 % over the same period last year.

Danksreiter says he’s already seen more biotech companies interested in relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth area as the industry has gained momentum in recent years.

“This is about empowering a growing sector of our regional economy, and what they are doing at Pegasus Park and the community that is there is really strong,” he said.

Other Texas Build-to-Scale Program winners include the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Trinity University. San Antonio-based TRTF will also use its award to support biotech startups and use its $ 1.5 million to support VelocityTX, a business accelerator for biotech and healthcare technology companies. UTEP will use its $ 3 million award to support El Paso’s existing manufacturing sector and connect it to the national aerospace and defense industries. Trinity will use its award to create a student-managed venture fund to distribute funds to startups in San Antonio and provide student education opportunities.

[ad_1]