LabCentral 2023 Impact Report Details a Decade of Innovation and Economic Development for Biotech and Life Sciences Startups in Massachusetts

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May 07, 2024, 08:00 ET

Since its founding in 2013, LabCentral has supported 278 companies that have created 6,339 new jobs, secured $18.4 billion in funding, launched 132 clinical trials and been awarded 180 new patents

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- LabCentral, the premier Massachusetts-based network of coworking labs designed to accelerate high-potential biotech startups, today unveiled its 2023 Impact Report which covers LabCentral's first ten years of operation (2013-2023). The report quantifies LabCentral's unprecedented role as a growth engine in the Massachusetts life sciences industry in its first decade, including resident companies' aggregated funding, patents, clinical trials and job creation. It also includes LabCentral's 2023 impact metrics, including science-based operations, expanded facilities and programming.

"In 2013, LabCentral's founding team had the bold idea to create a biotech innovation engine in the heart of Kendall Square to let scientists and startup entrepreneurs walk into the facility and start doing meaningful science on day one. Originally, we estimated that our resident companies might create up to 1,000 new jobs over ten years, so it is amazing to see that they have achieved more than six times that number – this is an astounding testament to the economic impact innovative startups can have," said Johannes Fruehauf, co-founder and president of LabCentral. "We are enormously proud to support our residents' work towards improving human health, and to have pioneered the Ignite initiative, which is a portfolio of programs to make the biotech industry more equitable and accessible at all levels. We thank our partners who have been part of this journey – residents, sponsors, mentors, the venture community, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and so many others – and we look forward to expanding our beneficial impact in the coming years."

Data from its first decade illustrates LabCentral's immense impact on accelerating scientific discoveries, as well as growing the Boston-area biotech industry:

$18.4 billion in funding – LabCentral companies have raised a total of $18.4 billion in early-stage venture capital, partnership, product revenue, technology licensing and other forms of funding (note: does not include M&A). In 2023 alone, LabCentral resident and alumni companies secured $1.7 billion in funding, including 28.3% of all early-stage (seed and Series A) bio-pharma financing for the state of Massachusetts and 16.3% of all early-stage financing nationwide.
6,339 jobs – The 278 companies LabCentral has supported have added 6,339 new life sciences and biotech jobs to the economy, including 447 new jobs in 2023.
180 patents – Showcasing the groundbreaking scientific discoveries coming out of its facilities and the potential to build valuable, high-growth businesses around them, LabCentral companies have been awarded 180 patents, including 30 new patents just in 2023.
132 clinical trials – LabCentral companies have started 132 clinical trials, including 16 in 2023. As part of those trials, 15,010 participants have been dosed or enrolled.
Successful exits – As evidence of the value of their research, LabCentral companies have completed 19 IPOs and 29 M&A deals.

LabCentral started in 2013 with 28,000 square feet at 700 Main Street and has grown to now include a full network of coworking labs, including LabCentral 610 and LabCentral 238, as well as the labs it manages, Bayer Co.Lab Cambridge, Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab and Blavatnik Harvard Life Lab Longwood. In total, LabCentral owns or manages more than 243,000 square feet of coworking labs with capacity to support 125 start-ups with approximately 1,000 scientists and entrepreneurs. LabCentral resident companies range from start-ups researching and testing new ideas to growth-stage companies working on process development and scale-up biomanufacturing.

LabCentral's network of industry sponsors supports its facilities and programs to engage residents and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs and scientists in underrepresented groups in the biotech industry:

Industry sponsorships – Over the past decade, LabCentral has worked with industry leading sponsors, from major pharmaceutical companies and lab equipment companies to VC firms, law firms, commercial real estate and other professional services companies serving the biotech and life sciences industry.
Golden Tickets – A unique opportunity for sponsors to directly partner with promising early-stage companies, Golden Tickets offer $50,000 credits towards space at LabCentral's flagship site in Kendall Square, giving them access to a full range of services, equipment and amenities. LabCentral and its sponsors have awarded 150 Golden Tickets since 2013 with a total value of more than $7.5 million.
LabCentral Ignite – LabCentral continues to blaze new opportunities and pathways into biotech and life sciences through its Ignite initiative to address racial, gender and other underrepresentation in these fields for entrepreneurs, scientists, lab workers, investors, boards and more. Through its multiple sponsored programs in STEM education, workforce training, community biotech workshops, VC platform and Golden Tickets, Ignite impacted more than 2,600 individuals last year.

Founders, entrepreneurs and scientists looking to accelerate their ideas into potential new therapies can read about the application process and apply for LabCentral residency online.

About LabCentral
A private, non-profit institution, LabCentral is a launchpad for high potential life-sciences and biotech startups with 225,000 square feet of space across Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., and the Harvard University campus. Founded in 2013, LabCentral offers a full complement of programming and networking to life sciences entrepreneurs in addition to fully permitted laboratory and office space for early-stage and growing life sciences companies. More information is available at www.labcentral.org.

SOURCE LabCentral