Newsletter
Now we're a global tech hub
On April 12th, about 150 science and tech park managers from around the world descended upon the Venture Development Center, which was featured as a model by the National Business Incubator Association during its annual conference in Boston.
Why is the arrival of a truck full of lab equipment so special?
A truck full of lab equipment arrived last week at the loading dock. Why is this so exciting? It marks the beginning of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy, a joint venture with the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Jill Macoska, the new director of the center, has already moved into the Venture Development Center. Her team of three from the University of Michigan also arrived this week.
Jill's research is strongly focused on the translation of laboratory-based knowledge to the development of therapeutics. She was appointed as UMass Boston's Alton J. Brann Endowed Distinguished Professor.
The center has already received $2 million of a $10 million commitment from the Massachusetts Life Science Center. It will move to the Integrated Sciences Center when the new building is completed.
enEvolv and Parabase Genomics join
Our newest bioscience companies have one thing in common: Harvard Medical School's George Church, genetic engineer extraordinaire.
Church is a co-founder of enEvolv, which engineers microorganisms that produce chemicals, enzymes, and small molecules for a variety of industries.
And he is on the SAB of Parabase Genomics, which diagnoses genetic diseases in newborns based on exome sequencing.
Parabase has already won SBIR grants. enEvolv is in stealth mode.
CloudHealth nabs $4.5M
CloudHealth, led by CEO Dan Phillips, is a cloud performance and business management software-as-a-service company which took shape during the last three months at the Venture Development Center, where Dan has been entrepreneur-in-residence. The Series A investors are .406 Ventures and Sigma Ventures.
High tech startups launching at the Venture Development Center have an 86% success rate, raising an average of $3,201,600.
As Dan Phillips steps back to launch CloudHealth, venture capitalists Jim Counihan and Michael Gaiss step up as the Venture Development Center's entrepreneurs-in-residence, dedicated to advising our high tech companies.
Jim is a General Partner at Prism VentureWorks where he runs the firm's software and services practice. Michael was the Senior Vice President of Highland Capital. He now runs ThinkB1G which makes it easier for students to connect with exciting career opportunities at an elite group of startups.
Students are rising tech stars
A simple business idea can have a powerful social impact. The idea is to get UMass Boston students into tech startups where executives are cost-conscious and looking for talented, entry-level workers.
Dan Phillips created an internship program that has helped over 111 UMass Boston student interns from the College of Science and Math, College of Liberal Arts, and College of Management travel a career path not previously available to them. Now they are tech stars.
A recent example:
Cambridge big-data center hack/reduce, the highest profile initiative of its kind in the nation, hired Adrienne Cochrane, a first generation UMass Boston graduate, as its new executive director. Before she graduated in 2009, she was an intern then became a full-time employee at Viridity Software before being recruited away by HP Vertica.
The Commonwealth has taken notice, awarding the Venture Development Center a $56,000 contract to help design a statewide internship program modeled after UMass Boston's.
The internship program continues to place students under the leadership of the Venture Development Center's Edel Freitas, with assistance of venture capitalist Mike Gaiss.
Most recently, UMass Boston student Livja Jaho landed a marketing internship at CloudHealth, and Vy Thuy Nguyen got a software development internship at Currensee!
Grab your share of $2.5 Billion
Each year the federal government sets aside more than $2.5 billion for small-business funding - money that's available to you. Under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, 11 federal agencies allocate 2.5 percent of their budgets towards research and development for U.S. small businesses.
Susan Daudelin pulled together a premium all-day SBIR/STTR Grant Writing Workshop on April 3rd at the Venture Development Center to increase your chances of getting SBIR or STTR funds.
Factor Biosciences attended last year's workshop and then won two SBIR grants on their first try!
Sharon C. Ballard, President and CEO of Enable Ventures, Inc. was the workshop instructor.
If you are interested in SBIR/STTR assistance, please contact vdc@umb.edu.
Wishing you the best,
The VDC Team
