LabCentral, a network of premier laboratory and co-working facilities for high-potential biotech start-ups, today announced its annual Impact Report detailing the influence of its 245 resident and 117 alumni companies on the local and national life sciences and biotech industry. The impact was measured in terms of clinical trials, investment, job creation as well as LabCentral’s expanded facilities and programs from the past year. The 2021 Impact Report is available to download from LabCentral’s website, in addition to reports from previous years.
Key statistics from the LabCentral 2021 Impact Report include:
- Clinical Research – Highlighting the success of its resident and alumni companies to quickly move from idea to research to clinical trials, LabCentral had more than 31 companies researching 24 unique indications with over 80 different technologies in clinical trials last year. Since its founding in 2013, LabCentral companies have dosed 6,917 participants as part of clinical trials.
- Economic Development – Since its opening in 2013, LabCentral has supported 362 early-stage companies that have added 4,608 new jobs to the Massachusetts economy. In 2021, the companies added 1,449 new jobs, nearly doubling the amount of job growth of the previous year.
- Funding – LabCentral companies have raised a total of $16.9 billion in funding since 2013. In 2021 alone, LabCentral resident and alumni companies secured $6.03 billion in funding from all sources. Regarding venture capital financing, LabCentral companies secured 25% of all early-stage (seed and Series A) bio-pharma financing for the state of Massachusetts and represent 15% of all early-stage financing nationwide.
- Sponsors – LabCentral now has 42 sponsors to support and guide the development of resident companies and their research. During 2021, LabCentral and 16 sponsors awarded 24 Golden Tickets to biotech start-ups, representing the equivalent of $1.2 million in funding.
Additionally, LabCentral also significantly expanded its network of facilities in 2021 and took a proactive and programmatic approach to expanding and diversifying the pool of talent in biotech through the LabCentral Ignite initiative.
- LabCentral 238 – After two years of planning, designing, permitting and building, the newest facility in LabCentral’s network opened the first half of 100,000 square feet of lab, office and bio-manufacturing space in November 2021 for six resident companies. With a focus on scale-up bio-manufacturing, LabCentral 238 was funded with a founding sponsorship from Astellas as well as additional support from Mass Life Sciences Center (MLSC), MITIMCo (MIT Investment Management Company), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Baker, Millipore Sigma and Eppendorf.
- LabCentral Ignite – LabCentral also grew its bold initiative to expand diversity, equity and inclusion in biotech and life sciences with the launch of LabCentral Ignite. In 2021, Ignite hired Gretchen Cook-Anderson as Executive Director, announced the first Ignite Golden Ticket winners and developed additional programs, such as the bio.Diversity Network; a platform designed to connect diverse talent with technical opportunities in the industry.
“While it’s always impressive to see the fundraising and job growth statistics each year, we’re especially proud to highlight the rapidly growing clinical impact of our companies. Thousands of patients and participants have been dosed with new drugs developed here; this underscores the ingenuity of our founders and importance of their work, and also how LabCentral’s facilities, operating model and community are enabling really high-potential research,” said Johannes Fruehauf, co-founder and president of LabCentral. “As the 2021 Impact Report details, through our expanded network of facilities, LabCentral Ignite initiative, and vibrant ecosystem of sponsors, residents and alumni companies, we are not only redefining biotech’s scientific and economic potential in Kendall Square and beyond, but also the very makeup of the new scientists and entrepreneurs that will shape the industry’s future.”
About LabCentral
A private, non-profit institution, LabCentral was founded in 2013 as a launchpad for high-potential life sciences and biotech start-ups. Operating a total over 225,000 square-feet in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., LabCentral offers fully permitted laboratory and office space for as many as 125 start-ups comprising approximately 1,000 scientists and entrepreneurs. More information is available at www.labcentral.org.
