Thursday, December 13, 2018

AZBio Gets $299,750 To Kickstart Life Sciences Seed Fund Formation

The Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio), a local organization which focuses on helping the life science industry in Arizona, said today that it has received a $299,750 grant to help make seed investments in local life science startups. The company said the grant--from the U.S. Economic Development Administration's (EDA) 2018 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program--will go towards creation of a "sustainable seed fund" for life science innovation in Arizona. AZBio said the funds will not be used to capitalize the fund itself, or for direct investments--but to support the seed fund capital campaign, structure and operations. Arizona Bioscience Cluster Sustainable Seed Fund Project is part of a broader effort, according to AZBio, called the AZ-Healthcare Impact Foundation (HCIF) which has the aim of creating a $200M endowment, which will fund $10M or more every year for investments in Arizona life science companies.