One of the Boston area’s largest cancer research hospitals is launching a fund to help fuel startups working on cancer treatments and research.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said Thursday it is launching its first-ever venture fund, named Binney Street Capital LLC after the street in Boston's Longwood area where Dana-Farber is located. The fund will invest in startups that were created either with Dana-Farber intellectual property, or were founded or co-founded by Dana-Farber physicians, scientists or innovators.
Luba Greenwood, who has been a senior advisor to Dana Farber CEO Laurie Glimcher since 2019, will serve as the managing partner. Steven Neier, a scientist and business development associate at Dana-Farber, will be a principal.
In an interview, Greenwood said that $10 million coming from internal resources at Dana-Farber have been allocated for the fund, which will start making investments "right away."
Greenwood noted that Dana-Farber's research and intellectual property led to the creation of over 51 startups, including more than 11 in the last three years, so the launch of the fund is "a natural progression."
As for the size of each investment, the fund plans to invest between $250,000 to $2 million in eight to 10 companies over the next three years. It will target startups that are in the early-stage phase, but it might also exercise participation rights that Dana-Farber holds in later-stage companies, according to Greenwood.
Last year, Dana-Farber and MPM Capital announced that they raised a combined $126 million for cancer research and drug development by piggybacking off one another. Greenwood didn't say how many startups that fundraising effort ended up financing in the moths following the February announcement.
In 2020, over $1.8 million new cases of cancer were projected in the U.S., leading to over 606,000 estimated deaths — more than live in the city of Baltimore — according to statistics reported by The National Cancer Institute.
"We're looking for leading differentiated platforms that make real impact for cancer patients," Greenwood said.
2020 Year in Photos
Signs on Sip Cafe, in Boston’s Financial District, show the moving target for reopening.
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RNs and other Mass General Hospital employees wait on line at Harvard Gardens which provided a complimentary lunch to all MGH employees on Wednesday, April 1.
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Dozens protest the killing of Black men and women by police at Faneuil Hall. Led by members of the Boston Men’s Dinner Group, dozens held signs as they gathered in peaceful protest.
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The Cambridge Innovation Center, through its subsidiary, CIC Health, has opened a drive-through Covid-19 testing site at Newton’s Riverside MBTA station. It is the latest step in the company’s sudden transformation from a provider of co-working space to coronavirus testing.
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Outdoor dining came to Boston’s North End, where restaurants and cafes were allowed to set up dining areas on the streets and sidewalks. Diners were served drinks along Hanover Street.
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Jenn Shimer, general manager and buyer for The Wine Emporium, in Boston’s South End, and Dan DiStefano, deliver wine ordered on Drizly to South End homes on their Onewheels. Drizly is an online platform that allows customers to order wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages and have them delivered on their doorsteps.
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A man wears a Boston hat and mask for protection in Boston's Haymarket area.
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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh walks away after a press conference outside City Hall in the earliest days of the pandemic.
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A masked woman rides an MBTA Green Line train with many open seats traveling along Commonwealth Ave., in Allston.
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Lion's mane jellyfish maneuver in their New England Aquarium tanks as a worker wipes down surfaces with disinfectant.
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The Marriott Long Wharf, where state officials say coronavirus started rapidly spreading in Massachusetts due to a Biogen conference.
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Harvard University students are supplied with boxes to pack up belongings after being told not to return after 2020's spring break due to the threat of coronavirus.
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Parking spots and seats on the MBTA ferry, bound for Rowes Wharf from Hingham, were plentiful earlier this year.
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Messages of appreciation and caution fill the marquee of the Paramount Theater in Downtown Crossing.
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A sign above an empty Southeast Expressway warns Boston drivers as the threat of coronavirus has closed all but essential services.
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Normally packed with pedestrians and outdoor diners on a gorgeous spring day, outdoor patio furniture at Newbury Street restaurants was stacked up early in the pandemic.
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Outside Fenway Park, masks were placed on the sculpture “Teammates”.
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From the perch of a window, a woman observes activity below on Hanover Street in Boston’s North End.
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At South Cove Manor Rehabilitation Center in Quincy, healthcare workers wear protective suits as they test the entire staff of employees for Covid-19.
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Dino Funari, Vitamin Sea Brewing co-founder, fulfills customers take out orders. As coronavirus hit, he shifted his business to be one entirely focused on takeout sales.
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Jill Tate, a partner at Corinthian Events, who arranges and holds corporate events for clients, has been hit hard by coronavirus shut downs. In mid-February, her daughter Annie, 20, a gifted athlete and Suffolk University Dean’s list junior passed away.
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Caffe’ Paradiso, a 58-year-old Italian café located in Boston’s North End is owned by Adriana De Stefano. The cafe, which was forced to pivot to takeout-only service during the pandemic, was started by Adriana’s mom and dad Antonio and Antonietta De Stefano, who moved to Boston from Avellino, Italy, in 1962.
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Dr. Eric Dickson, President and CEO at UMass Memorial Health Care, worked with Covid-19 patients each Sunday in a supplemental field tent just outside the ER at UMass Memorial Medical Center.
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Peter Stefan is funeral director of Graham, Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlor, located in Worcester. The funeral parlor has become known as the place that will take the unwanted dead, originally under the direction of its founders, and for the last several decades under the ownership of Peter Stefan. Peter also has over 370 people in his basement (including small boxes of the ashes of children), where he leaves a light on at all times to honor them.
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A banner along the Mass Pike at Fenway Park carries a message of support on Opening Day.
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Workers for ABM Industries sanitized the MBTA's Back Bay station during business hours to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
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The Zakim Bridge is nearly empty of travelers during an afternoon rush hour.
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Gables Residential Development Director Joseph G Shea takes in a view from the roof of Gables Seaport, a new luxury apartment complex on Congress St., in the Seaport. The area continued to see development as the pandemic raged, with developers planning more lab space.
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Helen Boucher, chief of infectious diseases at Tufts Medical Center, is vaccinated by RN Morgan Giarusso. Tufts received 2925 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
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Reassuring messages were hung on Adirondack chairs along Beach Ave., in Hull.
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