Ahead of its projected opening date in mid-December, BioLabs at Pegasus Park has unveiled its inaugural tenants.
Moving into the 37,000 square-foot flexible working life sciences facility at the biotech hub run by Massachusetts’ BioLabs are Aakha Biologics and ReCode Therapeutics.
“The commitment… to locate and grow their companies in Dallas is a sign of the region’s strong biotech commercialization potential,” said Johannes Fruehauf, founder, president and CEO of BioLabs, in a statement. “The decision of these two fast-growing companies to place their bets on Dallas underlines the region’s attraction for qualified startup founders and their teams.”
As part of the Biotech+ Hub at Pegasus Park, a renovation of the former ExxonMobil Corp campus, BioLabs eventually expects about 32 other companies to join Aakha and ReCode. The company which offers shared and private laboratory, training and office spaces for early-stage scientific ventures, has nine locations in the U.S., with North Texas being the only outside of the East and West coasts.
In addition to revealing its first tenants, BioLabs also announced naming Gabby Everett as the site director in DFW. Before joining BioLabs, Everett served as a lead scientist at industrial maintenance solutions firm NCH Corporation.
The announcement marks the second big move for Dallas- and Menlo Park, Calif.-based ReCode Therapeutics, which spun out of a UT Southwestern research project in 2015, this month. Last week, the biopharmaceutical startup announced closing an $80 million Series B round co-led by Pfizer’s venture capital arm and California biotech investor EcoR1 Capital, bringing its total to $162 million. That funding will help expand its treatment pipeline and drive human clinical studies for its therapies focused on primary ciliary dyskinesia and cystic fibrosis next year.
“Dallas is a natural place for more of ReCode’s growth, as our original group of founders is based in Dallas, and some of our core investor group is based here as well,” said CEO David Lockhart, in a statement. “It’s a great fit for us as we concentrate on the company’s proprietary packaging and delivery of genetic medicines to targeted cells, tissues and organs.”
Aakha was recently formed from its Boston-based parent company Alloy Therapeutics, which raised a $75 million Series C round in April led by 8VC, Presight Capital and Peter Thiel. Its new offices at BioLabs will serve as Aakha’s headquarters. Using an antibody discovery platform, the company is focused on developing cancer therapies.
“We are thrilled to join BioLabs in Dallas, utilizing their many resources for young biotech companies and gaining access to the growing scientific talent in the region,” said Hemanta Baruah, founder and CEO of Aakha, in a statement.
Outside of the BioLabs facility, 23-acre, J. Small Investments-owned Pegasus Park development has already attracted a few players in the biotech and life sciences space. Late last year, the UT Southwestern Medical Center signed a 180,000 square-foot lease at the site – marking the second-largest office deal in DFW for 2020. In addition, central nervous systems disease-focused firm Taysha Gene Therapies announced signing a 36,000 square-foot lease at Pegasus Park to house its HQ.
“There’s been a lot of biotech companies who started here in Dallas but eventually wound up going to the coasts because that’s where the investment dollars and the lab infrastructure are. The hope is that this will help keep some of those companies here and give them a space for their entire life cycle,” Steve Davis, president, COO and general counsel for J. Small Investments, previously told the Dallas Business Journal, when the firm announced the creation of Pegasus Park last July.
