LifeX, a life sciences startup incubator established by the University of Pittsburgh, will soon take on the life sciences greenhouse designation that is currently granted to the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), an organization that also aids in the fostering and launching of local startups.
The designation — only one of three in the state — will bring an infusion of capital from Harrisburg to LifeX so that it can better operate as an accelerator and investment venture for startups working in the life sciences space.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter have said that the final sign-off of the designation change is "imminent" and noted it could be done within the coming days.
According to Gerald J. Vardzel Jr., president and CEO of LifeX, the greenhouse designation is a signifier of all the work that the organization has accomplished since its founding in 2017, which included an initial $2 million investment from the Hillman Foundation among other funding sources.
"In terms of the functional attributes, in terms of ecosystem development, we're already doing the accelerator; this is just a real strong complement," Vardzel said. "We're excited. I mean, this is part of our business model. This just is being recognized for it, and, to be blunt, getting additional capital that will be earmarked to us to further develop this."
Vardzel declined to disclose how much funding the change in designation will bring to the organization. He did state, however, that the designation change will aid in allowing LifeX to continue amassing capital as part of its plan to launch a $30 million or larger fund "in our backyard" to offer future investment opportunities for the region's startups.
Other than the additional capital from Harrisburg, Vardzel said the change in greenhouse designation doesn't really amount to much of a change for LifeX, which will continue building out its tools and resources for its portfolio companies as part of a process that leads these startups to commercialization.
"Now that the greenhouse [designation] is recognized coming into LifeX, it is significant; we're not telling the world what we're going to do — we've been doing it," Vardzel said. "Now we're getting to the point where we can continue to build off of what we're doing versus telling the world what we're going to be doing."
The change in designation comes about a year and a half after LifeX and PLSG formed a “strategic alliance" to collaborate on the offering of educational resources, startup programming and networking opportunities to early-stage life sciences companies. As a result of that alliance, both organizations based their operations out of LifeX's South Side office space on Sidney Street but they remained separate entities and managed their own funds.
And while the organization will lose its designation as one of the state's life sciences greenhouses, PLSG doesn't have plans to disappear. Instead, it'll look to refocus its mission of catering to the region's life sciences startups, a mission it has upheld since its founding in 2002 following funding from foundations and from the state.
"PLSG has been a trailblazer in the commercialization of life sciences research and innovation," Diana Cugliari, president and CEO of PLSG, said in an email statement. “We have successfully serviced the region’s life sciences community for more than 20 years and will support LifeX through the transfer of the region’s Greenhouse designation. After the transfer, PLSG will continue to support commercialization of innovation and workforce development but on a broader scale, both geographically and across other areas of industry."
As for future plans, Cugliari said PLSG will continue to support its current portfolio companies and reinvest any returns it earns from those companies back into the region. Within the past year alone, PLSG celebrated the successful IPO of Pittsburgh-based Cognition Therapeutics Inc. and the acquisition of Pittsburgh-based ALung Technologies by London-based LivaNova PLC. Both Cognition and ALung are PLSG portfolio companies.
Additionally, PLSG will look to broaden its mission to encompass a more diverse innovation community, which will include the introduction of new programs involving workforce development and others, all while continuing to support its Health IT Pittsburgh initiative.
Cugliari said PLSG will share more specific details on these initiatives at a later time.
Pennsylvania's Life Sciences Greenhouses initiative has invested more than $112 million into startups across the commonwealth with its three greenhouses — Biotechnology Greenhouse of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central Pennsylvania and PLSG. The state established the initiative in 2001 following its settlement with the tobacco industry. It's managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
"The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse has been vital to helping the life sciences sector flourish in the Pittsburgh area since the program’s inception," a spokesperson for DCED said in an email statement. "The initiative provides crucial seed funding and technical assistance to life science companies, which in turn enables new companies to form, jobs to be created and life-saving technologies to reach patients. Transferring the designation of Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse to Life X was regionally driven and DCED is supportive of those efforts."
