The longtime leader of BioSTL’s startup creation and investment arm, BioGenerator, is retiring from his role.
Eric Gulve, who has been president of BioGenerator since 2009, will depart that position, effective Jan. 1. Gulve also is executive vice president of local innovation hub BioSTL and will remain in that position until he retires in mid-2023, the nonprofit organization said. At BioGenerator, Gulve will be replaced as president by Senior Managing Director Charlie Bolten.
"Working on behalf of the St. Louis bioscience entrepreneurial community has been the greatest privilege of my career," Gulve said in a statement. "I am extremely grateful to BioSTL's founders John McDonnell, the late Bill Danforth, and Donn Rubin for their visionary leadership and support of BioGenerator and its mission. I know that under Charlie's leadership, the organization will continue to grow, thrive and make an even greater impact on the St. Louis startup community and the region's economy.”
Under Gulve’s leadership, BioGenerator has vastly expanded its investment portfolio and has been instrumental in launching and funding St. Louis startups that have achieved significant exits. Since its founding, BioGenerator has invested $39 million into more than 100 startups, with those firms having gone on to raise $2.6 billion in follow-on funding. BioGenerator exclusively funds St. Louis-based companies.
Highlights of BioGenerator’s investment portfolio have included Confluence Life Sciences, which sold in 2017 to Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACRS) in a $100 million deal; Benson Hill, the food technology firm that become a publicly traded company in 2021 as part of a deal that valued the company at more than $1 billion; and CoverCress, which is developing a new cover crop and sold earlier this year to Germany-based pharmaceutical and agriculture giant Bayer AG.
Gulve’s successor, Bolten, joined BioGenerator in 2009 after being recruited to the organization by Gulve. The pair previously worked together locally at pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc.
At BioGenerator, Bolten has the led the investment portfolio, launched the BioGenerator Labs and overseen its Executives in Residence (EIR) program. With his new title of president, Bolten said his focus will be on continuing the organization’s success in creating and growing successful companies.
“It’s doubling down on what we do well,” he said. “The entirety of what I think about is how do we over the next 10 years reproduce what we did in the first 10 years and do it better.”
Bolten said that will involve continuing to hone in on BioGenerator’s focus in agriculture technology and biotechnology, and its emphasis on recruiting top-tier talent to lead its portfolio companies.
Bolten said BioGenerator in recent years has quadrupled funding for its EIR program and has pursued creating “talent-first” companies in which BioGenerator put together a strong leadership team first and then determines its commercial portfolio.
“One or two strong people can make all the difference,” he said.
BioSTL, based at 4340 Duncan Ave. in the Central West End, in 2019 reported revenue of $12.1 million and expenses of $8.7 million. Assets totaled $12.4 million and liabilities $1.3 million.
