Topics
up-to-the-minute
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Warut Lakam / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Warut Lakam / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
go-ahead
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
gizmo
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
inauguration
TikTok
shipping
Venture
More from TechCrunch
event
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Earlier this month , the Trump administration point the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) to impose limits onspecific type of fundingit provides to research foundation .
Although a federal justice hastemporarily blockedthe policy alteration , government Ulysses S. Grant to early - stage biotech startups could still face delays or be eliminated entirely , said Chris Gibson , co - father and CEO of Recursion , a biotech that employ AI for drug find .
Gibson , together with a serial biotech enterpriser , David Bearss , realise the mental confusion as an opportunity to launch a pre - seed venture fund , dubbedAltitude Lab Pre - seed Venture Fund , that will seek to invest $ 100,000 to $ 250,000 in 10 to 15 biotech companies .
Gibson said startups that were qualified for Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR ) grants from the NIH are invited to apply to the investment trust . The fund will be managed by Altitude Lab , a Salt Lake City - based , nonprofit , life science accelerator that Recursion place up five years ago .
“ SBIR grants are skinny and dear to my heart , ” Gibson said . “ The first thing I did when we started Recursion was compose an SBIR grant , and we obtain $ 1.46 million from the federal governing . ”
That 2014 funding helped Recursion make its dataset , which formed the cornerstone of its machine learning algorithm and drug discovery platform , Gibson said . Since then the company has raised multiple rounds of venture capital from investors such as Lux Capital , Menlo Ventures , and Felicis , and went public in 2021 . Recursion ’s current market capitalization is over $ 4 billion .
Gibson said he hopes the fund “ will fill the gap ” for newfangled biotechnology during this period of dubiousness around NIH funding .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
“ other scientific discipline is super risky . It ’s hard to cognise how these company are going to plow out , but companies fund with SBIR Duncan James Corrow Grant are dramatically more potential to go on to be able to grow private money , ” Gibson order .
The fund will also help grow the biotech ecosystem next to Recursion . The startups will receive 12 months of office and lab space at Altitude Lab ’s facilities .
“ We ’re creating our own miniskirt - Cambridge here in the street of Salt Lake City , ” Gibson suppose .
