Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc.

The Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc (AZBio) and its partners will build and sustain the Arizona Bioscience Cluster Sustainable Seed Fund Project. The project will help close the funding gap for early-stage life science and healthcare technology companies in the region’s bioscience cluster by creating a new and sustained flow of equity-based funding in a state that has lacked available capital from local institutional investors since 2006. The project will also provide resources and technical assistance to help prepare these companies for their initial funding process as well the follow-on funding they will likely need in the future. The availability of additional, local capital through the new seed fund will enable select companies to achieve milestones and fuel their growth. These companies in turn will enhance the long-term economic vitality of the region by attracting additional private investment to the region, creating and sustaining high-paying jobs, and furthering the entrepreneurial culture arising from the cluster’s growth. Five years after the end of the grant, AZBio expects that the seed fund will have attracted $500 million in additional investment, and supported 200 jobs.