Innosphere Bioscience Expansion Project to be Supported by Community Foundation of Northern Colorado

Fort Collins, Colorado, April 26, 2018 -- Innosphere, Colorado’s leading technology incubator, announces that the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado will support Innosphere’s effort to grow the bioscience industry in Northern Colorado by providing $100,000 in seed funding to support the construction of approximately 8,000 sq/ft of additional leasable wet lab space for startup and scaleup companies. Currently, there is a lack of available lab space for bioentrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, making it difficult for the area to support the growing bioscience industry which creates high-paying jobs.

Since 1975, the Community Foundation has proudly served Northern Colorado by promoting local philanthropy. We connect people with the causes they care about most. Through our annual grant and program distributions, we administer 475 funds. We are honored to play a key role in enhancing the extraordinary quality of life our region offers its residents. Visit www.nocofoundation.org for additional information.

“The industry can’t continue to grow without this needed infrastructure,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO. “We’re excited to have the Community Foundation moving this project forward into the final planning and design phase.” The land is already fully entitled and owned by Innosphere. Location of the new lab space will be just west of Innosphere’s current headquarter facility at 320 East Vine Drive in Fort Collins. Innosphere is actively fundraising for this bioscience lab expansion project from corporate partners, foundations and grants.

“The wet lab expansion project is a collaboration among Innosphere’s key partners in Northern Colorado,” said Ben Walker, program director for Innosphere and executive director of the Northern Colorado Bioscience Cluster (NoCoBio). “The NoCoBio Cluster has recently seen at least six companies looking for lab space, and we don’t have anywhere to put them as there is a severe shortage of lab space in Northern Colorado.”

For the last ten years, partners of the NoCoBio Cluster have put a tremendous amount of effort into growing bioscience business, and they have seen first-hand the limiting factor of available lab space. “This lab expansion will not only grow bioscience business, but will also attract more bioscience companies who are looking for incubation support services to significantly scale their companies,” said Walker. Innosphere’s current lab space has been 100% leased since the building opened in 2010.

“We see this as a way to promote both economic vitality and philanthropy,” said Ray Caraway, Community Foundation president and CEO. “Our Catalyst Fund and Fort Collins Community Fund Committee are pleased to provide Innosphere with seed funding for its capital project.”

Last year alone, Innosphere supported 16 bioscience companies which employed 53 full-time positions with an annual average wage of $82,000. The average annual wage of their collective 31 part-time employees was $26,000. “For every job created in Colorado’s bioscience industry, four direct and indirect jobs are created,” said Freeman.

For more information, contact Innosphere CEO, Mike Freeman, at [email protected] or 970. 818.7736. Innosphere’s front desk can be reached at 970.221.1301.

About the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado

Since 1975, the Community Foundation has proudly served Northern Colorado by promoting local philanthropy. We connect people with the causes they care about most. Through our annual grant and program distributions, we administer 475 funds. We are honored to play a key role in enhancing the extraordinary quality of life our region offers its residents. www.nocofoundation.org

About Innosphere

Innosphere is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) technology incubator accelerating the success of high-impact science and technology startup and scaleup companies in Colorado. Innosphere’s program focus on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning, and accelerating top line revenue growth. Innosphere supports high-tech entrepreneurs in the industries of bioscience, medical device, health innovations, cleantech, energy, advanced materials, hardware, and enterprise software. Once accepted into the program, companies receive ongoing support to ensure they’re getting the know-how to raise the right kind of capital and developing all the resources to grow. www.innosphere.org

Attachments

• CFNC Basic - Small
• Wet Lab Space_Innosphere

Emily Wilson
Innosphere
970-295-4481
[email protected]