Life science provide marketplace Labviva raises $20M Series A
Labviva, a digital marketplace for life science supplies, closed a $20 million Series A, CEO Siamak Baharloo tells Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: The life science provide sector is opaque and very manual — causing delays in the delivery of chemical compounds and devices significant for pharmaceutical and healthcare study.
Deal information: Biospring Partners led the round and was joined by insiders Senator Investment Group, B Capital Group and Glasswing Ventures, bringing total funding to $30 million.
- Alongside the funding, Biospring managing companion Jennifer Lum will join Labviva’s board of directors.
- Funds will go toward hiring, expanding Labviva’s presence in Europe and Asia and expanding item offerings to consist of a lot more predictive analytics tools.
- Baharloo says the capital gives two-and-a-half years of runway, but says the organization might gather a Series B as early as March 2024.
How it functions: Boston-primarily based Labviva connects researchers with suppliers of devices, reagents and chemical compounds in an work to simplify and hasten the method.
- Its AI-powered platform integrates straight with procurement systems like SAP Ariba, Jaggaer, Oracle Procurement Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics 356 and Coupa to present tracking and reporting tools.
- Existing clients consist of pharmaceutical giants Regeneron and Takeda, startups such as Bluebird Bio and academic institutions like Johns Hopkins and the University of California, San Diego.
Flashback: A molecular biologist by coaching, Baharloo led e-business enterprise approach at biotech heavyweights Merck and Thermo Fisher just before beginning Labviva with an eye on assisting scientists resolve issues with bioinformatics tools.
- “Numerous experiments fail simply because you did not use the proper reagents or optimize your protocol primarily based on these reagents,” Baharloo tells Axios.
State of play: Numerous other businesses present digital life science provide marketplaces, but handful of have attracted considerable venture interest in current years. For instance:
- Life science e-commerce organization Zageno in 2021 collected $60 million in a round led by Common Catalyst.
- Science Exchange, yet another on the internet marketplace for life science study supplies, in 2019 raised $28 million in Series C capital.
- Marketplace and lab inventory management program operator Quartzy in 2016 pulled in $17 million in Series B funds.
Involving the lines: Baharloo and Lum say Labviva’s comprehensiveness and industry experience lend it an edge more than possible competitors and current tech giants.
- “There is a purpose Amazon and Google are not leaders right here,” says Lum. “With the workflows and the varieties of information life science businesses handle, software program demands to be tailor-created.”
Reality verify: Nevertheless, as it seeks to expand, Labviva will face challenges like hiring promptly and deepening its offerings devoid of losing sight of its core strengths.
- “We’ve tapped such a green field, if we do not keep focused we might dilute ourselves,” Baharloo says.
