SAN JOSE — A life sciences incubator that caters to fledgling companies has opened its doors, marking a big expansion of its San Jose operations.
Biocube San Jose has opened a new incubator at 2680 Zanker Road in San Jose in 35,000 square feet of space that Biocube leases at a big tech complex known as BioSquare Silicon Valley.
The company had previously opened its first incubator by leasing 65,000 square feet at 5941 Optical Ct. in south San Jose.
“We are planning a grow-in-place ecosystem for startups,” said Tony Gonzalez, Biocube’s chief executive officer. “Our incubator can take a very small laboratory and help it grow into a much larger client as time passes.”
Biocube and BioSquare Silicon Valley are poised to offer space to life science companies throughout their growth life cycle.
Newborn and fledgling companies could start out at Biocube. Then, as they become more successful, they could expand to the adjacent tech park.
“Typically, when a company reaches a certain size, they just move out of their building and relocate, sometimes to another city,” Gonzalez said. “Now they can just stay and grow in place. They can take the additional square footage that’s available in BioSquare.”
The entire BioSquare Silicon Valley complex totals 465,000 square feet, according to a brochure for the business park, which is being marketed by JLL, a commercial real estate firm.
“A startup could grow to 15,000 square feet, and we could then pass them on” to the BioSquare Silicon Valley complex, Gonzalez said.
The north San Jose Biocube site can accommodate 20 companies. So far, one startup is located in at the Zanker Road incubator. Biocube is negotiating with two other firms to take space in the north San Jose incubator. The south San Jose incubator can accommodate 35 companies.
“Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, biomedical technologies, genomics, cleantech, and food tech” startups are being served at the two Biocube incubators in San Jose.
About 100 startups have been incubated at Biocube, all at the south San Jose site.
“BioCube North is a vibrant, people-first ecosystem designed for beauty, comfort, and convenience,” Gonzalez said. “It’s the result of careful planning and lessons learned from our decade-long legacy at BioCube South.”
The new Biocube incubator in north San Jose includes expandable wet-lab suites with offices, break rooms, flexible meeting areas and modern outdoor spaces. The incubator allows plenty of room for people to gather.
“BioCube is that place where you will find a battery maker, a cheese maker, and a gene editor, swapping stories under an umbrella,” said Jane Lalonde, Biocube’s chief marketing officer. “We anticipate the same kind of vibrant and collaborative community at BioCube North.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com