LR Group is to invest NIS 50 million in building and operating three shared workspaces for biotechnology and medical startups near three hospitals in Israel - Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Hospital) in Petah Tikva and Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The new chain will be called LR Biohouse and offer a unique combination of technological incubator, shared workspace and synergy with the hospital.
LR Group operates worldwide in developing, financing, building, and managing medium and large scale projects in high growth economies including agriculture, water, energy and power, telecom, health, and construction.
The first of the three shared workspaces has been built in cooperation with Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem and the Jerusalem Development Authority's BioJerusalem venture and will be launched next week on June 19.
The Jerusalem LR Biohouse will have space for 40-50 early stage and more mature biotech and medical startups as well as a startup accelerator, which will be operated by Hadassah.
The LR Biohouse chain is being set up by LR Group VP business development Yaki Zinger and the Jerusalem facility will be managed by BioJerusalem executive director Shai Melcer.
The startups in LR Biohouse will enjoy shared equipment and facilities and data processing systems and most importantly access to the hospital's infrastructure including laboratories, and amenities for animal and clinical trials including access to patients for the trials. LR Biohouse will also help in introducing potential investors, partners and customers.
Zinger said, "We are designed for companies in all stages of operations. We're suitable for companies that have already graduated from an accelerator or incubator but don't necessarily have the amount of capital that enables them to be 100% independent and provide all services by themselves. Another option is that the workspace will include an accelerator that will take in earlier stage companies that will feed technological incubators."
He added, "While co-working areas in high-tech are designed to provide a work experience and bring together companies, we want to provide a full basket of services, mainly through our connections to the hospitals."
LR Group is also in talks to set up two more such shared workspaces at Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Hospital) in Petah Tikva and Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.
Zinger said, "We are beginning our operations in Israel with an investment of NIS 50 million but our plan is to apply the model worldwide and we have already had talks with hospitals in Boston and New York. We will raise more capital when we start those operations.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 13, 2018
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