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NSG BioLabs, a Singapore-based company established to incubate and support growing life sciences companies via a conducive R&D environment, announced that it will be launching a co-working laboratory and office space aimed at developing innovative biotechnology firm in November 2019. The first space of its kind in Singapore, it has the strong support of Enterprise Singapore , the government agency developing the national startup and innovation ecosystem.
Designed specifically to help grow biotech start-ups, the 15,000 sq. ft. space will offer companies and entrepreneurs a flexible and fully equipped environment to scale their operations and innovations. NSG BioLabs was established by its Singaporean team with many years of regional biotech and real estate industry experience, working together with Nest.Bio, a US-headquartered group managing early-stage venture capital funds and companies operating over 40,000 sq. ft. of shared laboratory and office spaces in US (Cambridge) and China (Hangzhou).
“The idea is for biotech start-ups to be able to move in and immediately start their key experiments. Currently the typical path requires start-ups to build their own laboratory, spending significant time and money which are in short supply for start-ups, or to locate in sub optimal spaces that compromise on the quality and speed of experiments. We provide a full-suite of facilities with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment, including standard biology lab facilities, DNA and tissue culture rooms, and even high cost and in-demand equipment like next generation sequencers and flow cytometers. We enable a biotech company to quickly start experiments without the capital expenditure,” says Daphne Teo, CEO and Founder of NSG BioLabs .
Established earlier this year, NSG BioLabs is part of Enterprise Singapore’s Startup SG Accelerator initiative providing mentorship and resources to support the growth of startups. It helps biotech firms take full advantage of Singapore’s research strength – in addition to the nation’s rapidly growing academic and start-up environment – to translate innovative technologies into breakthrough biotech ventures.
NSG BioLabs is strategically partnered with Nest.Bio – its local management team worked closely with Nest.Bio’s team in its establishment, with the interest in growing Nest.Bio’s presence locally, and connecting companies across the axis of Singapore, US, and China. NSG is strategically positioned to incubate and grow companies that can generate transformational impact to global society.
According to the 2019 Global Life Sciences Outlook report by Deloitte, global health spending is on the rise due to growing life expectancies around the world1 . To meet growing healthcare demands and to raise the availability of care to more patients, the life sciences sector is projected to apply more digital strategies and adopt more transformative technologies. Key to this will be the ability of life science companies to instil transformation via efforts such as attracting top talent, redesigning conventional lab structures and increasing the number of collaborative R&D environments via incubator labs and innovation clusters.
“With its impressive talent pool in science and technology, global ties, and a supportive regulatory and finance environment, Singapore is well-positioned to catalyze new companies and impact in the international technology and life sciences sectors. However, there are structural challenges, and one very practical one is the lack of suitable spaces for biotech start-ups, raising the cost of capital and timelines to milestones. At NSG, we are firstly tackling this major pain point.
Through our team’s network and experience, we also will help companies to access international markets and investors, gain advice from experienced entrepreneurs, and work through the many challenges of start-up growth. We are pleased that Singapore government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore, and leading multinational companies have been especially supportive of our mission,” said Daphne Teo.
Ted Tan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Singapore , said, “We are pleased to partner with NSG BioLabs in its entry to Singapore and will connect it to the global and Singapore biotech startups here. This new co-working laboratory and office space meets the needs of our growing pool of startups, providing quick access to research infrastructure and equipment to smoothen their R&D process. We will also support NSG in helping startups accelerate commercialisation and shorten the time for their innovative products to go to market globally.”
NSG has also collaborated with equipment vendors to provide access to equipment like next generation sequencers, liquid handlers and flow cytometers, that a start-up would be unable to get access to. Having easy and convenient access to these equipment gives these small companies the edge to run their experiments faster and cheaper and also be able to analyse data more efficiently.
Currently, even as NSG has yet to complete construction, high profile biotech companies in Singapore have already moved in. One is Engine Biosciences , a venture-backed company integrating machine learning, combinatorial CRISPR screening, and drug discovery in a novel platform to develop better precision medicine-based therapeutics. Another is immunoSCAPE , a biotech company specialising in high-dimensional immune profiling to enable the development of new therapeutics for autoimmune diseases and cancer. The most recent entrant is Acumen Research Laboratory , a biomedical company that specialises in the development and commercialization of molecular diagnostic tests for life-threatening infectious diseases.
About NSG BioLabs
NSG BioLabs was established to incubate and support growing life sciences companies by providing a conducive R&D environment with scalable laboratory and office infrastructure in Singapore. Run by its Singapore-based team with many years of biotech and real estate industry experience and strategically partnered with Nest.Bio, which manages biotech venture capital funds and companies operating over 40,000 sq. ft. of lab and office space in USA (Cambridge, MA) and China (Hangzhou), NSG BioLabs provides deep local operational experience and access to the global network and experience of its team and Nest.Bio’s team.
NSG BioLabs strives to assist companies and entrepreneurs in taking full advantage of Singapore’s research strength and rapidly growing academic and start-up environment to translate innovative technologies into breakthrough biotech ventures. Founded with a focus on what really matters to early stage companies – state-of-the-art equipment, efficient operations, capital efficiency, and world-class teams and networks – NSG BioLabs is Singapore’s go-to biotech hub.
