The nonprofit i-GATE Innovation Hub was created in 2010. For several years i-GATE managed a business incubator and co-working site, most recently called Daybreak Labs, at its Second Street location in Livermore. In a few months Daybreak Labs will move to a brand-new facility designed to support early stage life sciences and deep technology startups. Daybreak Labs will continue to offer low-cost lab and office space to biotech startups. It will also offer selected companies a one-year residency program that covers space costs and some level of initial funding, thanks to a new partnership with Pleasanton-based Tri-Valley Ventures (TVV).

A Launchpad for Startups

The new 7000-square-foot facility on Southfront Road in Livermore will open this summer. The space, which will have room for 10 to 15 companies, is also funded by the City of Livermore, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Sandia National Labs, which have long supported i-GATE. The new home for Daybreak Labs is intended to be a launchpad for early stage life sciences and deep tech companies facing economic and other challenges.

"The goal of the program is really to help lower the barriers of entry for deserving companies," says Yolanda Fintschenko, Co-Founder of the East Bay Bio Network and FounderTraction, a digital marketing agency working with i-GATE. One big barrier is gaining access to lab space. Some federal grant programs require that companies in the life sciences industry have access to laboratory space at the time they submit a proposal. Laboratory equipment is expensive, and not all startups in the industry are affiliated with colleges or other institutions that can offer lab access. For companies accepted into the residency program, Daybreak Labs solves that problem by providing shared equipment for biological research.

That equipment includes  -80 C and -20 C freezers, a biosafety cabinet, a fume hood, incubators, balances, and shakers. Tools needed to create device prototypes will also be available, according to Fintschenko. They include a 3D printer, laser cutter, CAD design tools, drill press, bench grinder, various hand tools, and other resources for production.

Daybreak Lab's residency program will provide access to sophisticated business expertise as well as industrial equipment thanks to its partnership with Tri-Valley Ventures, the region's only venture capital investment firm. That partnership is by design. "We understand how to operate shared lab facilities for startups. We can do the facility side," says Brandon Cardwell, Director of Daybreak Labs and Startup Tri-Valley, Executive Director of i-GATE, and Innovation and Economic Development Director for the City of Livermore. "We are partnering with Tri-Valley Ventures to help us select companies with high market potential and then help build the business."

Companies eligible for the residency program must need lab space and be actively seeking seed funding up to Series A investment, according to Cardwell. Startups chosen for the residency will receive no-cost space from Daybreak Labs along with funding and expertise from TVV in exchange for an equity investment. Companies that need research and development space only can apply to lease space independently or ask to be considered for a no-cost facility investment from Daybreak Labs. Either Daybreak Labs or TVV can invest in a specific company independently, "but we think that the real value is when we invest together," notes Cardwell.

Fintschenko agrees. "The best investors don't just give you money, they give you expertise and access to their network. One of the huge values to an applicant, whether they get accepted or not, is the time that they get to spend with these experienced operators."

Foundation for Innovation

"Part of the reason we started working with life science companies back in 2017 was because we were getting referrals from life science incubators in San Francisco," says Cardwell. "We sort of fell into it because we saw that there was a need; there's no other life science incubation space or deep tech incubation space in the Tri-Valley. We built the residency program for those first-time founders with technical backgrounds who need help building the business, need capital, and need the facilities without totally breaking the bank."

Greg Hitchan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Tri-Valley Ventures, is enthusiastic about its partnership with Daybreak Labs. "The pieces of an ecosystem to support early stage life science companies are all here," he says. "You have a motivated group of lab and city sponsors willing to put up a facility to help those companies. And then you have the only early stage venture fund in the region. We all know each other, we've all worked together for years. It's just a very natural combination that we all see huge potential for."

While the new residency program is located in Livermore, it is expected to benefit the Tri-Valley as a whole. If successful, startups will graduate from the residency program and move to new locations, ideally within the Tri-Valley. Over time, the program should benefit "all of the other players in the ecosystem, from the real estate owners to the service providers to the local governments that will ultimately reap the benefits of high-wage employees and sales and property tax," according to Cardwell.

In October, i-GATE plans to hold the first post-pandemic Tri-Valley Life Science Summit as part of its Startup Tri-Valley initiative, which is supported by the cities of Dublin, Pleasanton, Danville, Livermore and the two local national laboratories. The event is designed "to bring together the life science professional community and let them meet each other, incubate their ideas, connect with successful founders, and gain some insights about how to run good companies," notes Cardwell.

Startup Tri-Valley builds upon an existing network of life science companies throughout the Tri-Valley, not the least of which are those found at Hacienda. The first summit, launched in 2018, was hosted by Veeva Systems, a Hacienda tenant that specializes in cloud-based pharmaceutical and life sciences industry applications. Recently another Hacienda tenant, SafeTraces, was in the news for its liquid aerosol system, which uses DNA markers and software analysis to determine the quality of a building's ventilation and air circulation. Longtime tenant Roche Molecular Diagnostics is globally known for a wide array of innovative medical diagnostic products, tests, platforms, and technologies.

Executives at life sciences companies at Hacienda and throughout the Tri-Valley understand the benefits of the region. So do many of TVV's portfolio companies, according to Hitchan. "They see the advantage of what a lot of residents here have known for a long time, that this is a great place to work, raise your family, and have a quality of life without necessarily having to sacrifice professionally, because there's a growing ecosystem of resources and world-class companies to work for without having to commute to San Francisco or the peninsula."

For more information about i-GATE Innovation Hub, please visit www.igateihub.org.

For more information about Daybreak Labs, please visit daybreaklabs.io.

For more information about Startup Tri-Valley, including the Tri-Valley Life Sciences Summit, please visit startuptrivalley.org.

For more information about Tri-Valley Ventures, please visit www.trivalleyventures.com.