Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) Welcomes New Startups and Investment Firm in First Quarter of 2025

Worcester, MA (April 9, 2025) – Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), the longest-running non-profit life sciences incubator in the Commonwealth dedicated to creating a biomanufacturing hub in Central Massachusetts, is proud to welcome seven new startups to the incubator this quarter.

“The momentum we’re seeing in 2025 highlights the incredible innovation happening right here in Central Massachusetts,” said Jon Weaver, President and CEO of MBI. “Welcoming seven new startups and an on-site investment firm at MBI reflects the strength of our StartUp & ScaleUp model and the growing demand for lab space, mentorship, and capital in the region. We’re proud to support these entrepreneurs as they translate groundbreaking science into life-changing solutions for patients around the world.”

MBI welcomed the following startups this quarter:

• Eascra Biotech: Based on DNA nanotechnology, Eascra’s novel family of Janus base nanomaterials provides highly effective, super biocompatible solutions that enable enhanced therapeutic delivery and regenerative medicine for articular cartilage, central nervous system disorders, solid tumors, and other chronic conditions.
• SauveBio: SauveBio stands at the forefront of scientific discovery, providing advanced flow cytometry and cell sorting services that empower researchers to achieve breakthrough discoveries in medical research and drug development.
• Synchro Biotech and SpectraNotes: Based in Greater Boston, partners Synchro Biotech SpectraNotes are premier contract research organizations (CRO) delivering advanced analytical services to the biotech and biopharmaceutical industry.
• Vector Process Innovation: Vector Process Innovation is a gene therapy biomanufacturing technology company dedicated to translating scientific discovery into scalable solutions with global impact. They have a proprietary platform for the generation of stable lentiviral producer cell lines used in pharmaceutical manufacturing and the process is the product. The novel licensing opportunity provides access to its uniquely skilled team, reagents, and protocols, to assure client partners can bridge their clinical success to a commercial one.
• Waterfall Scientific: Waterfall Scientific develops proprietary technology to enable rapid, high-throughput mRNA production with exceptional quality and consistency. Its mission is to manufacture high-quality custom mRNAs that accelerates groundbreaking research in RNA therapeutics, gene editing, and beyond.
• XTOP Biotherapeutics LLC: XTOP is an innovative immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing groundbreaking therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Leveraging its proprietary CrossBody platform, XTOP Bio creates novel product candidates designed to trigger potent, tumor-specific immune responses.

With the addition of these innovative new companies, MBI is at 85 capacity, demonstrating the growing demand for startup and lab space in the Central Massachusetts region. The unique StartUp & ScaleUp model at MBI bridges the gap between incubator and commercial market spaces for early-stage, growing companies. The StartUp space offers small, private labs for founders to launch companies. As they grow, companies can move into the ScaleUp space which offers larger accommodations and private office suites intended for scaling teams and technology. The newly opened Pilot Biomanufacturing Center provides space designed to support early-stage clinical manufacturing. This model allows companies to move into larger, more appropriate spaces as they scale, freeing up space in the incubator for new, promising companies to enter the pipeline.

Investment firm Conifer Life Sciences also opened an office at MBI in March 2025. The addition of an investment company at MBI marks a pivotal shift, reflecting the maturity of the cluster and quality of local startups. This milestone reinforces MBI’s unique incubator model. Conifer is the first investment company to establish a presence at MBI’s current location and only the second in its history, setting the stage for a new era of growth and support for emerging biotech ventures. Conifer has funded three companies that are currently operating at MBI.

Finally, MBI is proud to announce that three startups graduated from its SPARK Program, a free, 8-week program that pairs aspiring entrepreneurs in need of guidance with mentors in MBI’s network who help startups overcome a specific challenge or roadblock. The program, funded through a Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC) award in 2023 and the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA), is designed to support early-stage entrepreneurs developing breakthrough science and technologies. This was the second cohort to graduate from the program. A third cohort was matched to mentors in early April with an expected graduation in June 2025.

Additional highlights and updates from our companies:

• Codomax received an iDEA-Tech Award for a collaborative project with Sanofi and was awarded a third Phase 1 STTR grant from the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Codomax applies its Epi-MAX platform technology to re-engineer strains and expression vectors to enable maximal production of difficult-to-express biologics.
• Eascra Biotech received an Air Force AFWERX SBIR Phase 1 Grant.
• Leveragen entered into a multi-target research option and license agreement with Moderna to advance therapeutic solutions. Leveragen specializing in genetic engineering and develops comprehensive solutions for genetic modeling, creating designer mutations to study gene function and disease mechanisms.
• JURA Bio, Inc graduated from MBI and moved to larger space at UMass Boston after raising $16.1 million while in the MBI incubator. JURA Bio combines next generation machine inference with the world’s largest high-quality biological datasets and autonomously optimized iterative design.
• Splice Histology outgrew its initial StartUp lab space at MBI and moved into MBI’s ScaleUp space, doubling its capacity. Splice provides timely, high-quality, individual histopathology services.

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About Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives

MBI is a non-profit focused on building the Central Massachusetts bio-cluster. MBI’s mission is to be a partner for fostering innovation in the life sciences and achieves that goal through its small business incubator system, workforce development efforts, and regional economic development initiatives. It is estimated that since 2000, MBI has assisted over 197 companies that have created over 1,800 jobs resulting in a $2 billion economic impact.

Media Contact:

Alicia Curran, [email protected], cell: 407-797-2076