University of Utah’s TVC commercialisation office is to open a new incubator with Recursion, itself a Utah spinout, to provide facilities including wet lab and co-working space.

University of Utah’s Center for Technology and Venture Commercialisation (TVC) has joined Utah-founded drug discovery company Recursion to form a life sciences-focused incubator that will prioritise applications from spinouts.
The incubator will be situated at a 14,500 square-foot facility in Recursion’s former Research Park offices, and the company is set to sponsor the initiative for at least three years.
TVC and Recursion will jointly select an onsite manager to oversee the project and support resident companies with resources including mentoring, connections with potential investors and referrals to basic business services.
Facilities available will include 5,000 square feet of wet laboratory space, making it the first freestanding incubator with wet lab space in Utah, as well as offices, co-working space and function rooms.
In addition to spinouts, the initiative will also work to encourage the participation of startup founders from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
Recursion is one of more than 150 companies founded with TVC’s help over the past 10 years. It raised more than $60m in an October 2017 series B round backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment, before securing a $20.5m credit note from Square 1 Bank, a subsidiary of financial services provider Pacific Western Bank.
Keith Marmer, executive director of TVC, said: “We know that finding affordable lab and office space is one of the biggest obstacles to building any company.
“Providing these resources — both the physical space and the accompanying support network — will greatly accelerate the companies’ go-to-market timelines.”