NYC Announces $100M Biotech Venture Fund, Creation of Medical Technology Institute

New York City Deputy Mayor Robert Steel announced that it will establish a new $100 million venture fund for life sciences research according to Crain's New York. The city will invest an initial $10 million to establish the new biotech venture fund. The city already has an additional $40 million pledged from private-sector partners — Celgene, GE Ventures and Eli Lilly & Co. The city currently is seeking to partner with a venture-capital firm to manage the fund and invest at least $50 million to the fund. The proposed fund would help launch between 15 to 20 life sciences companies by 2020.

The city also unveiled plans for the Mount Sinai Institute of Technology, a new technological institute focusing on medical technology. With $5 million in assistance from the city, Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine will partner with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to construct the lab space focused on biomedical discovery and development of technology-based healthcare solutions. By 2018, the proposed institute will house 40 faculty members and 140 students and researchers. Read the Crain's New York article...