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For immediate release
Dec. 20, 2007
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
signs formal cooperation
agreement with
Israeli technological incubator
Xenia Venture Capital is a publicly traded investment firm in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) operating a technological incubator
Richmond, Va. – The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park and its newly formed Virginia Biosciences Commercialization Center announced a strategic alliance with Xenia Venture Capital, one of Israel’s top technological incubators that focuses on initiation, investment and business development of Israeli life sciences and information technology.
“This alliance is very important for the state of Virginia, and specifically for the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park,” stated Donna Edmonds, executive director of the Virginia Biosciences Commercialization Center. “Israel is well known for its proliferation of intellectual property and new technological advances in the life sciences industry, and the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park has expanded the current infrastructure to help their companies successfully enter U.S. markets.”
“Xenia is encouraging companies that wish to do business in the U.S. to approach the VBCC. We also can and want to support later-stage companies that wish to develop a successful track record by operating from one of the main business hubs in the U.S.,” stated Anat Segal, CEO of Xenia Venture Capital. “This partnership was formed because the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park has an experienced and very committed executive team, significant industry and clinical connections, and the know-how to launch these companies successfully in the U.S.”
Xenia is an investment firm founded in 2003 by a group of experienced entrepreneurs and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Much like the Park’s incubator program, Xenia has gathered experts in various fields to support the growth of high-potential companies. It is focused on the acceleration of development and positioning for commercial success and has the ability to directly fund the first stages of company growth.
Xenia’s capacity to support and fuel the growth of 17 companies, nine of which have already secured follow-on rounds of funding, has produced later-stage companies that have developed products that are ready to enter the U.S. market. The strategic alliance signed by both parties will make the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park the preferred location for Xenia's companies, and will foster build-up and maturity of the younger companies in Xenia’s portfolio.
In addition to the Park’s nationally recognized incubator program, the Virginia Biosciences Development Center, the newly formed VBCC provides considerable expertise in bringing “graduates” of Xenia’s, or other incubator programs, to successfully commercialize their products and make them more likely candidates for additional funding sources, business alliances and exit options. Specifically, the VBCC assists companies in developing tailored commercialization strategies, including regulatory and reimbursement support, obtaining market validation, supporting product launch through national clinical leadership networks and assisting in the ongoing funding process, as well as formation of strategic partnerships with industry leaders.
About the Park
The Virginia BioTechnology Research Park is currently home to a unique mix of more than 55 public and private bioscience companies, research institutes affiliated with the VCU Medical Center and major state and national medical laboratories. These companies are housed in nine buildings totaling more than 1.1 million square feet of space, representing an employee base that exceeds 2,000. The VBDC is the Park’s business assistance program located in its 27,000 square-foot incubator. Since opening in 1995, 63 companies have started in the Park’s incubator facility; 31 of which have graduated into larger spaces in the Park or greater Richmond community. The Park’s Commercialization Center has been created to take incubator graduates through commercialization to M&A or IPO, giving the Park’s tenants full-scale business assistance. To date, the Park has graduated three companies that are now publicly traded.
About Xenia
Xenia Venture Capital is an investment company publicly traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, operating a technological incubator and engaged in the initiation, build-up and packaging of high-technology start up companies in Israel in the fields of information technology and life sciences. The Xenia team consists of a strong group of entrepreneurs who have come together to create a technological incubation powerhouse. The partners, investors and advisers who have taken part in Xenia are a group of star entrepreneurs, with combined exits of more than $3 billion, who, together, accumulate a critical mass of experience, network and knowledge. Constituting a novel vehicle for investment in early stage high-tech — a unique combination of venture capital and a technological incubator — Xenia benefits its companies by securing government funding under the program of privatized incubators of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the State of Israel (“Pilot Incubators 8.3,” see www.incubators.org.il).
Contact:
Nicky Colomb
Virginia BioTechnology Research Park
Phone: (804) 828-6884
E-mail: ncolomb@vabiotech.com
Web site: www.vabiotech.com
Contact in Israel:
Noam Tepper
Financial Access Investor Relations
Phone: +972-54-4283328
E-mail: noam@faccess.co.il
Inbar Barshad
Xenia Venture Capital
Phone: +972-8-6811761
E-mail: inbar@xenia.co.il
Web site: www.xenia.co.il
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