Tucson’s BioVigilant has received $4 million in venture capital support to help it move its technology to the marketplace.
The company, which has developed instruments that can rapidly identify certain kinds of biological contamination or bio-agent attacks, will use the investment to expand the manufacture and sales of the detectors.
Battelle Ventures, a limited partnership created by Battelle, invested $2.5 million in BioVigilant, with Pearl Street Ventures Fund putting in $1 million, and Tucson’s Community Investment Corporation adding $500,000. Battelle Ventures is a $150 million fund that operates independently of Battelle, which compiled Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap.
The investments are “actualizing the Biosciences Roadmap in Southern Arizona,” Joe Snell, president of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, told Inside Tucson Business. “We believe this is just the beginning, as Arizona’s roadmap and commitment to the biosciences will continue to attract capital investment to companies in the Tucson region,”
BioVigilant’s technology was first developed by Dr. Robert Hamburger, professor emeritus of pediatrics at University of California in San Diego. The Department of Homeland Security and the pharmaceuticals industry are testing BioVigilant’s first detector for possible use.
For more information:
“Tucson tech firm attracts major venture support,” Inside Tucson Business, 06/02/2006
“Investments boosts Tucson’s, BioVigilant,” Arizona Daily Star, 05/23/2006