Record levels of funding propel Denver-Boulder to the top of the life sciences market

This
story
is
part
of
CNBC’s
quarterly
Cities
of
Success
series,
which
explores
cities
that
have
transformed
into
business
hubs
with
an
entrepreneurial
spirit
that
has
attracted
capital,
companies
and
employees.

The
Denver-Boulder
region
is
rapidly
emerging
as
a
major
hub
for
the
life
sciences
industry,
attracting
companies
that
develop
cutting-edge
medical
treatments
and
technologies.

Life
sciences
research
aims
to
understand
living
things,
from
cells
to
our
planet,
to
improve
health,
food
and
the
environment.
The
funding
growth
is
being
fueled
by
a
combination
of
factors:
a
surge
in
venture
capital
and
government
funding,
a
collaborative
research
environment
and
a
booming
market
for
lab
space.

San
Diego-based
BioMed
Realty,
a
major
real
estate
player
(acquired
by
Blackstone
in
2016
for
$8
billion),
made
headlines
in
2022
with
a
record-breaking
$625
million
purchase
of
Flatiron
Park,
a
massive
complex
in
Boulder,
Colorado.
The
1
million
square
feet
across
23
buildings
is
being
converted
into
lab
and
tech
space
to
meet
the
region’s
surging
demand.

“This
was
a
logical
next
step
…
to
invest
in
Boulder
and
scale,”
said
Tim
Schoen,
BioMed
Realty’s
president
and
CEO. “Boulder
has
all
the
elements
you
want
in
an
innovation
ecosystem
—
research
universities,
scientists,
venture
capital,
and
then
ourselves
who
provide
the
mission-critical
infrastructure.”

In
addition
to
Boulder,
the
firm
operates
in
five
other
core
life
science
and
tech
markets
including
San
Diego,
San
Francisco,
Seattle,
the
Boston
and
Cambridge
area
in
Massachusetts,
and
Cambridge,
U.K.

According
to
commercial
real
estate
group
CBRE,
14
companies
were
seeking
a
cumulative
506,000
square
feet
of
lab
space
across
the
Denver-Boulder
market
in
2023,
which
includes
the
neighboring
city
of
Aurora.
In
addition,
the
Denver-Boulder
market
saw
370,000
square
feet
of
lab
space
completed
and
move-in
ready
with
another
560,000
square
feet
under
construction
or
renovation.

“I
would
describe
Boulder
as
unique
and
explosive.
Unique
from
the
standpoint
of
its
setting
at
the
foothills
of
the
Rocky
Mountains,”
said
Schoen, “and
then
explosive
in
terms
of
how
the
ecosystem
has
really
grown
and
expanded
over
the
last
decade.”

Investors
are
taking
notice.

“Investors
from
Colorado
as
well
as
across
the
coasts
are
seeing
opportunities
here,”
said
Elyse
Blazevich,
president
and
CEO
of
the
Colorado
Bioscience
Association. “Our
ecosystem
has
raised
in
excess
of
a
billion
dollars
for
the
past
seven
consecutive
years
—
and
early
stage
funding
in
Colorado
in
2023
grew
faster
than
other
life
sciences
markets
around
the
country.”

Founded
in
2003,
the
Bioscience
Association
supports
the
growth
of
life
sciences,
with
a
focus
on
access
to
capital,
education,
networking
and
more.

According
to
Blazevich,
funding
for
pre-seed
ventures,
series
A
and
series
B
rounds
increased
from
2022
to
2023.
The
biggest
increase
was
seen
in
series
A
and
series
B
funding,
which
grew
by
$53
million,
or
28%,
year
over
year.
Pre-seed
funding,
the
earliest
stage
of
venture
capital,
grew
by
$18
million,
surging
163%,
over
that
time
period.

A
recent
CBRE
report
found
Denver-Boulder
to
be
the
top
U.S.
life
sciences
real
estate
market,
fueled
by

record
investment
from
venture
capitalists
and
the
National
Institutes
of
Health.

The
report
also
found
the
pool
of
qualified
workers
in
life
sciences
is
growing
much
faster
in
the
region
than
the
national
average,
growing
35%
over
the
past
five
years,
compared
to
16%
growth
for
the
U.S.
overall.

The
recent
surge
in
venture
capital
flowing
into
Denver-Boulder
builds
on
the
area’s
proven
track
record
of
success
over
the
past
several
decades.

In
1998,
entrepreneur
Kevin
Koch
co-founded
biotech
company
Array
BioPharma
in
Boulder.
The
company
was
acquired
by
Pfizer
for
$10.64
billion
in
2019,
and
now
Koch
is
co-founder
and
CEO
of
clinical-stage
startup


Edgewise
Therapeutics.

Edgewise
develops
therapies
for
rare
muscle
disorders
and
generated
net
proceeds
of
$186.1
million
in
its

initial
public
offering
in
March
2021.

But
the
company
started
small.

“We
were
in
an
incubator
within
the
University
of
Colorado.
And
we
brought
in
talented
folks
from
the
University
of
Colorado,”
Koch
told
CNBC. “We
had
interns
come
in,
who
ultimately
became
employees.”

Today,
Edgewise
has
a
much
bigger
space
in
Boulder:
28,000
square
feet
in
total,
with
half
of
its
93
employees
working
in
the
city
office.
The
company
plans
to
expand
its
footprint
and
to
hire
more
workers
in
the
coming
years.

Koch
said
the
Boulder
region’s
history
of
research
into
DNA
and
RNA
in
the
1980s
was
key
to
unlocking
protein-based
medicines
to
battle
disease,
which
helped
to
attract
capital
to
the
life
science
hub.

“[That
research]
nucleated
investment
in
the
Boulder
area,”
he
said. “Now,
those
companies
that
commercialized
those
products,
they
reinvested
in
Boulder.”

With
the
help
of
top
venture
firms,
Edgewise
Therapeutics
has
raised
more
than
half
a
billion
dollars
—
$550
million
in
cash
runway
through
2027.

“We
decided
that
Boulder
really
was
the
right
place.
And
I
think
it
turns
out
that
that
was
the
case.
We’ve
been
able
to
attract
a
lot
of
fantastic
talent,”
Koch
said.

Denver-Boulder’s
innovation
ecosystem
is
churning
out
ideas,
fast.

Aurora,
Denver’s
biggest
suburb,
is
the
epicenter
of
life
sciences
research:
a
256-acre
complex
that’s
home
to
the
University
of
Colorado’s
Anschutz
Medical
Campus,
which
receives
$700
million
in
annual
grant
funding.

Dan
LaBarbera
is
professor
of
pharmaceutical
sciences
and
founding
director
of
the
medical
campus’s
Center
for
Drug
Discovery.

“Our
goal
here
at
the
Center
for
Drug
Discovery
is
to
function
as
a
bridge
to
move
innovation
from
academia,
to
industry,
and
then
to
the
clinic,”
LaBarbera
told
CNBC.

Founded
in
2021,
the
center
develops
drugs
for
a
wide
range
of
diseases
from
cancer
to
Alzheimer’s
—
using
state-of-the-art
technology
including
robots
and
3D
bioprinters.

“I
think
people
in
general
are
familiar
with
3D
printers,
in
their
ability
to
print
plastics,
or
even
metals,”
LaBarbera
said. “We’re
using
very
similar
technologies
to
print
complex
tissues
that
mimic
aspects
of
human
disease.”

Historically,
it
took
roughly
10
to
15
years
for
a
drug
to
move
from
discovery
phase
to
approval
from
the
U.S.
Food
and
Drug
Administration.

“Now
we
can
expedite
that
with
this
technology
to
make
that
process
roughly
six
to
eight
years,”
LaBarbera
said.

The
center
helps
shorten
the
timeline
from
drug
discovery
to
treatment,
aiding
startups
and
existing
companies
to
get
breakthrough
medications
to
patients
faster.

“Our
goal
is
not
to
compete
with
the
pharmaceutical
industry,”
said
LaBarbera. “Our
goal
is
actually
to
work
with
them
to
develop
really
innovative
potential
drug
therapies.”

TUNE
IN:
The “Cities
of
Success”
special
featuring Denver
&
Boulder will
air
on
CNBC
on
April
11
at
10
p.m.
ET.