The 2021 XSeed Award, an inaugural recognition of early stage life science startups, announced this past week the five New York City based winners. The Award focuses on infectious diseases as part of host Deerfield Management Company’s ongoing fight against global health issues and its mission to build a strong life sciences ecosystem in New York City. Women and underrepresented founders were the majority of the winners, each receiving a $100,000 grant.
Deerfield continues to build on its support for women and minority led life science research, particularly the gap in funding faced by them when forming their ventures. The stats are discouraging with female founders raising only 2.3 percent of total venture capital funding in 2020, while Black applicants are 10 percent less likely than whites to be awarded NIH Funding. Women of color fared even worse, raising less than 1 percent of all venture capital funding since 2009, even though their startup rate continues to rise.
Deerfield created a number of initiatives prior to the XSeed Award such as the LifeSci NYC Fellows and the Break into the Boardroom programs. In 2019 they introduced an initiative called Women in Science that focused on training women on how to commercialize their novel discoveries and start companies.
“This year has been unlike any other in so many ways, not the least of which is the unprecedented advancement of medical science,” said Joseph Pearlberg, MD, Ph.D. and Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Deerfield. “Our inaugural group of XSeed Awardees will support some of New York City’s most talented researchers and scientists with a focus on developing cures for infectious diseases.”
The 2021 recipients of Deerfield’s inaugural XSeed Award are:
- Chandrabali Ghose-Paul, Founder and CEO of Bioharmony Therapeutics,
- Ashiwel Undieh, The City College of New York,
- Jonathan Lai, Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
- Julie Magarian Blander, Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine,
- Andras Fiser, Dr. John Blanchard, Dr. Simone Sidoli, and Dr. Johanna Daily, all from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In 2019 Deerfield partnered with the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to develop the Cure life science campus, a 12-story vertical campus to bring together innovators from academia, government, industry, and the not-for-profit sectors. The campus includes state-of-the-art laboratories, engineering computing space and support services.
The Cure campus is part of LifeSci NYC, a $500 million commitment to establish New York City as a global leader in the life sciences. Upon completion Deerfield will move its corporate headquarters to the site, as part of its goal to create a transformative life sciences campus.
Over the next 20+ years the XSeed Award program will provide critical funding to put translational research on a path to the marketplace and future commercial success. Each annual award will have a specific focus and Deerfield will select five winning teams to evenly share $500,000.
Most important, in addition to receiving award funding, the winning teams will join a two-year cohort of their fellow awardees. They will have the opportunity to receive peer-learning and office visits with leading investors, entrepreneurs, and business experts. Those graduating are slotted to serve as mentors and coaches for future cohorts. Those activities and the Award placing emphasis on women and minority led life sciences startups are expected to lead to a more inclusive and stronger entrepreneurial community in New York City.
