Applications for the Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s (TEDCO) Life Science Investment Fund are being accepted now through April 15.
The Life Science Investment Fund (LSIF) was previously managed by the former Department of Business and Economic Development under the name Biotechnology Commercialization Award. It was one of the programs that was transferred to TEDCO on October 1, 2015 along with Maryland Venture Fund, following the enactment of legislation passed during the 2015 General Assembly. This legislation was initiated by the Augustine Commission in an attempt to consolidate the State’s efforts to provide seed/early-stage business investment.
Under TEDCO’s management, the LSIF has been redesigned to specifically meet the needs of Maryland companies which are developing products that address human health concerns and require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for commercialization.
“While Maryland has a robust technology start-up ecosystem, companies developing products which require FDA approval are burdened with long, complicated commercialization pathways that require multiple investments over a long period of time,” says John Wasilisin, TEDCO’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “We believe our LSIF will enable these companies to reach critical milestones early in their product development efforts and will better position themselves for product commercialization and job creation.”
TEDCO will make investments of up to $200,000 for a period of one year to support milestone-based projects that advance a medical product toward commercialization. TEDCO plans to make 5 – 6 Investments per year, or 2 – 3 in each of two review cycles.
“Getting FDA clearance is an important milestone for startups in life sciences industry; helping them with increased valuation,” says Arti Santhanam, LSIF Program Manager. “LSIF is designed to help these companies meet this challenge more quickly and efficiently, acting as a bridge fund to move them up to the next stage.”
Investments are made in the form of a five-year, convertible note to the company. Interest will accrue on the note at a rate of 8% per annum. In addition, the LSIF requires a minimum 50% cash match for each TEDCO dollar invested.
There are three main eligibility requirements for a LSIF investment:
- The company must be a for-profit entity located in Maryland with fewer than 16 full-time employees;
- It is either pre-revenue or has received less than an aggregate of $1 million in equity investments from accredited investors; and
- It must be developing a product addressing human health that requires FDA approval through the New Drug Application (NDA) or Biologic License Application (BLA) pathway (such as drugs, vaccines, or biologics); or a Class II or Class III medical device requiring approval through the 510(k) or Pre-Market Approval pathways (such as medical devices, diagnostics, etc.).
- The program is specifically designed for companies that are beyond the technology validation stage and further along in product development. For that reason, it is expected that the applicant has initiated preliminary discussions with the FDA.
Applications for LSIF investment can only be submitted twice each year. Application deadlines for 2016 are 5 p.m. on Friday, April 15 and Friday, October 14. Prior to submitting an application, companies are encouraged to review “Request for Applications” on TEDCO’s website.
For more information about TEDCO’s Life Science Investment Fund, contact Arti Santhanam, Program Manager at asanthanam@tedco.md or 410-715-4182.