Nucleate: Mission to empower the next generation of biotech

On the mission to forge the biotech companies of the next generation to change the world. All free, trainee-led and non-profit. Since the launch in 2018, venture teams have raised 32 million in funding for their companies.

Nucleate is a launch pad for start-ups in the specific field of biotech. Before going into more details what Nucleate does and what their mission is – what is biotech? It is an interdisciplinary science that studies the use of enzymes, cells and organisms for technical and clinical application. The goal is the development of new and more efficient methods to produce chemical compounds. The methods of biotechnology were discovered a long time ago. For example, the production of beer through yeast is using this principle. Nowadays this field has advanced into microbiology and genetical methods. The main fields of application in the industry are medical, agriculture, non-food use of crops and other materials and environmental.

Nucleate’s mission is to democratize education on forming spin-offs from research findings in biotech for everyone. Therefore, their program is free-to-all and open-to-all. They want to equip the next generation of leaders in biotech with the right tools and academic knowledge to convert ground-breaking ideas into suc- cessful companies. Nucleate was founded in 2018 in cooperation with the GSAS Harvard Biotech Club and has ever since been expanding in the whole of the United States. In the three years since the launch, 30 alumni venture teams have formed. One of those companies was even sold. 37 million dollars were raised in funding by those teams. An impres- sive track record. But still their lea- dership team is composed of acade- mic trainees in various academic position, which range from PhD to MD and so on.

The Activator is Nucleate’s program and has five tiers. As a first step scientists are matched with busi- ness students. Then the teams can meet and work with industry mentors, legal strategists, and clinical partners. In the following workshops, they will work out a product or process that will be tested to- gether with the clinical partners. They will also develop a business plan, a fundraising strategy, and a legal strategy before pitching their project to investors, they have chances to network with faculty-specific scientists, biotech founders, and investors. This course stretches over roughly five months.

Nucleate is expanding into Switzerland. With a unique sector focus on pharma companies and being also among the most innovative countries in the word. Switzerland has many advantages. Nucleate wants to match students from life science with students from business courses. With various strong universities in both sectors that might be an interesting combination. Also, Switzerland is known for its pharma sector. Considering those conditions, maybe we at HSG will be seeing more biotech in the future too.

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