Pasadena’s Alexandria Real Estate Equities Expands Into the Life Science Industry

A Pasadena-based real estate company that has grown into a world-class developer for science and technology campuses is expanding its reach into the life science industry.

Alexandria Real Estate equities — an urban office real estate investment trust that was founded in 1994 — has put up buildings in virtually every major city where life sciences are studied in the United States, according to Xconomy.

Because of its wide-reaching presence, Alexandria’s CEO and co-founder, Joel Marcus, has a unique view in terms of further funding innovative startups. Currently, the company announced it will help support two early-stage life science companies — AgTech Accelerator and Alexandria LaunchLabs.

Marcus, who sits on several boards such as the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, recently told Xconomy that his company’s buildings are designed to promote teamwork and a place where young companies can grow.

“They provide collaborative and innovative environments,” he said to Xconomy. “Our campuses also provide great conference facilities, and we also do a lot of hands-on mentoring. In New York, we’ve recently launched LaunchLabs, which is designed for very early stage entrepreneurs and companies.

According to Marcus, LaunchLabs provides affordable space and seed-stage funding for pre-venture startups who otherwise might not have enough backing to thrive in today’s market.

“We’re providing space, mentorship and a seed fund to help their growth,” he said to Xconomy. “These companies need small, very affordable space, and we felt that addressing this need was, and still is, one of the most important things that we can do to support company growth in the industry.

Marcus went on to say that his buildings are great assets for recruiting and keeping young millennials, who in 10 years will make up 75 percent of the workforce.

Currently, Alexandria is trying to tackled the problem of disease, something Marcus says the best days for innovation are ahead.

“We continue to make amazing innovations that are not incremental,” he said in the interview with Xconomy. “There are roughly 10,000 diseases out there, 500 of which have really been addressed by industry, so we’re in the early innings as far as overcoming and conquering disease—trying to prevent it, treat it, and ultimately cure it.”

Though Alexandria is focused mainly on advancing and funding life science startups, they recently started diversifying their portfolio by striking a deal with Uber to build their headquarters in San Francisco, amongst other projects.

“We’ve always focused on our urban campuses in AAA scientific locations,” Marcus said in the interview. “Recently IBM Watson came to us in Cambridge and Uber, Stripe and Pinterest came to us in Mission Bay and South of Market. We didn’t go after any of those companies — they came after us because of our urban campus locations.”

For the full interview, click here http://www.xconomy.com/national/2016/09/19/workforce-trends-economy-more-qa-with-alexandrias-joel-marcus/#