After Tobias Zutz raised $900,000 for Gregor Diagnostics, his Madison startup developing a new test for prostate cancer, he didn’t want to spend a big chunk of the money on lab equipment right away.
He moved into Forward Biolabs, a biotech incubator at University Research Park on Madison’s West Side. At the nearly 10,000-square-foot facility, where users pay rent month to month, Zutz and his four employees share microscopes, biosafety hoods, plate readers, pipettes and office space with 10 other small companies.
“If we would have had to set up our own lab, it would have cost $200,000 or $250,000 to buy all the freezers and equipment,” Zutz said.
Another advantage of the incubator is a lack of isolation: “We’re not on this small island with just the five of us,” he said. “We get to interact with other people. It feels more like a community.”