Pennovation Center gets two new biotech startups

Grays Ferry’s Pennovation Center is getting a couple of new tenants.

Biorealize, makers of a desktop bioprototyping platform, and ZSX Medical, makers of a medical device focusing on minimally-invasive surgery, are the latest companies to join the Penn-run, 58,000-square-foot tech transfer hub. Opened in 2016, the spot houses several elements of Penn’s entrepreneurship ecosystem: from alumni-focused venture firm Red & Blue Ventures to the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI).

Anne Papageorge, Vice President of Facilities & Real Estate Services at Penn, said the companies that joined the hub are “developing technologies and products that help improve our lives and our health.”

“The Pennovation Center provides the resources and facilities for these professionals to take their work to the next level,” Papageorge said.

Biorealize CEO Karen Hogan said the company’s move was about having access to “a great space, filled with great minds and great vibes.”

The Penn spinout recently partnered with Puma and the MIT Design Lab to create “next generation athletic footwear, apparel and wearables.” Some of the products were demoed at Milan Design Week 2018.

Our biodesign exhibition with @mitdesignlab and @puma opened today in Milan #MilanoDesignWeek2018 pic.twitter.com/jrguiupRfc

— Biorealize (@biorealize) April 16, 2018

ZSX Medical CEO Dan Mazzuco told Technical.ly his team of four full-timers and two part-timers settled in at Pennovation in a bid to find connection to other startup founders.

“We benefit from the coworking environment, from that opportunity to collaborate and share the startup experience together,” said Mazzuco, a medical-device industry veteran and an alumnus of Harvard and MIT. “We met some of the companies at Pennovation and really liked it here.”

Aside from the wet lab capabilities that have thus far drawn biotech startups like Biorealize, ZSX Medical and Allevi (fka BioBots), the Grays Ferry incubator has also clustered a group of drone and robotics companies.