Science Exchange (company)

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For the building in Adelaide, South Austrlia, see The Science Exchange.

Science Exchange
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware
SaaS
Biotechnology
Founded2011
FoundersElizabeth Iorns, Dan Knox, Ryan Abbott
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California
,
U.S.
Key people
Elizabeth Iorns (Co-Founder & CEO)
Dan Knox (Co-Founder & COO)
Tzlil Hadass (CRO)
Number of employees
93 (Jun 2022)[1]
Websitescienceexchange.com

Science Exchange is a cloud-based software company offering an R&D marketplace to buy and sell scientific services.[2][3][4] The marketplace gives life sciences companies access to the outsourced research they need and the platform fully automates R&D outsourcing from source to pay.[4][5] Commercial contract research organizations (CROs) and academic core facilities can sell their products and services directly through the marketplace.

Science Exchange's enterprise clients include top pharma and emerging biotechnology companies, including Merck, Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Astellas Pharma, AbbVie, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.[6]

Science Exchange was founded in 2011 by Elizabeth Iorns, Ryan Abbott, and Dan Knox, taking part in the startup accelerator program Y Combinator in the summer of 2011.[2][3][7][8]

History[edit]

In 2011, while an Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Iorns came up with the idea for Science Exchange after needing to conduct immunology experiments, but having difficulty finding potential collaborators or providers to work with.[9][10] Iorns formed Science Exchange with Knox and Abbott, and the company applied for a place in the Y Combinator startup accelerator program.[8] The company was accepted into the Summer 2011 batch of Y Combinator and launched the first version of its website in August 2011.[8] In 2012 Iorns was recognized by the Kauffman Foundation for her role in starting Science Exchange.[11][12][13]

Business model[edit]

Science Exchange is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), with customers paying an annual subscription fee.

Projects[edit]

Reproducibility initiative[edit]

In August 2012 Science Exchange partnered with the open-access scientific publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS) to launch the Reproducibility Initiative, a program developed to assist researchers in validating their findings by repeating their experiments through independent laboratories.[2][14][15] The program is facilitated by the Science Exchange platform, which matches scientists with experimental service providers according to areas of expertise. Iorns has been a longtime spokesperson on the issue of reproducibility in academic research.[13][16]

In 2013 Science Exchange partnered with the Center for Open Science to reproduce findings from widely cited published research in the field of cancer research. The goal of the study, called the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (RP:CB), is to find common reasons explaining why aspects of experiments are hard to reproduce by independent laboratories.[17][18][19] In January 2017, the first five replication studies of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (RP:CB) were published.[20] Three more RP:CB replication studies were published in June 2017.[21]

Independent validation program[edit]

On 30 July 2013 Science Exchange launched a program with reagent supplier antibodies-online.com, based in Aachen, Germany, to independently validate research antibodies.[22][23] [24]

Investors[edit]

In June 2011, Science Exchange received a $100,000 investment from StartFunds' Yuri Milner, a $50,000 investment from angel investor Ron Conway, and a $20,000 investment from Y Combinator as part of participating in the startup accelerator program. In December 2011 the company announced it had closed a $1.5-million seed financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz.[3][7][8][25][26] In May 2013 the company closed a $4-million Series A financing round led by Union Square Ventures, Tim O'Reilly's O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and several leading angel investors including Esther Dyson, Joshua Schachter, Lisa Gansky and Yuri Milner.[27][28][29][30] In March 2016 the company announced it had closed a $25-million Series B financing round led by Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital.[31] In June 2017 Science Exchange raised $28-million in Series C funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners. In October 2019, the company announced it had raised an additional $20 million in financing, from a combination of equity and debt sources. Maverick Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners led the financing.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/company/2306727/ [self-published source]
  2. ^ a b c Sharon Begley (August 14, 2012), More trial, less error: An effort to improve scientific studies, Reuters, retrieved August 18, 2012
  3. ^ a b c "MixRank, Favo.rs, Science Exchange, Sprintly", Financial Post, December 7, 2011, retrieved August 18, 2012
  4. ^ a b Bernadette Tansey (June 30, 2017), As Big Pharma Flocks to Science Exchange, Norwest Leads $28M Funding, Xconomy, retrieved January 29, 2018
  5. ^ Alex Konrad (June 29, 2017), "Science Exchange Takes On $28M To Help Companies Outsource R&D", Forbes, retrieved January 29, 2018
  6. ^ Mark Brohan (March 25, 2024), A B2B marketplace from Science Exchange aims to make life easier for buyers, Digital Commerce 360, retrieved April 5, 2024
  7. ^ a b Ron Leuty (September 2, 2011), Market for Science, San Francisco Business Times, retrieved August 18, 2012
  8. ^ a b c d Jason Kincaid (August 16, 2011), YC-Funded Science Exchange: A Central Marketplace For Core Research Facilities, TechCrunch, retrieved August 18, 2012
  9. ^ Zoë Corbyn (August 19, 2011), "An eBay for Science", Nature, doi:10.1038/news.2011.492, retrieved August 18, 2012
  10. ^ Leading a Movement to Change the Pace of Scientific Research, Scientific American, April 2, 2012, retrieved August 18, 2012
  11. ^ 2012 Kauffman Foundation Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards Recognize Entrepreneurship Excellence in Researchers, Kauffman Foundation, March 14, 2012, retrieved August 18, 2012
  12. ^ Ron Leuty (April 27, 2012), One-on-one with Science Exchange's Elizabeth Iorns, San Francisco Business Times, retrieved August 18, 2012
  13. ^ a b David Zax (April 4, 2012), Dropping Some Science: Scientists, Ditch The Academy And Become Entrepreneurs, Fast Company, retrieved August 18, 2012
  14. ^ Carl Zimmer (August 14, 2012), Good Scientist! You Get a Badge, Slate, retrieved August 18, 2012
  15. ^ Reproducibility Initiative to Increase the Value of Biomedical Research, Bio IT World, August 17, 2012, retrieved August 18, 2012
  16. ^ Elizabeth Iorns (April 6, 2012), The Need for Reproducibility in Academic Research, Science Exchange, retrieved August 18, 2012
  17. ^ Ed Yong (January 18, 2017), How Reliable Are Cancer Studies?, The Atlantic, retrieved February 22, 2017
  18. ^ Nature editorial (January 18, 2017), "Replication studies offer much more than technical details", Nature, 541 (7637): 259–260, Bibcode:2017Natur.541R.259., doi:10.1038/541259b, PMID 28102281, S2CID 4452092, retrieved February 22, 2017
  19. ^ Belluz, Julia (January 23, 2017), Cancer scientists are having trouble replicating groundbreaking research, Vox, retrieved February 22, 2017
  20. ^ Richard Harris (January 18, 2017), What Does it Mean When Cancer Findings Can't Be Reproduced?, NPR, retrieved February 22, 2017
  21. ^ Open Science Framework (June 27, 2017), Reproducibility Project:Cancer Biology page on the Open Science Framework, Open Science Framework, doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/E81XL, retrieved December 3, 2017
  22. ^ Meredith Wadman (July 31, 2013), "NIH mulls rules for validating key results", Nature, 500 (7460): 14–16, Bibcode:2013Natur.500...14W, doi:10.1038/500014a, PMID 23903729, S2CID 321809
  23. ^ Nicola Kurth (March 23, 2014). "Rettet die Wissenschaft". Spiegel Online. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  24. ^ Jeffrey M. Perkel (March 2014). "The Antibody challenge". BioTechniques. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  25. ^ Jason Kincaid (December 2, 2011), Science Exchange's Marketplace For Research Facilities Gets A $1.5 Million Boost, TechCrunch, retrieved August 18, 2012
  26. ^ Ron Leuty (December 5, 2011), Science Exchange Raises $1.5 M, San Francisco Business Times, retrieved August 18, 2012
  27. ^ Peter Kafka (April 29, 2013), Science Exchange Raises $3 Million to Help Outsource Experiments, AllThingsD, retrieved May 3, 2013
  28. ^ Andy Weissman (April 29, 2013), Science Exchange, USV, retrieved May 3, 2013
  29. ^ Bryce Roberts (April 29, 2013), Our Investment in Science Exchange, OATV, retrieved May 3, 2013
  30. ^ Science Exchange (April 30, 2013), Science Exchange Series A Financing, Science Exchange, retrieved May 3, 2013
  31. ^ Sarah Buhr (March 23, 2016), Science Exchange moves into big pharma with $25 million in Series B funding, TechCrunch, retrieved March 30, 2016
  32. ^ "Science Exchange Raises Capital to Advance Innovative Outsourced R&D Platform to Drive Biopharma Productivity". www.businesswire.com. October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.

External links[edit]

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