urbanSTL

The $25 billion life sciences giant this week said it opened a new Bioprocessing Collaboration Center at its campus in north St. Louis County, where it operates a biologics drug substance manufacturing facility at 4766 LaGuardia Dr.

Thermo Fisher’s (NYSE: TMO) new 3,500-square-feet facility in St. Louis is located adjacent to the company’s manufacturing operations designed to allow several of Thermo Fisher’s businesses to team up in development of new products and services.

As part of its continuing expansion in St. Louis, Jorjorian said Thermo Fisher expects to grow its local head count by roughly 250 employees. It’s hired about 100 of that figure so far in roles that include operations, quality, process development and process engineering, he said. The life sciences firm has approximately 650 employees in St. Louis.

“This is really exciting,” said Cliff Holekamp, a partner in Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm that invested in Gainsight. “It means the St. Louis startup complex can grow a unicorn; the St. Louis origin is a key part of the story.”

The catch is that Gainsight isn't based in St. Louis. Its headquarters moved to San Francisco in 2013 after a West Coast firm, Battery Ventures, led a $9 million investment round and recruited technology veteran Nick Mehta to lead the company.

The local celebration might be even more jubilant if we had a unicorn headquartered here. Still, Holekamp sees Gainsight's achievement as a win for St. Louis.

For one thing, the West Coast investors kept a sizeable presence here rather than moving the whole company. Gainsight employs 54 people in Town and Country, a number that may grow with Vista's backing.  For another, Gainsight's success validates several pieces of St. Louis' modern tech ecosystem. The company, originally called JBara Software, was Cultivation's very first investment in 2012. It was an original tenant of the T-Rex technology incubator and among the first companies mentored by Capital Innovators, a local accelerator fund. Other early backers included the St. Louis Arch Angels and state-funded Missouri Technology Corp.

Local companies seeking West Coast money today, Holekamp says, face less pressure to move. “It doesn't happen that way anymore, but it still happened in 2013,” he said. “It is so hard to build a tech team that investors are unlikely to break that team up.”

Indeed, software firm Balto raised $10 million this year, with a Silicon Valley lead investor, while remaining firmly planted in downtown St. Louis. Varsity Tutors raised $50 million in 2018, also from Silicon Valley, without budging from Clayton.

Holekamp said out-of-town investors have called this week to ask which St. Louis startup might be the next Gainsight. With luck, our next homegrown unicorn will be one that stays home.

Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) said Tuesday that global technology firm IBM will provide it with more than $2 million in resources aimed at helping students and faculty gain new technology skills.
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Officials said the partnership between HSSU and IBM will focus on developing curriculum and training that provides students and faculty the ability to develop skills in technology including artificial intelligence, blockchain, data science, cybersecurity cloud and quantum computing.