Hat Tip to IndieBio’s Ambitious Approach to Big Problems

One of the best parts about building a company is the opportunity to work with other people building things. There’s an instant community of understanding when you meet a peer focused on solving a big, serious problem. This connection is one of the greatest pleasures in the life of an entrepreneur.

Working with IndieBio SF and the many talented participants in the program is a perfect example. The IndieBio team, including Ron Shigeta, Arvind Gupta and Ryan Bethencourt, is committed to supporting entrepreneurs solving some of the world’s biggest challenges. Their core belief is that biology is technology. This thesis has been the foundation for choosing three classes of high-octane companies focused on a variety of domains, from developing new protein-based food sources for a growing global population, to alternative materials, cancer therapies, synthetic wine and more.

IndieBio and their entrepreneurs are especially compelling to me because – with a career that spans engineering and biology -- I’m fascinated with the application of technology to address the big and daunting challenges that face humans. Just as other sophisticated technologies have moved from one market to another, sensors and cloud-based computing are now being optimized and applied to scientific research. Originally the domain of mobile phones, wearables and deep industrial applications of the IoT (Internet of Things), that same technology stack – with appropriate modifications – now provides the building blocks that we are using to support and accelerate scientists’ work here at Elemental Machines.

With that backdrop, you can see why I am particularly captivated by the work that is happening at IndieBio, and honored to partner with them to support their entrepreneurs. The name of the game in all innovation sectors is ‘acceleration,’ and we are delighted to be helping entrepreneurial scientists working with IndieBio accelerate their work, giving them access to new data and insights that they can apply to their work in real-time.

You can read the official announcement here.