Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 16, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 11 the founder of Nexcelom Bioscience, a Lawrence-based firm with a technology used in drug discovery, biomanufacturing, and biomedical research. Aer starting the company in 2003, Qiu eventually sold it in 2021 for $260 million in cash to national life sciences firm PerkinElmer. Aer Nexcelom was sold, Li said he and Qiu knew they wanted to stay in the life sciences space. ey love the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and they wanted to use the abilities, resources, and connections they gained over the course of their years with Nexcelom to help startup companies. When considering a potential investment, Conifer weighs a variety of factors, Li said. e first is the market: What needs are the company's products or services addressing, are they real needs, and will they still be there when the company grows up a little bit? e technology the company is developing must be sophisticated, innovative, and not easily replicated, and the co-founders have to be committed with a strong desire to carry out their vision, Li said. Conifer's approach to investing is a little more hands-on than the typical venture capitalist, Li said. When Conifer invests in a startup, Li and Qiu become part of the founding team and provide Conifer's business platform for companies to use for things like finance, accounting, human resources, marketing, and information technology. "In this case, Conifer is not just a traditional investor. We're a business partner," Li said. at's been the case with Highspin Biosystems, a Conifer-funded startup located within MBI. Chief Technology Officer Leo Chan has known Qiu and Li for 20 years; he worked with them at Nexcelom and was visiting them at MBI in 2024 when he was introduced to Highspin Chief Science Officer Osman Bilsel. Osman "had a wonderful idea for a technology. We had a very long conversation. It was supposed to be one hour, but it ended up being three or four hours," Chan said. "I felt this was a great opportunity to get involved in the startup environment and to put my energy into the project." Highspin spent the last quarter of 2024 doing a feasibility study and collecting data to submit for the intellectual property it needed. With the company's IP secured, it is now in the prototyping phase, Chan said. Money moving westward Partnering with Conifer, Bilsel said, allows the co-founders to focus on the technology side of things without having to worry about business functions like marketing and human resources. "My entire career has been in academia. I only le UMass [Chan Medical School] four to five years ago to start a company. I didn't have a lot of the skill sets I needed to make a thriving business: the product development expertise Leo brings in, or the business experience Peter and Jean bring in," he said. "ose are things I don't really know how to do, and they're good to have." at's part of the idea behind MBI, Weaver said. e team views itself as an extension of each startup team. "We're their receptionist, shipping and receiving, and more. We do things so they don't have to, which dramatically reduces headcount Jon Weaver, CEO and president of MBI On August 12, join us at Polar Park for the 4th annual Paragus Firehouse Cook Off, where firehouses from around the city compete to create dishes for a panel of local celebrity judges— plus a People's Choice award. PARAGUSIT.COM GE T YOUR TICKE TS TODAY AT FIREHOUSECO OKOFF.COM This year we are proud to be raising money for Worcester 6K Charity and DetecTogether. Let's beat last year's record of $20,000! WORCESTER'S HOTTEST EVENT OF THE YEAR RETURNS SCAN QR CODE TO LEARN MORE upfront," he said. Having Conifer at MBI is part of a larger westward shi in venture capital funding, Weaver said. Beverly businessman Cliff Rucker in January launched Auxilium Worcester, an entrepreneurial hub in the Central Exchange Building at 311 Main St. in Worcester. Companies in Auxilium will have access to potential seed funding to grow their businesses. "ere was a perception that you never raise VC money in Worcester. If you wanted VC money, you had to be in Kendall Square, and that's just not true at all," Weaver said. "ere's something special happening right now. You can feel it." Highspin CTO Leo Chan (right) had known the co-founders of Conifer Life Sciences for 20 years when he was introduced to CSO Osman Bilsel. Bilsel said having a partner like Conifer enables the startup's founders to focus on the technology, while Li and Qiu take care of the business side of the company. W

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