This article has been revised and corrected from the original version.
A new resource for biotech and digital health companies has launched in Glendale.
A lab digitization service known as eLabNext opened an office this month at Hero House, a tech and entrepreneurial hub in Glendale operated by SmartGateVC, an early-stage tech venture capital firm with dual headquarters in Glendale and Yerevan, Armenia.
eLabNext is a division of Hamburg, Germany-based Eppendorf Group, which provides devices and services to help bioscience companies manipulate lab samples.
The division was originally launched in 2010 as a brand of Bio-ITech, another German firm. Its goal was to streamline life-science research and development by digitizing laboratory processes, including data entry and storage, and integrating artificial intelligence platforms. In 2017, Eppendorf Group purchased a majority stake in BioITech and established eLabNext as a separate division that assists life-science companies in their quest to digitize as much of their operations as possible.
Hero House initially launched in 2017 as an in-house operation of SmartGateVC to assist tech and biotech companies in Armenia. In August 2021, SmartGate partnered with Glendale-based venture capital and investment firm HyeRise Investments to open a new Hero House hub in Glendale, in the heart of L.A. County’s large Armenian community.
Unlike an incubator, startups do not have formalized arrangements with the operators of Hero House to set up all or part of their operations there. Rather it serves as a tech and entrepreneurship assistance and resource center, with co-working space for startups to use temporarily on a first-come, first-served basis. The opening of the center at Hero House bolsters the hub as a resource for biotech companies in the Tri-Cities area of Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena.