
AZ Commerce Authority
Arizona’s bioscience and health care industry benefits from strong relationships with major institutions, hospitals, private firms and the state's public universities. CNBC ranks the state second nationwide in availability of skilled workforce, and biomedical jobs are growing three times faster than the national average. In addition to our aggressive incentive programs, Arizona is committed to attracting and supporting quality companies through competitive tax policies and has demonstrated a continued trend of reducing property, individual sales and corporate income tax rates. An example of some of the key programs and incentives for the biosciences includes:
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AZ Innovation Challenge – $3 million ($1.5 million twice yearly) for technology commercialization to the world’s most promising technology ventures. Awards range from $100,000 to $250,000 per company.
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Angel Investment Tax Credit - provides tax credits up to 35% for investors who make capital investment in small businesses certified by the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA).
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Arizona Innovation Accelerator Fund - an $18.2 million loan participation program to stimulate financing of small businesses and manufacturers by providing debt financing up to $2 million. Recognized by the US Treasury as a Best Practice model of its kind
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R&D Tax Credit/Refund – refundable and non-refundable programs for increased R&D activities. Income tax credits up to 34% for qualified expenses. Up to 75% of the excess tax credit can be refunded.
Sergio Gazic
Bioscience Portfolio ManagerBaird Venture Partners
Momei Qu
Senior AssociateBand of Angels
Brian Frenzel
MemberMichael Bates
Member, Board of DirectorsBaxter Ventures
Baxter Ventures is the strategic venture arm of Baxter International Inc. that was formed in 2011 and is based in Deerfield, Illinois. The firm is currently making equity investments out of a $200 Million fund with allocations generally falling in the $3-$5 million range. The firm is looking in invest in companies who have previously or are currently in the process of securing investment from other institutional investors. The firm is willing to look globally for investment opportunities and plans to make approximately 2 new investments over the next 6-9 months.
Priyanka Rohatgi
Director
BCAL Diagnostics Pty Ltd
BCAL Diagnostics is a Sydney, Australia based blood diagnostics company with research facilities based in Kentucky, USA.
The BCAL lipid biomarker test is a universal blood test for the effective screening and monitoring of breast cancer. The BCAL test is being developed to be safe, cost effective, accurate and available to all women regardless of age, race and geographic location.
BCAL Diagnostics is near completion of a 200-patient study. Initial results indicate the BCAL test has a greater than 90% sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma which is 85% of all breast cancers.
This will lead to a range of BCAL breast cancer blood tests that can be used across the full breast cancer disease management continuum. from pre-disposition to screening to long term monitoring.
BCAL Diagnostics is now seeking Series B capital of $5-$10M USD to support its global commercialisation activities.