HandyLab raises $19.2 million in VC to create 8 new jobs this year

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 | Source: Concentrate

Large amounts of money are pouring into Ann Arbor's HandyLab as it prepares to commercialize its technology for conducting small scale experiments.

The firm raised $19.2 million to commercialize some of its instruments. That round of venture capital (the firm's fourth) will pay for the sales and marketing buildup for their technology, which should lead to expanding the company’s staff from 48 people to 56 by year's end. The company, started in 2000, was at 40 employees this spring.

"We've already begun expansion of the sales force," says Mark Powelson, vice president of sales and marketing for HandyLab.

HandyLab specializes in conducting miniature laboratory experiments. The results are the same as if they were done in normal sizes but since they are done at a micro level, it greatly reduces the labor, time and cost needed to conduct them.

For example, the technology developed by the two former University of Michigan graduate students can do four nucleic acid specimen tests in 45 minutes. The same number of normal-sized tests can take between 2 and 9 hours.

Source: Mark Powelson, vice president of sales and marketing for HandyLab
Writer: Jon Zemke

Related Company

HandyLab
5230 South State Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 Website

In eight short years Ann Arbor-based HandyLab has grown from a two-man operation to a company employing nearly 40, with another 50 expected in the next five years. For a biotech firm that focuses on miniature lab tests, those are some mighty big ...