The Future of the Bioeconomy Episode 2: Power in Scale

Hear from the founders of next-generation biomanufacturing platform Unicorn Biotechnologies

Alumni Ventures
3 min readFeb 8, 2024

Drew Wandzilak is an Associate at Alumni Ventures. Drew has worked in high-growth industries as both an investor and operator, including roles at Holistic Industries, a multi-state operator for cannabis, and Mirage, an NFT marketplace. He has a BS from Northwestern in Education and Social Policy, serves as an ambassador of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and was named to Chicago Inno’s “25 Under 25” list.

In our “Future of the Bioeconomy” video series, we provides insight into the economy’s transition from traditional systems to more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.

In this episode, we interview Jack Reid and Adam Glen from Unicorn Biotechnologies, a next-gen biomanufacturing platform helping cell manufacturers efficiently scale the production of their cell-based products.

You can have the greatest product on planet Earth. It could be steel, stem cell therapies, semiconductors, polio vaccines, or automobiles. But if you don’t have a way to mass produce it, you just have a really interesting project and not an industry.” — Jack Reid, Unicorn Bio

Biology is more complex and diverse than commonly thought, requiring many different technologies and techniques for various applications. For example, the components necessary for stem cell therapeutics to cure cancer differ from those employed in regenerative agriculture centered around improving ecosystem health.

In this video, Jack Reid and Adam Glen from Unicorn Biotechnologies discuss their backgrounds, how they define the term “biotechnology,” and the overall power and diversity of the biology sector. They also highlight the importance of automation and reproducibility in scaling bio systems.

Unicorn Biotechnologies supports leading cell manufacturers in efficiently scaling the production of their cell-based products. The company optimizes cell culture manufacturing processes, providing partners with essential materials, machinery, and solutions for a reliable transition from bench-top to commercial manufacturing. Alumni Ventures invested in Unicorn’s $3.2 million seed round in April 2022.

The Future of the Bioeconomy Episode 1: Nourishing Change

Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to professional-grade venture capital, a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. Since 2014, AV has raised more than $1.2 billion across 40+ Alumni and Focused Funds, serving a growing network of 9,500+ investors and 600,000+ community members. AV evaluates hundreds of investment opportunities every year and has backed 1,200+ unique portfolio companies. Alumni Ventures is the #1 most active venture firm in the U.S., and #3 most active in the world, according to PitchBook’s 2022 rankings. AV funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school. For more information, visit av.vc.

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