FISHERS, IND. (June 20, 2022) – BiomEdit, the recently established privately-held venture focused on microbiome innovation in animal health, today announced it will locate its global headquarters operation in the innovative and growing northeast Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, Indiana.
The company chose Indiana and the City of Fishers after a site selection search to find a location that could best support BiomEdit’s innovative and agile approach to R&D. Fishers has experienced exponential growth over the last decade with a tech-focused infrastructure, highly educated workforce and entrepreneurial spirit.
In addition, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) offered a competitive investment package to the company to encourage the growth of high-wage life science jobs as well as R&D collaborations with other Indiana-based organizations. Pending approval by the IEDC board of directors, the IEDC will commit an investment in BiomEdit LLC of up to $3 million in the form of conditional tax credits and an additional $200,000 in innovation vouchers. These incentives are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired and the company makes eligible investments in innovation activities.
“We were impressed with the clear focus on life science innovation in the City of Fishers and the state of Indiana’s strong forward-looking, business-friendly climate,” said Aaron Schacht, CEO of BiomEdit. “BiomEdit is ready to join with Indiana and Fishers to help bring even more innovation-focused businesses and workforce here. We continue to be impressed with their support and partnership.”
“Indiana is leaning in to make the Hoosier state the epicenter of animal health and life sciences broadly,” said Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers. “BiomEdit is a fantastic example of the innovation that occurs when industry expertise is consolidated in one central hub.”
“Aaron and his team at BiomEdit are at the leading edge of the microbiome sector,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. “When you combine that level of talent and R&D with the support and innovation-driven mindset of the Fishers community, I see a long line of continued success ahead for the company.”
BiomEdit spun out of Elanco Animal Health (NYSE: ELAN), a leading global animal health company on April 11, 2022, to focus on the discovery and development of animal health products that leverage microbiome science to improve animal health, animal protein production and livestock disease monitoring.
Former Elanco executive vice president of Innovation, Regulatory and Business Development, Aaron Schacht serves as BiomEdit CEO and was joined by 18 other former Elanco R&D employees with deep expertise in the microbiome and animal health industry to launch the company and its novel innovation platform to address unmet needs in animal health. BiomEdit also secured a strategic partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks providing access to the industry-leading and state-of-the-art cell programming platform to progress its research and development program.
The new venture was announced with a $40M Series A financing round – among both the largest ever Series A financings for either an animal health company or an Indiana-based life sciences company. Participating in the Series A were Viking Global Investors and Anterra Capital.
BiomEdit’s headquarters office building will be located at 10100 Lantern Road. The company’s lab and manufacturing facilities will be located near Elanco in Greenfield, Indiana.