Chandra Briggman is leaving her position as president and CEO of Activation Capital, the Richmond tech incubator announced Monday. Her last day is Friday.
Briggman joined Activation Capital, an accelerator arm of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority, in May 2020; the organization includes a biotech park, startup development and cluster accelerator for pharmaceutical research and manufacturing. During her time at Activation Capital, Briggman played significant roles in raising $31 million to build an innovation center in the Virginia Bio+Tech Park, launching the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, and winning a $53 million federal grant in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, among other achievements.
According to Monday’s announcement, Briggman plans to “pursue new opportunities to build innovation ecosystems and drive economic development,” but her specific plans were not disclosed.
“At heart, I’m a builder, and what I do well, I have done,” Briggman said in a statement. “The opportunity to contribute to Activation Capital and the Central Virginia community has been a highlight of my career. It gave me an opportunity to sharpen the organization’s strategy, secure the growth capital necessary to flourish and align every action with a mission-centric outcome. Together, we built a team of experts who are focused on execution and excellence during the next phase of Activation Capital. My goal was always to create the team, prove our model and then transition to the next opportunity to build.”
The organization plans to launch a search for Briggman’s replacement, but in the meantime, Kipton Currier, vice president of operations, will lead day-to-day operations, and Activation Capital’s executive team will oversee key initiatives, a spokesperson said.
“Chandra Briggman’s pivotal time at Activation Capital has been defined by impact, and her impressive body of work has energized our region,” said Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao, also chairman of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority Board. “In 2020, Chandra was recruited from Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts, to grow the economic impact of Activation Capital. In four years, two of which were at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped reenergize the organization with a new vision and strategy. Chandra executed a bold roadmap that has since grown our regional innovation economy and strengthened Activation Capital’s sustainability model for the future.”
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine — a group of public and private pharmaceutical manufacturers and research organizations in Richmond and Petersburg — will receive a $1 million award from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Richmond-based innovation incubator Activation Capital, which convened the alliance four years ago, announced last week the group would receive an NSF Regional Innovation Engines development award. The alliance members working with the awarded funds include Activation Capital, Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Virginia Commonwealth University and U.S. Pharmacopeia.
“This will give us $1 million as a coalition to design strategy, to design a business model and the growth trajectory for this alliance in the future,” Chandra Briggman, president and CEO of Activation Capital, told reporters Wednesday. “We’re really excited to report that and show the momentum that’s in the region around this cluster.”
In total, the Alliance for Building Better Medicine has 16 partners and 23 supporting organizations. The group has worked to grow the Richmond-Petersburg-area advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster to address the national need for domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing to have a secure supply chain for medicines. Nearly 80% of the manufacturing facilities that produce active pharmaceutical ingredients are located outside the United States, according to a March 2023 staff report from the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Alliance for Building Better Medicine previously won a $52.9 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, announced in September 2022. Local organizations provided $13.6 million in matching funds. In October 2023, the U.S. EDA designated the Richmond-Petersburg metropolitan statistical area an Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub, after the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing led the alliance’s application. The 31 inaugural tech hubs are eligible to apply for the next phase of the program, which will invest between $50 million and $75 million in each of the five to 10 designated hubs.
“There is no greater community of people than those of the Richmond-Petersburg advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Receiving one of the NSF Engine Development Awards, after the BBBRC grant award and Tech Hubs designation, is a resounding endorsement to continue the hard work, to push through the obstacles, to not stop until access to essential medicines needed to sustain life and conquer disease is a reality,” Robby Demeria, founding board chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine and chief corporate affairs officer for Phlow, said in a statement. “I could not be prouder to stand behind such purposeful, accomplished, brilliant, and dedicated volunteers on a mission to build better medicine.”
Activation Capital, an independent authority of the Virginia government, is an ecosystem development organization that focuses on growing life sciences and other advanced technology entrepreneurs and innovation. The organization also operates the Virginia Bio+Tech Park in Richmond and plans to build a 102,000-square-foot innovation center in the 34-acre park but is seeking an anchor tenant for the facility this spring before it will begin construction.
Kipton Currier envisions Virginia joining other mid-Atlantic states to form a super region for the life sciences industry.
Before that happens, the state must secure some key ingredients missing from the ecosystem, namely sufficient lab space for biotech startups. Activation Capital, the brand name of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority — which promotes the growth of life sciences and advanced technology in the Richmond region — is helping to meet that need through the addition of a $53 million innovation center at the 34-acre VA Bio+Tech Park it manages adjacent to Virginia Commonwealth University in downtown Richmond.
“There are companies in the region that are at a very early stage that need space,” says Currier, Activation Capital’s vice president of operations. “What they’re really seeking is community. We will be able to provide [that] community in the new innovation space.”
Three decades in the making, the 107,000-square-foot innovation center, announced in early June, will feature incubator and lab space for startups doing biotech research in fields such as drug discovery, surgical instrumentation and respiratory drug delivery. Plans for the rest of the building include a community café and a 44,500-square-foot space for an anchor tenant, though Currier says the building’s overall size could still change.
“We would love to go higher than four stories for the right anchor tenant,” Currier says.
In a September webinar, Activation Capital President and CEO Chandra Briggman said the anchor tenant, which the organization is actively seeking, could be a life sciences company, advanced pharmaceutical manufacturer or a state entity.
Funded through a $15.75 million federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge award, $10 million in state appropriations, and other sources, the project is set to break ground between April and September 2024 and is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, says the center’s lab and incubator space will fill a gap in the regional life sciences pipeline that starts with intellectual property developed at VCU and ends with pharmaceutical manufacturing in places like Petersburg and Chesterfield County.
“We want it all,” Wakefield says. “I don’t think that executives in the life sciences industry were necessarily taking note of what was happening in the Richmond, Virginia, market, and now they’re starting to sit up and perk up a little bit about what is happening, and [asking], ‘Why was Richmond not on my radar?’”
Activation Capital, a Richmond-based innovation incubator, will redevelop a 102,000-square-foot innovation center in the Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer and Activation Capital announced Friday.
The 34-acre park, at Eighth and E. Leigh streets, is a commercial life sciences hub adjacent to the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and has more than 70 companies, research institutes and state/federal laboratories on its campus, including the Altria Center for Research & Technology.
“As part of our strategic plan to create a thriving ecosystem, Activation Capital will build an innovation center that anchors downtown Richmond’s innovation hub and serves as a magnet for innovators to build and grow deep tech companies. Once complete, the innovation center will catalyze downtown redevelopment around wealth-creating jobs, boost entrepreneurial growth, strengthen the region’s end-to-end pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster, and act as a platform for upskilling community members with STEM programming,” Chandra Briggman, president and CEO of Activation Capital, said in a statement.
The $53 million center will feature about 35,000 square feet of class lab and creative office space. Another 45,000 square feet will be dedicated to an incubator operated by Activation Capital and will have shared labs, private offices and community gathering spaces. The new building will be at the corner of 8th Street and Jackson Street.
It is expected to be completed in late 2025.
Activation Capital received a $15 million grant from the state to go toward the cost of the project. Along with the biotech park, Activation Capital has a startup development and a newly invigorated cluster accelerator for pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.
JLL’s project and development services team is handing the design and construction management of the property.
Amy J. Broderick and Kate Hosko, both of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, along with David Thomann of Cushman & Wakefield’s life science group in Boston, will handle leasing for the innovation center.
Leaders from across Virginia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem discuss investing in new companies, challenges facing startups and advice for success.
Adams
KAREN BOOTH ADAMS
CEO, Hot Technology Holdings LLC Richmond
What do you look for when you’re investing in a startup?
The most important thing I look for when investing in a startup is the tenacity, drive, intelligence and character of the CEO or founder; the mission — does this resonate with us personally?; the viability of the idea; and the size of the market/industry.
What are the most important questions to ask of a startup before investing?
What is driving the founders to grow the company? The mission cannot be focused solely on financial success. Building a motivated, cohesive team dedicated to a shared mission around making the lives of others better — that is when truly great companies emerge. How are you different than your competitors? What is your recruiting strategy to hire the best talent, and what is your marketing strategy?
How many businesses have you invested in that have failed?
We have founded 10 companies since 1993, growing all of them with our own money. We did not take any outside investor funds. Of those 10, all became profitable, multimillion-dollar firms. Separately, I invested in 22 other early-stage companies during the last 15 years. These were companies that were not run by our group, and we had minority stakes in these ventures. Out of those investments, three of them failed. I look at over 300 investment opportunities annually, so our process is very selective.
What ripple effects are entrepreneurs seeing from the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March?
I believe early-stage entrepreneurs are going to find capital more expensive, the time frame and effort to secure it more arduous, and a shift in focus from “grow at all costs” to a more balanced approach that values growth and profitability.
Espey
ART ESPEY
Managing director, Lighthouse Labs; Board member, Activation Capital Richmond
What trends are you seeing in new companies?
Founders are becoming more creative in raising capital and focusing on building a sustainable business rather than growing fast. Also, the ethics of co-founders is becoming a much earlier focus than before.
What are the biggest challenges facing startups?
Startups face significant hurdles developing corporate and large potential client relationships. After that, talent and funding round out the “big three” of their challenges.
What’s something a company should consider before scaling up?
A company should consider whether or not they have the capability to scale. Do they have the systems and processes to handle the increased business? Do they have the right talent? Taking on large contracts that you can’t service can kill your business fairly quickly.
What advice would you share with companies looking to get into your cohorts?
Know the problem that you intend to spend the next five to seven years of your life solving. Your approach to that problem may evolve, but the problem is still there. Make sure that problem is big enough to make a business, not just a product — a product is different from a business. Funders fund businesses; rarely do they fund products.
Garcia
LISA GARCIA
Director, Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program (RAMP); Vice president for entrepreneurial development, Verge Roanoke
What trends are you seeing in new companies?
Our reach and focus are highly focused on technology and health and life science startups created in Southwest and Central Virginia. Startups in our region are often based on research and development that occurs in a cutting-edge laboratory. It is our great fortune to see more and larger collaborations occurring with the commercialization journeys that enable founders to access university, private company and public business tools and resources.
What are the biggest challenges facing startups?
Time and focus. In order to excel at anything, it requires a time commitment and focus that our social and professional environment does not readily foster. Collectively, our expectations are for founders to be many places at one time, and that overlaps with their creative and innovative personalities that are biased toward research and development. They are creators. Securing the right support to both identify and focus on the most profitable path to advance a startup is a significant challenge.
What’s something a company should consider before scaling up?
Supply chain. It probably goes without saying that supply chain disruptions have held up a lot of companies in terms of strategic growth. Identify key partners and backups, if possible, to enable your company to execute fully.
What advice would you share with companies looking to get into your cohorts?
Get to know us before you apply to RAMP. Reach out and set up a meeting or call. Ask us what we are seeking in a startup. We have a few ways you can engage in the startup community, including a 1:1 Pitch & Polish event held quarterly with regional business coaches and leaders who can offer feedback and connections.
Turner
STEVE TURNER
CEO, CytoRecovery Inc. Blacksburg
How do you know when to walk away from an idea?
Sony co-founder Akio Morita wrote in his memoirs that he followed his gut. I agree with this — study the concept rigorously, interview the principals, look at the eye contact, assess the level of their commitment to the concept, but in the end, trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, take a pass.
What is your biggest challenge as a startup?
In our case, the biggest challenge was learning how to manufacture the biochips that enable the cell separations. This took several years.
How did you overcome that?
Solving this was an important exercise in trial and error, patience and staying the course. We were unable to obtain the quality and scale of product we needed from any vendor, and so [we] undertook the manufacturing through internal R&D and process development, which has been very successful and now gives us the advantage of control over a critical product manufacturing process.
What is the most important or useful thing you have learned during the process of starting your company?
The importance of forming a strong and adaptable team
What advice would you share with other entrepreneurs?
Never give up. And remember that it is not the company with the most resources that wins, nor the company with the smartest people — it is the company that is the most adaptable.
What’s unique about the entrepreneurial ecosystem in your region?
The Blacksburg/Roanoke area is an excellent place to build a life science enterprise. This area offers strong institutional support, deep technology sectors and an available labor pool of smart young people with awesome work ethic — all the ingredients you need.
Weithman
TOM WEITHMAN
Chief investment officer and vice president, Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.; Managing director, Virginia Venture Partners Herndon
What do you look for when you’re investing in a startup?
At our very early stage of investment, we always say we are investing in three things — the team, the market and the tech. We are looking for a team and company that has a big idea and addresses a significant customer pain point.
What are the most important questions to consider before investing in a new company?
We want to know that we are working with high-integrity and committed individuals who have an exceptional knowledge of the market they are going after and are willing to listen to others — co-founders, investors, mentors and customers — along the entrepreneurial journey. This probably boils down to one fundamental question: What makes you and your team the right people to address the problem?
How do you know when you’ve gotten a return on your investment?
As we are a “double-bottom-line” fund — investing not only for investor and founder return, but for spillover economic development benefit for the commonwealth — we take a slightly different view of return than traditional financial investors. While we are concerned with cash ROI, we also consider things like job creation, new company formation, private capital mobilized and new industry development in our return calculus.
What challenges and/or opportunities are unique to the commonwealth for startups or funders?
One of the single greatest challenges we face as both early investors and agents of economic development lies in learning how to build on the unique attributes of diverse regions of the commonwealth — including legacy and nascent sectoral strengths — to foster economic outcomes that will grow and sustain Virginia’s future.
Wintsch
RICHARD WINTSCH
Executive director, Startup Virginia Richmond
What are the biggest challenges facing startups?
While funding for early-stage startups has always been a challenge in Virginia, the recent banking difficulties and the stock market performance will make access to capital even more difficult. This is why entrepreneur support organizations, such as incubators and accelerators, and state resources from Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. are so important. Once an idea has been validated, startups need to scale their operations to meet demand. When this occurs, hiring the right talent and implementing effective sales and marketing strategies are other challenges we see.
What’s something a company should consider before scaling?
Before scaling, it is vital to have completed a comprehensive customer discovery to ensure you’re meeting the right needs and evolving your product or service to meet market demand. Scaling a startup requires significant financial resources and a strong business model that includes a plan for operations, sales, customer service and acquiring talent. This should also be in place before fundraising so you can clearly communicate your growth strategies to prospective investors.
What advice would you share with companies looking to get into your cohorts?
Startup Virginia is a high-growth business incubator. To join our community, all you need is a great attitude and a high-growth business idea or model, which we describe as a business or idea that leverages technology, manufacturing or, in some instances, licensing/franchising to grow exponentially and have a large geographic impact. Once in our community, we provide programming based on your stage of business and leverage our network of founders, mentors and investors to support you along your startup journey.
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