Atlanta BioTech and life science startups have historically been at a disadvantage. Unlike Boston, San Francisco, and the DC area, Atlanta has lacked both significant lab space and capital opportunities to ensure that up-and-coming ventures can grow and scale in town.
Portal Innovations is ready to change that. This month, the Chicago-based venture capital firm officially opened 33,000 square feet of space to accommodate biotech and medtech startups inside the new Science Square complex.
On top of the lab space, Portal just announced it is deploying its first bit of capital into the Atlanta startup ecosystem.
Behind The First Investment
Portal’s first Atlanta-based investment is into Moonlight Therapeutics.
The biotech startup, in its preclinical stage, is developing new treatments for patients with food allergies. Its first therapy, MOON101, is designed to treat peanut allergies using a proprietary skin stamp that allows for a more efficient drug delivery.
Portal co-led the Series A investment round in which Moonlight raised over $5 million to evaluate MOON101 in its first clinical trial in peanut allergic individuals. Additional investors include Allerfund and Invest Georgia. This funding is in addition to the over $3 million Moonlight raised last year through a clinical trial grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The startup is personal for the startup’s co-founders, who are all parents. While none of their kids are personally affected by peanut allergies, they “heard stories from friends and parents of classmates of the challenges and burdens associated with food allergies,” Patel added.
“Unlike seasonal or respiratory allergies, there is a real risk of a fatal reaction if you have a food allergy. The last thing we want to hear about is a child dying from a completely preventable allergic reaction,” Patel said. “Despite this huge unmet medical need, when we started the company, there were no FDA approved treatments for food allergies. Speaking to allergists and families, I learned that those who were allergic to peanut allergies usually had the hardest time managing them and were most likely to experience an anaphylactic reaction that would send them to the emergency room.”
Patel and the Moonlight team first connected with the Portal team in 2023 at a conference in New York. The startup now has three full-time employees, all based in Atlanta.
What Portal Means For Atlanta
Science Square, the complex where Portal Innovations built its physical office and lab space, is a mixed-use life sciences district near Georgia Tech’s campus. The space is designed to be a collaborative environment, akin to an “ATDC with lab components,” the Portal Innovations explained to Hypepotamus during a recent tour of its facility.
Portal Innovations will bring much-needed lab space to the Atlanta technology ecosystem. But it could also help expand Atlanta’s biotech presence. The Portal team said that their Atlanta lab space is receiving inbound interest from Boston, New York, North Carolina’s Research Triangle, and California due to Atlanta’s lower cost to scale a startup.
Portal has conference rooms, a shared dry lab area, and wet labs for companies working on the research and development of their products.
The Portal space is intentionally welcoming in its design. Its floor-to-ceiling windows and views of the Atlanta skyline is far from most lab space which is relegated to basements or old university buildings. That design is something that Portal’s Director of Platform and Ecosystem Suna Lumeh said helps move life sciences away from being an “abstract” idea and into one that is fully integrated with the Atlanta tech ecosystem.
Portal will host its grand opening celebration of September 24 and plans on hosting monthly events to bring the community together at its space.
