Xcellerant specializes in investing in early stage companies in life sciences, biotechnology and health care. To date, the venture fund has invested more than $9 million in early stage startups in Arizona, California and Minnesota, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.

This move represents significant progress for Arizona’s life science and biotech ecosystem. The Flinn Foundation, a long-standing supporter of the growth of Arizona’s bioscience industry through its Bioscience Roadmap, combined with the expertise in bioscience, health care and entrepreneurship will unlock new opportunities for Arizona’s economy.

“It is the next step in creating a vibrant innovation network where entrepreneurs and founders from Arizona — often nurtured by Flinn for years — can find the funding necessary to keep their companies here,” Xcellerant Ventures Managing Director Doug Sylvester said in an email to the Phoenix Business Journal.

The Flinn Foundation has been an incredible supporter of the Phoenix Bioscience Core and the institutions that call it home. In June 2022, it announced a significant investment in the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation to support CEI’s LabForce professional development center on the on the PBC. And, in April 2022, Flinn Foundation awarded a $5.5 million grant to the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix to support a number of programs, including entrepreneurship efforts in the college.

About two-thirds of the firm’s portfolio consists of Arizona-based companies with another startup likely to relocate to the state in the coming months, he added.

Xcellerant’s portfolio includes Tesis Biosciences, AdviNow Medical, Anuncia Medical Inc. and Rivia Health, all of which are based in Arizona. Rochester, Minnesota-based Nanodropper Inc. and Treatment, Technologies & Insights, of Los Angeles, round out the portfolio, the Business Journal reported.