CoLab Haus is run by people who build, sell, and ship lab products every day. We know what it takes to succeed because we're doing it ourselves.
CoLab Haus, Inc. is a Florida nonprofit corporation organized exclusively for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes within the meaning of IRC § 501(c)(3). Our mission is to advance scientific research and education by training early-stage scientific entrepreneurs and providing them with the laboratory infrastructure, technical mentorship, and operational education they need to develop the laboratory tools, reagents, and instruments that the broader research community depends on.
Most incubators chase therapeutics because that's where venture capital flows. We serve a charitable class that the existing infrastructure leaves behind — early-stage scientific entrepreneurs building the picks and shovels of research, who lack access to the lab space, equipment, and commercial training that their work requires.
CoLab Haus does not take equity, royalties, or any contingent financial interest in the work participants build here. The non-equity policy is institutionalized in our bylaws — it is a structural feature of the organization, not a policy that can be waived. Selection is based on scientific merit, founder need, fit with our educational programming, and the public benefit of the work — never on commercial valuation or investor attractiveness.
Our charitable purposes under IRC § 501(c)(3): Scientific — advancing research through new laboratory tools available to all researchers. Educational — structured training in scientific entrepreneurship. Lessening the burdens of government — operating in a domain that public funding mechanisms have not adequately addressed.
Five reasons the biotools space is underserved — and what we're doing about it.
Thermo Fisher, Bio-Rad, Agilent control the market. Breaking in requires distribution infrastructure that startups don't have.
Too niche, too capital-light for VC return math. The fund model doesn't work for $5M exits — but those companies change science.
Existing lab space is expensive, designed for drug development, and located in the most expensive zip codes in the country.
Founders are brilliant scientists who need sales, distribution, and operational infrastructure — not just bench space.
12000 28th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33716. A 32,000 square foot purpose-built facility with easy access to Tampa Bay, USF, and the broader Florida life sciences corridor.
Florida has no state income tax, a lower cost of living than Boston or the Bay Area, and a growing biotech ecosystem. Your burn rate goes further here.