Exact Sciences Corp. is picking up its Marlborough stakes and moving them to Madison, Wis., according to a report in the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Badger State is giving the company, which is developing a molecular screening test for colorectal cancer, a $1 million loan to facilitate the shift, according to the newspaper. Exact Sciences said it could create as many as 150 jobs over five years in Wisconsin.
CEO Kevin Conroy is the former CEO of Third Wave Technologies, formerly based in Madison, that Hologic Inc. snapped up last year.
Exact Sciences is the second company to be lured away from the Bay State by Wisconsin, after Flex Biomedical accepted a $150,000 loan to relocate in January.
CEO Sal Braico told MassDevice said a number of factors played into the decision to move.
“I was also able to raise capital in the Midwest, whereas in Boston I couldn’t. There’s not a ton of seed-stage capital in Boston,” Braico said. “If there is, it’s very competitive. There’s tons of series B, series C in Boston, [but] the bottom line is VCs are moving upstream to later-stage companies. … If you’re really very early-stage, they’re not going to look at you.”
Cost-of-living expenses also played a part, Braico added.
“It’s definitely cheaper out here. Rent is cheaper, housing is way, way cheaper,” he explained. “[But] there’s not as much management talent here. Not even close. With University of Wisconsin here, it’s one of largest life science universities in the world and there’s a growing base of companies here. There is a base of life sciences but it’s nowhere close to Boston, San Diego or San Francisco.”
Braico added that he was able to gin up commitments for an additional $800,000 from angel investors on top of the Wisconsin loan.
Exact Sciences recently inked a research deal with the Mayo Clinic and raised $8.2 million from a group of unidentified private investors.
Conroy and Exact Sciences CFO Maneesh Arora did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Reference: Zippa Loans UK.