A Google for Biotech: Sci Find Launches a Tool to Connect Researchers and Funders

Keerthi Vedantam

Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

A Google for Biotech: Sci Find Launches a Tool to Connect Researchers and Funders

A former Facebook machine learning analyst is behind Sci Find's new Google-like search engine for bioscience companies. The service launches Monday, aiming to eliminate the often-tedious task researchers must face to find labs that can help them test different products or drugs.

The startup used AI to cull thousands of publicly available research abstracts from the National Institute of Health and is now gathering proprietary documents to build its free search engine. It provides results on researchers' contact information, patents and expertise.

"The scientific part of science is very innovative and groundbreaking," said Sci Find co-founder and genomics expert Guy Rohkin. "But a lot of the communication channels and the way that the information is disseminated is kind of traditional and disjointed."


"What we tried to do on our platform was use AI so that your search queries are more accurate and there's more utility than if you were to go use Google," said Stefani Robnett, former machine learning analyst at Facebook. She founded Sci Find with Rohkin in 2019.

The project was inspired by Rohkin's struggle as an outsourcing provider for a genomics company. His work there required him to sift through pages of research reports in order to find clients who specialized in an extremely obscure niche within life sciences the company was trying to make waves in.

"You have to really hit the exact thing that they want," Rohkin said. "Someone who's doing next-gen sequencing is highly, highly specialized in it, so you can only sell the products and services in that field."

Sci Find allows partners to connect and chat within the platform. That's big for biotech startups, many of which seek to outsource research tasks or large scale trials to more established companies.

Outsourcing in biopharma became increasingly common after the "blockbuster drug" era around the 2008 recession, when big companies began to offload the cost of manufacturing facilities and in-house research and development teams. It created growth among small labs and researchers who operate independently, sometimes with the help of venture capital. When those labs start developing and testing new technologies, they turn to larger companies.

According to a white paper by Provident Healthcare Partners, the majority of small biopharma companies developing drugs rely on outsourcing to develop the active ingredients.

Among its beta testers is California Nanotechnologies, a Cerritos-based lab that provides research and development and access to cryogenic services. Microbiologics, another lab specializing in antimicrobials, is also testing the product. Both hope that the new search engine will connect their lab with new customers.

Sci Find raised $800,000 in a family-and-friends pre-seed funding round in May 2020 and is now raising its seed funding.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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