BioLeap Gen.2 is Thriving: Celebrating Milestones and Looking Ahead
We’re officially one month into BioLeap Gen.2, and things are moving fast! As we celebrate the first milestones of this incredible cohort, we’re also gearing up for more exciting initiatives in the weeks ahead.
This year, BioLeap, a program of parallel18, welcomed 13 Puerto Rican startups to its second edition. This cohort of entrepreneurs receive structured business development support to help them launch prototypes, develop patentable technologies, and position their bioscience innovations for commercialization in global markets.
Our Gen.2 startups are tackling challenges across a variety of industries, including four medical devices, three diagnostics, one therapeutic tool, three digital health platforms, a Big Data and A.I. platform and an environmental platform. The cohort includes: Ama Earth Group, Baby Abrazo, Consusis Inc., Diversia Health, Equiply.io, Omiquity Health, Prisma Diagnostics, Nura Health, MedETechni,, T-CAN, iHnnova, ReleaseBio, and Yagüez Diagnostics.
One of the things we love most about BioLeap is the opportunity to collaborate with partners who share our vision for advancing life sciences and STEM innovation. That’s exactly what our alliance with Empire State Development and IndieBio NY — a deep tech startup program of SOSV, one of the U.S. top biotech venture capital firms — aims to do.
This partnership -born out of the 2023 agreement between the governments of New York and Puerto Rico- connects Puerto Rico’s growing biotech and STEM startup ecosystem with New York’s innovation network. This initiative helps accelerate life science research and commercialization between both regions.
It also builds on last year’s designation of PRBio Tech Hub, part of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust (PRSTRT), as one of 31 federally recognized Tech Hubs in the U.S.
As part of this collaboration, IndieBio recently led a two-day bootcamp for BioLeap Gen.2 participants and alumni. This gave startups direct access to key players in New York’s Life Sciences scene, covering topics like:
- From Lab to Layperson: Communicating Science with Clarity
- Inside Venture Capital: Understanding Investor Expectations
- Proving Your Value Proposition: Achieving Product-Market Fit
“We’re excited to lead this initiative for New York ESD and our partners in NYC,” said Sean O’Sullivan, Managing General Partner of SOSV/IndieBio/HAX. “As global investors, we know the importance of finding the best science and scientists, wherever they may be. Puerto Rico has incredible potential, and we’re eager to see this partnership thrive.”
What’s Next?
Over the course of the upcoming weeks of the program, #BioLeapers will continue to dive into a curriculum designed to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercialization. After this initial phase, they’ll enter a 14-week technical assistance period, where they receive ongoing support in fundraising, operations, grant writing, and more.
As we continue to support the Life Sciences ecosystem in Puerto Rico, the development of a new laboratory space to help startups conduct experimental research is on its way. While that’s in the works, BioLeap participants have access to lab facilities through our parent organization, the PRSTRT, to push their innovations forward.
On the other side, the next phase of the New York-Puerto Rico Life Science Exchange will involve a visit into New York’s ecosystem. In Q3 of 2025, a delegation of PRSTRT including members of parallel18 and BioLeap teams and Puerto Rican startups will travel to New York to engage with key stakeholders and strengthen collaborations between the two jurisdictions.
More details are coming soon, so make sure to stay tuned for more updates, and don’t forget to follow BioLeap on LinkedIn and parallel18’s channels to keep up with the latest news!
