LSWorks LLC

What LSWorks LLC does

LSWorks LLC is a privately held, New York-based life sciences venture builder founded in 2011 by Lee Schalop. The firm makes seed-stage investments of $100,000 to $250,000 per concept in early-stage biotech, medical device, and life science services companies, and provides hands-on management support to founding scientists throughout commercialization — including company formation, intellectual property protection, university technology licensing, fundraising, staffing, legal oversight, and commercialization planning.

The firm does not develop proprietary technology products. Its core competency is operating expertise rather than scientific research, and its value proposition centers on a relationship-driven model where the founder works directly alongside academic scientists and university tech transfer offices. Documented portfolio companies include Oncoceutics, Inc. (a clinical-stage drug discovery company developing imipridone compounds, co-founded by Schalop and sold to Chimerix, Inc. in January 2021) and ImmunoGenes AG (an antibody production company commercializing transgenic animal technology from Hungarian university professors, invested in 2014). Outreach is conducted via direct phone, segmented email addresses (scientists@, techtransfer@, [email protected]), and a basic informational website, with no digital marketing or content channels.

The business model is investment-based rather than fee-based: revenue is derived from equity stakes in portfolio companies and realized through exit events rather than recurring service pricing. The firm has 1–10 employees, is founder-owned, and reports no institutional investors, parent company, or disclosed funding rounds. Its key differentiator is the founder's unusual dual background combining a medical degree (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) with 19+ years on Wall Street at Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Banc of America Securities, including over 10 IPOs and 1,000+ research reports.

Name

LSWorks LLC

Legal name

LSWorks LLC

Website

https://lsworksllc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LSWorks LLC is a New York-based life sciences venture builder that makes $100,000–$250,000 seed investments and provides hands-on management support to university scientists and tech transfer offices commercializing novel biotech, medical device, and life science ideas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Life Sciences Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Seed-stage venture capital
• Life sciences investment
• Biotech company building
• Technology commercialization
• Startup incubation services

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Seed Capital Investments: LSWorks provides seed-stage investments of $100,000 to $250,000 to validate novel life sciences concepts. They invest either alongside angel investors and/or seed stage venture capital investors, or alone. Returns are generated through portfolio company exits.
2. Management Support Services: Provides hands-on management support to scientists including company establishment, IP protection planning, licensing negotiations, commercialization planning, fund raising, staff hiring, legal oversight, supplier/customer negotiations, marketing strategy, and business document implementation. Revenue is derived from equity stakes and exit proceeds rather than direct service fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

LSWorks LLC makes seed-stage investments of $100,000 to $250,000 in life sciences concepts and provides hands-on management support to academic scientists, helping them establish new companies, protect intellectual property, license technology from universities, and execute commercialization plans. The firm invests either alongside angel investors and seed-stage venture capital investors, or alone, and takes an active operational role including fundraising, staffing, legal oversight, and marketing strategy.

Product overview

LSWorks LLC is a life sciences venture builder that provides entrepreneurial support and seed-stage investment ($100,000 to $250,000) to scientists with transformational ideas in biotech, medical devices, and life science services. Rather than offering a traditional software product, LSWorks operates as a hands-on company builder that establishes new enterprises, develops intellectual property protection plans, licenses technology from universities, and implements commercialization strategies. The portfolio includes Oncoceutics, Inc. (a clinical-stage drug discovery company with imipridone compounds for cancer treatment) and ImmunoGenes AG (an antibody production company using transgenic animal technology).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seed-stage investment program Seed-stage investment program that deploys $100,000 to $250,000 per concept to validate novel life sciences ideas, either alone or alongside angel and seed-stage venture capital investors. Designed for university scientists and academic researchers with transformational concepts in biotech, medical devices, and life science services.
• Management support and commercialization services Hands-on management support to scientists commercializing life science ideas, covering company establishment, IP protection planning, licensing negotiations from universities, commercialization planning, fundraising, staff hiring, legal oversight, supplier/customer negotiations, marketing strategy, and business document and systems implementation. Targeted at university scientists and tech transfer offices seeking to commercialize academic inventions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successful exit of Onoceutics to Chimerix in January 2021
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Pennsylvania State UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLSWorks founder Lee Schalop negotiated exclusive rights to commercialize ONC201 from Pennsylvania State University. This licensing relationship enabled the founding of Onccioneutics and represents a key university technology transfer partnership that exemplifies LSWorks' core business model.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• RA Capital Management: RA Capital is a healthcare-focused investment firm that participates across stages of biotech and life sciences company formation. Comparable to LSWorks in active life sciences investing with deep scientific due diligence, though RA Capital operates at a materially larger scale and stage range.
• Flagship Pioneering: Flagship Pioneering is a large, established biotech platform that creates and builds life sciences companies from novel scientific concepts. Comparable in concept-creation and company-building approach to LSWorks, but operates at significantly greater scale with a much broader portfolio and institutional capital base.

Emerging players

• IndieBio: IndieBio is a biotech accelerator that provides seed capital and operational support to early-stage life sciences founders. Comparable to LSWorks in providing hands-on company-building support to life sciences entrepreneurs from inception, though with a broader accelerator-style model.

Direct peers

• Versant Ventures: Versant is a healthcare-focused venture firm with a dedicated strategy of building companies around emerging biomedical science, often in collaboration with academic founders. Operates a similar company-building model in life sciences to LSWorks, though with multiple partners and dedicated fund vehicles.
• Mission Bay Capital: Mission Bay Capital is an early-stage venture firm that supports biotech and life sciences entrepreneurs building companies from academic research. Comparable to LSWorks in its seed-stage, hands-on approach to academic life sciences commercialization in the Bay Area.
• PureTech Health: PureTech is a clinical-stage biopharma company builder that identifies, funds, and operates ventures developing novel therapeutics from academic research. Direct comparable to LSWorks' model of founding and operating life sciences companies around licensed university IP, but publicly listed and significantly larger.
• Accelerator Life Science Partners: Accelerator Life Science Partners is an early-stage life sciences investment and company-building firm focused on forming and operating biotech companies from academic science. Comparable to LSWorks in seed-stage life sciences company formation, though with institutional LP backing and dedicated fund structures.
• Atlas Venture: Atlas Venture is an early-stage life sciences venture capital firm that builds companies around academic science and partners with founders from inception. Highly comparable to LSWorks in its focus on seed/early-stage biotech company formation, though operating at materially greater fund scale.
• ARCH Venture Partners: ARCH is a long-standing early-stage venture firm that has built life sciences companies from university-licensed technology, including high-profile biotech spin-outs. Comparable to LSWorks in sourcing deals from academic research and supporting them through to clinical-stage outcomes, but at a much larger fund scale.

Regional players

• BioGenerator: BioGenerator is a St. Louis-based life sciences venture organization that creates and funds early-stage biotech companies around academic and regional research. Comparable to LSWorks in building life sciences companies from emerging science with active operational involvement, but regionally focused on the St. Louis ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lsworks-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LSWorks LLC