What Connect Labs does

Connect Labs by Wexford is a flexible, scale-in-place lab and innovation infrastructure platform operated by Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, a U.S. real estate developer specializing in university-anchored Knowledge Communities. Founded in January 2023, Connect Labs provides pre-built, furnished wet and dry laboratory space, shared core equipment (over $1.2M in capital including flow cytometers, imaging systems, -80C freezers, and biosafety cabinets per major site), private offices, dedicated desks, programming, and member services to emerging and growth-stage companies in life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices, engineering, technology, and data sciences. Pricing is structured as recurring monthly subscriptions ranging from $500 (dedicated desk) to $6,000+ per month (lab space of 450-5,600 SF), with terms spanning month-to-month flexibility to 6-24 month license agreements.

The business operates four physical sites totaling approximately 149,500 SF: Phoenix (34,500 SF at the Phoenix Bioscience Core, opened January 2023, 87% leased with 23 companies as of late 2024), Baltimore (35,000 SF at University of Maryland BioPark, opened December 2024, operated in partnership with CIC), Sacramento (50,000+ SF at Aggie Square with UC Davis, opened May 2025), and Charlotte (30,000 SF at The Pearl innovation district with Advocate Health, opened late 2025). Each site embeds complementary partners (AZBio, Maryland Tech Council, gBETA Charlotte Health, XLR8 PBC Investor Corner, Thermo Fisher Scientific, FLANN Inc. for Korean soft-landing cohorts) to create multi-sided ecosystems linking tenants, investors, accelerators, and trade associations.

Connect Labs' go-to-market is community- and ecosystem-led rather than transactional. Tenant acquisition flows through university and academic medical center partnerships (Wexford's Knowledge Communities network), accelerator cohorts (gBETA Charlotte Health), innovation programming (400+ events at Aggie Square, 13,500+ visitors), and direct leasing by Wexford and CIC teams. Customers are a long-tail mix of university spinouts, pre-seed and Series A startups, mid-market clinical-stage companies, and a small number of global enterprises (PENTAX Medical, MindMaze Therapeutics). Revenue mechanics are diversified monthly subscriptions with ancillary managed services, and concentration risk is low given the 20+ named tenants across four sites.

Name

Connect Labs

Legal name

Wexford Science & Technology, LLC

Website

https://wexfordconnectlabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Connect Labs by Wexford operates four pre-built, furnished lab and innovation infrastructure sites (~149,500 SF) inside U.S. university-anchored districts, offering flexible monthly subscriptions on shared equipment and offices to life science, biotech, medical device, and technology startups and growth companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Life Science Lab Infrastructure

NAICS

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (54171)

SIC

Laboratory Apparatus & Furniture (3821)

akta.pro primary industry

Makerspace, Innovation Lab & Fab Lab Operations (Tools, Safety, Programming) (EDAEAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Science & STEM Lab Equipment & Supplies (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Makerspaces) (EDAEAIAC)

Keywords

• Flexible lab space
• Life science facilities
• Innovation infrastructure
• Wet lab rentals
• Scale-in-place labs

Headquarters

HQ city

Baltimore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Flexible Lab and Office Space Memberships: Monthly membership fees for turnkey lab, support, and office space. Labs, dedicated desks, and private offices available at various price points. Terms range from month-to-month flexibility to 6-24 month license agreements. Revenue is recurring based on space occupied.
2. Member Services and Amenities: Additional revenue from member discounts on lab equipment, consumables, preferred vendor services, and access to programming and networking events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Connect Labs by Wexford provides flexible, scale-in-place lab and office infrastructure for emerging and growth-stage companies in life sciences, biotech, medical devices, clean tech, bioengineering, and data sciences. Members gain access to pre-built, fully furnished wet and dry lab space, shared Core Lab Equipment (e.g., $1.2M+ portfolio at Sacramento), office suites, dedicated desks, and curated programming under month-to-month or 6-24 month license terms. The offering is delivered across four university-anchored innovation districts in Phoenix, Baltimore, Sacramento, and Charlotte.

Product overview

Connect Labs by Wexford is a unified platform of flexible lab and innovation infrastructure offerings, not a software product. It operates as four distinct location-based products (Connect Labs Phoenix, Baltimore, Sacramento, and Charlotte) within Wexford's Knowledge Communities. Each location provides pre-built and furnished lab, support, and office spaces along with shared Core Lab Equipment and member amenities. The core product is the physical lab/office infrastructure supplemented by shared equipment access, programming/events, and community networking opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Connect Labs Phoenix Lab and innovation community at 850 PBC in the Phoenix Bioscience Core, offering 250-4,000 SF lab spaces for biodesign, medical device, drug development, clean tech, and bioengineering. Labs start at $3,000/month, dedicated desks at $500/month, and private offices at $1,000/month.
• Connect Labs Baltimore Lab and innovation space at 4MLK within the University of Maryland BioPark, offering lab bench sizes from single to X-Large private labs, plus hoteling desks and private office suites. Operated in partnership with CIC with 6-24 month license agreements and complimentary Maryland Tech Council membership.
• Connect Labs Sacramento 50,000+ SF facility at Aggie Square featuring pre-built and furnished lab, support, and office space for emerging and growth companies in life sciences, biomedical engineering, technology, and data sciences. Lab sizes 450-5,600 SF starting at $6,000/month; dedicated desks at $850/month; private offices at $1,300/month. Includes over $1.2M in shared Core Lab Equipment.
• Connect Labs Charlotte 30,000 SF facility at The Pearl Innovation District offering wet and dry lab spaces (300-2,500 SF), private offices, and open areas with dedicated desks for emerging companies in medical devices, biomedical engineering, life sciences, AI, and data science. Labs start at $4,000/month, dedicated desks at $550/month, and private offices at $2,500/month.

Quantifiable outcome

• Phoenix location reached 87% leased capacity with 23 companies within 24 months of opening
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Arizona International Soft Landing Experience (AISLE)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 17 June 2026AISLE, a soft-landing program for international companies seeking U.S. expansion, expanded from Scottsdale to Phoenix Bioscience Core at Connect Labs. Led by ASU and GPEC, AISLE provides office and lab space, networking, and business resources to international medtech and bioscience companies.
• gBETA Charlotte Health / gener8torflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 January 2026gBETA Charlotte Health, a health innovation-focused pre-accelerator operated by gener8tor and funded by the City of Charlotte and Advocate Health, is hosted at Connect Labs Charlotte. The seven-week no-equity program supports early-stage healthcare and digital health startups.
• FLANN Inc.flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 May 2025South Korean firm supporting Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies expanding into the U.S. partnered with UC Davis and Wexford to launch a soft landing program at Aggie Square within Connect Labs, designed to support cohorts of up to 10 early-stage South Korean life science companies.
• HM Venture PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 May 2025Healthcare venture capital firm working with high growth biotech and medtech companies globally. Acting as advisory partner to the Investing in the Future of Medicine Fund led by UC Davis Health Ventures, supported by Greater Sacramento Economic Council.
• The March GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 May 2025Davis-based venture capital firm partnered with UC Davis to develop a business accelerator and associated fund based on intellectual property coming from UC Davis, located at Aggie Square.
• XLR8 PBCflagshipGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 January 2025Partnership to launch Investor Corner within Connect Labs Phoenix - a dedicated space for investors to connect with innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers in Arizona's bioscience ecosystem. In partnership with XLR8 PBC, Investor Corner provides a strategic platform for meaningful connections that fuel growth and investment.
• Maryland Tech CouncilminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 December 2024Connect Labs Baltimore offers complimentary membership to the Maryland Tech Council, providing tenants access to the technology community network, benefits, and resources.
• City of CharlotteflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 November 2024City of Charlotte partnered with Advocate Health to launch gBETA Charlotte Health pre-accelerator program, hosted at The Pearl/Connect Labs Charlotte. Program provides mentorship, capital, and resources to health innovation startups.
• Advocate HealthflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 November 2024Advocate Health partnered with the City of Charlotte and Wexford to create The Pearl innovation district and host gBETA Charlotte Health at Connect Labs Charlotte. The Pearl is a $1.5B innovation district bringing together medical education, research, and technology.
• Thermo Fisher ScientificcoreTechnology or Integration · 6 November 2024Equipment and training partnership providing Connect Labs members access to core lab equipment and training. Thermo Fisher team provides training on equipment such as flow cytometry, enabling tenant companies to immediately generate high-quality data.
• CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 April 2024CIC selected to operate Connect Labs Baltimore, bringing 25 years of experience building and operating innovation campuses featuring shared workspaces, laboratories, event spaces and programming. CIC excels at creating environments where startups, researchers, and industry experts can collaborate, innovate, and accelerate groundbreaking ideas.
• Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio)coreGTM or Marketing Partner · 3 March 2024AZBio opened an office within Connect Labs Phoenix, expanding its presence in the Phoenix Bioscience Core. AZBio provides critical resources and advocacy for life science companies, with its office making it easier for innovators to access AZBio resources and programs.
• Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 January 2023CEI partnered with Wexford to operate Connect Labs Phoenix. CEI's existing lab incubator and Market Validation Lab and LabForce bioscience training programs complement Connect Labs, providing exceptional education programming within the Phoenix innovation ecosystem.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• JLABS (Johnson & Johnson Innovation): Johnson & Johnson-operated network of life science incubators offering modular lab and office space, shared equipment, and programming to healthcare and biotech startups globally. Strongly comparable to Connect Labs as both provide turnkey lab infrastructure and innovation programming at the startup stage.
• BioLabs: Co-working laboratory network with multiple sites across U.S. biotech hubs (Boston, San Diego, NY, Philadelphia, Research Triangle, etc.) offering pre-built wet lab suites and shared equipment to early-stage life science companies. Directly comparable because both operate multi-site shared-lab platforms serving startup biotech.
• MBC BioLabs: San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego operator of shared lab suites specifically designed for early-stage biotech startups, with shared equipment and scale-in-place terms. Direct overlap on flexible lab suites, equipment-sharing, and startup biotech customer base.
• Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC): Large-scale shared workspace and lab operator with multiple global locations. Both partner (CIC operates Connect Labs Baltimore) and competes with Connect Labs by offering turnkey lab/office suites to life science and tech startups in overlapping ecosystems.
• Alexandria LaunchLabs: Alexandria Real Estate Equities' startup-focused lab and office platform located within their innovation campuses (NYC, Cambridge, Research Triangle, etc.). Most directly comparable because it is a fully built-out lab coworking offering embedded inside larger life-science real estate ecosystems.
• LabCentral: Operator of premier shared laboratory and coworking facilities for early-stage biotech startups (Cambridge, MA and surrounding hubs). Same target customer (emerging life science companies) and same flexible, pre-built lab suite business model as Connect Labs, making it the closest operational comparable.

Broad incumbents

• Alexandria Real Estate Equities: The largest publicly traded REIT specializing in life science real estate, including the LaunchLabs startup-lab platform. Comparable as the dominant incumbent in the same physical asset class (innovation-district real estate for life sciences), providing both capital scale and a competing startup-lab product line.

Others

• Workhouse / Industrious: Premium flexible office/coworking providers that have expanded into innovation and lab-adjacent suites. Relevant as broader flexible workspace operators that may expand into specialized life science suites, but currently not focused on wet lab infrastructure.

Emerging players

• The Engine (MIT): MIT-affiliated Tough Tech incubator providing lab and prototyping space plus venture funding for science and engineering startups. Comparable in providing lab infrastructure plus programming/capital to emerging science startups, though more funding-focused and tighter geographic focus.
• Petri (Accelerator): Boston-based biotech accelerator supporting early-stage life science founders with lab access, mentorship, and capital. Overlaps with Connect Labs on serving emerging biotech startups and providing lab access, though primarily accelerator rather than real-estate operator.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/connect-labs-by-wexford

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

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 Connect Labs