North Texas's rapidly growing life science ecosystem, anchored by Pegasus Park
North Texas’s life science hub provides an inspiring model for how to build a community that thrives in healthcare and biotechnology innovation. In a presentation at Invest Digital Health, Dr. David Snow, Executive Director of Pegasus Park, outlined how the Pegasus Park campus has grown and was driven by the vision of Lyda Hill and supported by a broad network of partners at Dallas-Worth Value.
“Lyda Hill is passionate about two things,” Snow said. “Growing life science companies and building a social impact hub that maintains talent, capital and innovation in North Texas.”
One of the reasons innovation hubs is crucial is that their intentional design encourages creativity, collaboration and exchange of ideas among people in terms of shared or similar goals. Their residents provide a wealth of talent to researchers, students and tutors on demand. This can take years to make a profit, so sharing lab space is critical to lower burn rates. The close proximity between these startups, partners of partners, inevitably leads to partnerships and M&A deals as venture capitalists, angel investors and seed funders are attracted to these hubs of talent and potential. The reputation of academic institutions, investors and researchers involved in life science startups adds credibility to these hubs.
Location is crucial to any innovation center. Pegasus Park is strategically located in the heart of Dallas’s rapidly growing innovation zone, adjacent to the Southwest Medical District. UT Southwest Medical Center, Parkland Health, Child Health and more. The campus is less than 4 miles from Love Field Airport and less than 15 miles from DFW International Airport. Close proximity to resources, talent and network opportunities provides key advantages to reduce risks and accelerate growth.
The 26-acre Pegasus Park campus has some components. The tower at Pegasus Park features accelerators and investors, healthcare and higher education offices, life science companies and social impact organizations. Health Passage and Volkswagen Challenge are two accelerators, and they call Pegasus Park home. Each of them cultivates a network of investors and mentors who mentor the healthcare and life sciences entrepreneurial cohort and alumni.
Biolabs Pegasus Park is a university- and institution-sensible incubator that provides a fair game for life science innovation. The incubator opened in 2022 and fills its shared workspace availability, four years ahead of schedule. Biolabs owns over 20 life science startups that have access to conference rooms, groupings and shared private wet lab spaces. Startup members can also use facilities and equipment worth more than $5 million. For example, Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of its largest partners, offers state-of-the-art equipment, including thermal circulators and flow cytometry. PHC Corporation offers discounted refrigeration and incubation equipment. Millipore sponsors, installs and continues to maintain the water system, while the Element Machine provides a cold-temperature incubator monitor.
One of the challenges of Innovation Center is how to convince startups to stay as they are when they stay in the incubator. In 2024, Pegasus Park opened Bridgelabs, a space for growth stage life sciences companies. Bridgelabs, which includes 135,000 square feet of dedicated R&D space, is the first institutional quality laboratory space in the region. It includes four kits involving 4,592-6,335 square feet – three kits currently are occupied. Bridgelabs also provides shell space for custom builds, maximizing the impact and efficiency of each tenant space.
Snow notes that the region has more than 70 higher education institutions and graduate retention is 72%.
“The startups here are more likely to survive, they are more likely to expand, and they are more likely to exit [successful liquidation event],” Snow said.
The University is not only among residents of the Pegasus Park campus, but also provides resources for research and talent. Bridgelab Residents in Arlington, Texas, partnered with Texas A&M University to open the National Therapeutic Satellite Campus Center at Pegasus Park, the Center for Biomanufacturing. The Southern Methodist Institute of Computer Science Institute of Biosciences promotes collaboration among researchers in the biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, engineering, education and biotechnology R&D operations, with offices on the Pegasus Park campus. There is also a place with life science-centric federal agencies, such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-H), a $2.5 billion federal initiative aimed at speeding breakthroughs in diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. The ARPA-H Customer Experience Center found a home in Pegasus Park in 2023.
North Texas has a strong life science ecosystem. Snow notes that there are eight major health systems and seven national health care organizations have their headquarters in Dallas. It is also the third highest concentration of home offices in the country. Over the past five years, there have been more than 50 life science companies’ mergers and acquisitions, and recently recently conducted Reata Pharmaceuticals in 2023. This UT Southwestern Spinout is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that aims to get FDA approval for Skyclarys, a drug designed to treat rare neuromusclerosis Friedreich Ataxia. Biogen's acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals is as high as $7.3 billion.
“When you invest in companies at Pegasus Park and North Dexas, you support not only the founder of an idea, but also an environment that reduces risk and expands the possibility of higher returns. This means shorter markets, faster growth trajectories, growth trajectories and better wins,” Snow said. “I believe Pegasus Park is the primary convening space for life science hubs in North Texas. Here, early-stage businesses have the highest chance of success and your capital can have the greatest impact. So my invitation to you is simple; investing in innovation. Investing in a life of innovation. Lower investment risks, lower firm shrinking and higher returns, and high return rates.”
photo: Nick Fenton, breaking the media
