RAMP Business Accelerator Anchor Tenant Opportunity Available

The RAMP business accelerator is offering an exclusive ground-?oor opportunity to any established, stable company looking for space within a vibrant, entrepreneurial atmosphere.
More than just of?ce space, the Gill Memorial Building will be the home of RAMP: The Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Accelerator, which will offer mentoring opportunities, connections to investor funding, networking and education. The goal of RAMP is to accelerate the success of high potential companies, and keep them in the Roanoke-Blacksburg Region.

Benefits and features:

  • 1904 Usable and 2377 Rentable Square Feet.
  • Outstanding and visible downtown location.
  • First ?oor convenience.
  • First ?oor of?ces can be secured from common areas.
  • Monthly and hourly parking is available in the lot at Jefferson and Elm and other nearby lots.
  • Open ?oor plan – can be adapted to tenant’s needs.
  • Networking Opportunities with Successful Technology Entrepreneurs.
  • Education, Networking and Funding contacts.
  • Access to high-speed low latency Broadband network (up to 100 Gbps available).
  • Be a part of the region’s growing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
  • Access to programming of RBTC (Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council) and VWCC’s Workforce Solutions Division.

Interested in learning more? Download the flyer here and see property details and pricing: here.

TechLab Acquired by Private Equity Firm with Plans to Grow

TechLab, a medical device company founded by a group of Virginia Tech researchers in 1989, has been acquired by a private equity firm with plans to keep growing the Blacksburg-based business.

Co-founders Tracy Wilkins and David Lyerly previously sold 49 percent of the company to publicly-traded Alere in 2006.

On Monday, Texas-based Pharos Capital Group announced it bought Alere’s portion as well as an undisclosed percentage from the founders — enough to claim majority ownership.

No one would comment on the terms of the deal Tuesday, but SEC records show Alere estimated as recently as December 2015 that its 49 percent stake was worth about $13.3 million, up from the $8.8 it paid 10 years earlier.

But Wilkins said Tuesday — as he has several times over the years — it’s not about the money.

TechLab, which creates rapid tests for intestinal diseases, previously agreed to acquisition terms with a different buyer last year.

But Wilkins said he and Lyerly walked away at the last moment when they learned the unnamed buyer planned to move jobs from the region where all of the 130-person company’s research and manufacturing operations have been based for more than two decades.

A handful of TechLab employees told The Roanoke Times on Tuesday that they remember the would-be buyer coming in for a final walkthrough one day last summer. The next morning, they were told the founders canceled the sale and postponed their own windfall until they could find a buyer with intentions to keep everyone else on board…

 

Read More at Roanoke.com