Premier conference by bioscience and digital health trade association opens with exclusive new CEO/Investor Reception
ONG BEACH, Calif.–Sunstone Management and the City of Long Beach’s Economic Development Department have partnered with the Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio) to kick-off its 21st Annual Conference with a CEO/Investor Reception and Dinner on September 18 at the Westin Hotel in Long Beach, CA.
SoCalBio, the trade association for the bioscience and digital health industries in the Greater Los Angeles region, presents its key annual event to showcase Southern California value-based bioscience innovations and explore efficient pathways to bring them to market through plenary sessions, business roundtables and networking workshops with over 40 companies.
This year’s conference is preceded by the CEO Reception & Dinner featuring distinguished speakers focused on Long Beach’s initiatives to grow high-tech, digital health, and the biosciences in the South Bay. Of particular note is the recent public-private partnership between Sunstone, the City, and California State University Long Beach’s Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship to develop the Long Beach Accelerator™ (LBA), which expects to welcome its first cohort of entrepreneurs in the fall of 2019.
“It is an incredible honor for Sunstone Management to participate in and sponsor the conference,” stated founding partner John Shen. “As the private partner of the Long Beach Accelerator™, Sunstone looks forward to teaming up with SoCalBio, the City of Long Beach, California State University Long Beach and other stakeholders to foster the fast growing innovative ecosystem at Long Beach.”
The Accelerator, first of its kind in the city, will prepare early stage tech-startups to successfully secure funding as well as provide valuable resources, including physical space for participating entrepreneurs to develop capacity, technical assistance with seed round funding and a network of investors to identify and finance opportunities with capacity to scale. Two new funds, the LBA Sunstone Fund I and the Seraph Long Beach I L.P. Fund, a partnership of Sunstone and leading structural angel investment firm Seraph Group, are already established to facilitate the growth of startups participating in the Accelerator as well as seed round startup projects in Long Beach.
“Consistent with the vision our Mayor and City Council described in the 10-Year Blueprint for Economic Development, public-private partnerships between the City, Sunstone, and SoCalBio nourish the entrepreneurial environment for innovative startup activity in the rapidly growing local healthcare sector,” commented Long Beach Economic Development Director John Keisler. “These types of events bring together policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs that will chart the future of our economic growth.”
SoCalBio President and CEO Ahmed Enany added: “Our association has long been dedicated to nurturing innovation and highlighting the strength and potential in our industry. We are thrilled to partner with the City and Sunstone to provide programming and support local entrepreneurs’ access to capital, potential partners and business support services for years to come.”
About Sunstone Management
Sunstone Management, with subsidiary Sunstone Venture Capital Fund, is a diversified private capital management and investment firm offering comprehensive wealth management solutions to high net worth clients worldwide, in particular U.S. new-immigrant families. Focusing on investments in U.S. based small businesses and lower middle markets, its offerings are carefully structured to meet targeted investor goals ranging from short term senior debt products to longer term, equity, growth capital, and venture capital investment strategies.
About SoCalBio
SoCalBio is a nonprofit, member-supported trade association that promotes bioscience research, development, manufacturing, job creation and overall economic growth in the Greater Los Angeles region. The Council’s programs help local firms gain access to capital, potential partners and business support services.
About the City of Long Beach
Home to approximately 470,000 people, the award-winning and innovative City of Long Beach offers all the world-class amenities of a large metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods nestled together along the California coast. As a full-service charter city, Long Beach is home to the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, several museums and theaters, a highly-rated school district, Long Beach Airport, the Port of Long Beach and more.