A year after receiving their first certification from the Association of Analytical Communities International (AOAC),
Invisible Sentinel -- the "garage" biotech startup -- is growing fast. They’re pulling in enough revenue to break-even on initial investment (over $7 million) by 2014. The company is graduating from the
University City Science Center's Port Business Incubator and will remain on the Science Center campus.
Invisible Sentinel makes disposable, rapid diagnostic tools that test for food contaminants such as Salmonella, Listeria and Campylobacter.
Veriflow, the company's patented technology, cuts down on both time and human error, making testing easier, cheaper and more reliable. Invisible Sentinel has a broad client base -- so far their products have been popular among dairy farms, peanut butter factories, meat manufacturers and third party labs that use their technology to conduct outsourced testing for large processors.
"Everybody who makes and produces food is our customer base," says Ben Pascal, cofounder and CBO. "It's really countrywide."
That means the company has a lot of work to do. They're currently outfitting and staffing an in-house manufacturing center complete with a robotics system. Open positions include manufacturing technician, quality director, production manager, financial and accounting services, sales and scientist. They will continue to raise capital for this phase.
"It's all expansion capital," says Pascal. "A lot of the risk associated with research and development is gone. Our challenge now is scaling to be able to meet demand."
Invisible Sentinel -- currently an 18-person team -- will remain in Philly thanks to low-interest government financing and flexible accommodations from the Science Center. They've received FDA approval on two products and expect approval for two more in the near future. The company recently
released a video demonstrating how their devices work.
Source: Ben Pascal, Invisible Sentinel
Writer: Dana Henry