Orange Grove Bio, a venture capital firm that invests mainly in therapeutic drug companies, is moving its headquarters from the New York City area to the 1819 Innovation Hub building on Reading Road near the University of Cincinnati.
Orange Grove will also partner with UC to help cultivate "the increasingly robust Cincinnati biotech landscape,'' according to a press release from the company.
Orange Grove is the second firm in the past two weeks to announce a move to Cincinnati's so-called "innovation district,'' which is anchored by the 1819 building.
The new building will be erected at 121 E. McMillan as part of the innovation district's ongoing infrastructure expansion.
Orange Grove, which has already begun moving a handful of employees into its new headquarters, chose Cincinnati for several reasons, including proximity to other research hubs in the Midwest, the cost of living and quality of life in the area, according to Ryan Fox, Orange Grove's chief business operations officer.
"Geographically speaking, Cincinnati really is the heart of the Midwest,'' Fox said, noting that the Midwest is home to more than a dozen major research universities, including UC.
"There's a lot of potential in Cincinnati, and it's important for us to be here because once you become geographically inconvenient, you kind of get left behind,'' he said.
In addition, Fox said, Cincinnati boasts a lower cost of living than tech hubs on the East or West coasts, while offering a vibrant social network and hotspots, such as Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
As a result, it's easier to recruit top talent being located where people want to live.
Orange Grove plans to start with six to eight employees in Cincinnati but anticipates hiring as many as 30 to 50 employees over the next several years, Fox said.
"The post-COVID world has opened people's eyes,'' Fox said. "Now they're saying maybe I don't have to live in a super high-cost environment like New York.''
Source link
