Accelerate Long Island is a collaboration among Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Hofstra University, the North Shore, Feinstein Institute, Stony Brook University, and Long Island’s business community led by the Long Island Association, and is dedicated to commercializing research. Accelerate Long Island offers funding, mentoring, events and a network of technology-focused entrepreneurs to support the development of early-stage start-up technology companies.
Accelerate Long Island was created in 2011 to foster the development of an innovation-based economy on Long Island.
The Accelerate Long Island Seed Fund was established by a $500,000 grant from New York State Empire State Development awarded by the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council and made grants to ten portfolio companies in the biotech and energy sectors. Those grants were matched by the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF), which includes Topspin Partners and Jove Equity Partners. The Accelerate Long Island Seed Fund was designed as very early stage funding for companies that are commercializing technologies. This fund is now closed.
The Long Island BioMentor Initiative (LIBMI) was developed in an alliance with MIT’s successful Venture Mentor Service and is led by a partnership between the Center for Biotechnology and Accelerate Long Island. LIBMI brings highly qualified volunteer mentors together with motivated, early-stage bio-entrepreneurs to provide actionable guidance and support as they advance their business strategy.
Accelerate Long Island has made 6 investments. Accelerate Long Island has raised a total of $500K in a single venture fund, Accelerate Long Island Seed Fund. This fund was announced on Sep 17, 2012, and raised a total of $500K.
Long Island’s academic and research institutions make approximately $1.2 billion in annual research funding. Accelerate Long Island commercializes that research into start-up companies in three industry clusters: Information Technology, Biotech/life sciences, and Energy.
Accelerate Long Island has three broad initiatives:
- Accelerate Funding, which includes a $500,000 seed fund for early-stage companies and is matched by $750,000 from the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund.
- Accelerate Assist, which builds teams of mentors, professional services and MBA students around start-up companies.
- Accelerate Ecosystem, which works to develop Long Island’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Timeline
Debt Financing - Envisagenics, Inc.
$100K
Debt Financing - SynchroPET
$725K
Debt Financing - Green SulfCrete
$100K
Debt Financing - Goddard Labs
$100K
Seed Round - Polynova Cardiovascular
$100K
Debt Financing - Traverse Biosciences
$100K
$500K
People
BRUCE STILLMAN
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, President of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
CHARLES M. STRAIN
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, managing partner of Farrell Fritz
DAVID CALONE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CEO of Jove Equity Partners LLC
DOON GIBBS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
KEVIN S. LAW
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, President and CEO of the Long Island Association
LEO GUTHART
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Topspin Partners
Mark Lesko
Executive Director
MICHAEL DOWLING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, the health system’s president and chief executive officer (CEO)
MICHELLE BYRNE
MANAGEMENT TEAM, Finance Director for Accelerate Long Island and Chief Financial Officer for the Long Island Association
NANCY RAUCH-DOUZINAS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, founder of the Rauch Foundation
PETER DONNELLY
MANAGEMENT TEAM, Director of Technology Commercialization at Stony Brook University
ROGER SAVELL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
SAMUEL L. STANLEY, JR.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, president of Stony Brook University
Stacey Sikes
Assistant Executive Director
STEVE WINICK
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Managing Director of Topspin Partners
STUART RABINOWITZ
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, President of Hofstra University
Further reading
195 tech startups on Long Island in 2014 - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate LI Announces 14 Hottest Startups - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate LI Issues Technology Startups Report - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate LI, LIFT and LISTnet Form Alliance to Build Long Island's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate LI, LIFT, LISTnet & the NYIPLA Host Event to Highlight New Patent Laws - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate LI, LIFT, LISTnet & the NYIPLA Host Event to Highlight New Patent Laws - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and LISTnet Join Forces to Support COMETS program - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund Announce $100,000 Investment in Codagenix Inc., a Stony Brook University Biotech Startup - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund Announce $100,000 Investment in Envisagenics - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund Announce $500K in Funding for Five Biotech and Clean Energy Startups - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund Announce $500K in Funding for Five Biotech and Clean Energy Startups - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund Invest $100,000 in Symbiotic Health - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island and Topspin Partners Announce Alliance to Fund and Support Long Island Technology Startup Companies - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island Announces Three Initiatives for Start-ups - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island Board Names Mark Lesko as Executive Director - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island Hits Major Milestone of 100 Technology Startups - Accelerate Long Island
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Accelerate Long Island Launches Website, www.Accelerateli.org - Accelerate Long Island
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David Calone, Long Island Venture Capitalist, Appointed to Accelerate Long Island Board - Accelerate Long Island
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Lesko for the prosecution - Artvoice
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Long Island's 14 hottest startups named in new report - Accelerate Long Island
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Top Research Institutions, Major Business Group, and Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko Join Forces to Commercialize Innovations and Create Jobs on Long Island - Accelerate Long Island
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Documentaries, videos and podcasts
Business Leaders Celebrate the LaunchPad Huntington and eGifter Ribbon Cutting
Mar 5, 2014
Mark Lesko and Accelerate Long Island: Putting our region on the fast track
Sep 3, 2013
Mark Lesko promotes Accelerate Long Island
My LongIslandTV.com: Launchpad Huntington Opening - Accelerate Long Island
7 March 2014
The Next Generation of Business on Long Island
Jan 3, 2013
The Next Generation of Business on Long Island | Long Island Business Report
2 February 2019
The Next Generation of Business on Long Island | Long Island Business Report
2 February 2019
Turning Point with Frank MacKay - Mark Lesko, Executive Director of Accelerate Long Island
22 November 2015
Companies
DepYmed Inc.
Goddard Labs, Inc.
PolyNova CardioVascular, Inc.
Scannerside
Sulfcrete
SynchroPet
Traverse Biosciences
