Since launching in 2007, Scientist.com has raised more than $33m. The company operates private enterprise marketplaces for pharmaceutical companies, VWR, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Now, the San Diego-based e-commerce marketplace is opening an office at the Nihonbashi Life Sciences building in Tokyo, Japan, joining the University of California, San Diego and others, including large pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations (CROs), small biotechnology companies, life science distributors, and international trade offices.
Dan Kagan, PhD, COO of Scientist.com, said the location is an ideal place for the company to “connect with thought leaders and entrepreneurs and better understand how to expand within the Japanese market.”
Scientist.com has partnered recently with several large pharmaceutical companies with research campuses in Japan, he told us.
"Our goal is to hire 2-3 people next year and 10-20 additional account managers, supplier relations specialists, and experienced business development individuals in the next 5 years who will help Japan-based researchers meet their sourcing needs," he said. “We plan to open satellite offices in several Japanese cities.”
Earlier this year Scientist.com was ranked ninth on the Inc. 5000 list of fasting-growing privately owned companies in the US. It also one of twenty San Diego companies awarded a $10,000 grant as part of WTC San Diego’s MetroConnect program.