Approach
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Genesis
The problem
The application of the scientific method and the transfer of its results to industrial and social use have radically transformed the possibilities of the human species in terms of health, well-being, and food production. However, we still face major challenges: climate change, population growth and its food demands, and a planet we need to care for and regenerate.
The birth of the idea
SF500 was born to support scientists and entrepreneurs who, like us, believe that human creativity and the scientific method, together with innovation and venture capital, are a path to address today's challenges.
Experience
We are inspired by the potential of the Argentine scientific system because we know it from the inside. We also know its obstacles and the challenges it faces in turning its advances into solutions and development. Drawing on the experience of our team, investors, advisors, and the founders of our portfolio startups, we work so that many more ideas become projects, and many more projects can move beyond the lab to generate greater impact.
Impact thesis
SF500's mission is to help scientists and entrepreneurs turn science into solutions for urgent global problems in human and planetary health, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In doing so, and by implementing a community-oriented strategy, we create startup ecosystems that strengthen regional innovation hubs.
Pillars of our work
Symbiotic evolucion
New global challenges call for new ways of building and investing in search of solutions. SF500 was born from a public-private initiative, and that origin shapes our vision and collaborative spirit.
Create, invest, grow
We designed a venture creation program to train the next generation of founders and prepare them for the challenges of turning a scientific project into a startup. We have an investment fund dedicated to those new companies and, in exceptional cases, to others that haven't gone through the program, so they can take their first steps. We also have a team dedicated to portfolio follow-up, supporting them through their next investment round.
Founders-first
From day one, we work hand in hand with founders. Building a startup from scratch is a difficult and unfamiliar path for most of them. It requires a shift in mindset, constant learning, and decisions that will shape the future of the company and the people on the team.
We grow as a community
Our team, founders, mentors, investors, and collaborators all know that working together is the only way to achieve what we set out to do — learning from the vision and experience of others, helping each other, and celebrating each other's wins as our own.
VC mindset
Within the shift in mindset we work on with founders, one of the biggest challenges is understanding that a startup is not a scientific project, a thesis, or a paper. Beyond generating impact, building a company requires a business vision and an understanding of how venture capital works — that is, creating a unique product that people want to pay for.
Compromiso ambiental y social
Every project SF500 invests in is evaluated according to the environmental and social criteria set out in the World Bank Enviromental and Social Framework.
Location and context
At the heart of Argentine biotech
SF500 was founded in Rosario, Santa Fe. The province is a pioneer and leader in biotechnology, and SF500 is part of this ecosystem.
Of the 340 biotech companies in Argentina, 77 are located in Santa Fe, and 49% of those are in Rosario. This city is the cradle of biotechnology in Argentina: it is where the biotechnology degree was first established at the National University of Rosario, where Dr. Raquel Chan — inventor of the HB4 technology — earned her PhD, and where Leonardo Marraffini, one of the researchers who developed CRISPR as a gene-editing technique, did his studies.
Many researchers from SF500’s portfolio startups founded their companies and built their teams in Rosario.
Future
Reaching the region's full potential
In recent years, Latin America has made significant progress in building biotech companies, but there's still a long road ahead. That's why, although we started in Argentina, we also support projects from other Latin American countries and the next wave of biotech startup founders — as long as they have distinctive science, committed teams, and a vision aligned with ours.