Science Exchange, a marketplace for outsourced R&D, has announced a strategic partnership with Y Combinator (YC). YC-backed companies will now have exclusive access to the Science Exchange-powered YC marketplace, where they can instantly order experimental services from a network of over 2,500 qualified scientific service providers, all with pre-established contracts that protect companies’ IP and confidentiality.

YC, best known for its investments in tech giants including Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe, began investing in life sciences companies in 2014 as the need and opportunity to fund early stage companies in this space became increasingly apparent. The Science Exchange partnership addresses the unique needs of these R&D-focused companies, enabling them to compete on an equal footing with Science Exchange’s established global pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients by readily accessing the expertise and infrastructure housed in the Science Exchange network of service providers.

The Science Exchange marketplace will help YC companies:

1. Expand access to qualified service providers. Life science and biotech entrepreneurs must balance the need to access new, innovative service providers with the time-consuming process required to vet each potential service provider for quality and capability. Science Exchange streamlines this process with a network of over 2,500 service providers that have been pre-qualified through a stringent, ISO 9001-certified evaluation process that includes metrics tied to performance on past projects. Science Exchange additionally supports researchers with an expert Sourcing Team that can recommend the best service providers for each scope of work, further minimizing the risks inherent in outsourcing.
2. Eliminate administrative overhead. Each service provider relationship typically requires a standalone contract that may take months to negotiate and implement. Under the partnership, all service providers on the YC-Science Exchange network are available under a single contract that protects IP and confidentiality. Science Exchange also eliminates the need for YC-funded companies to conduct costly and time-consuming regulatory audits of service providers. Science Exchange's in-house audit team conducts on-site inspections of service providers and facilities to ensure regulatory compliance, ensuring that contracted service providers possess necessary certifications, licenses, informed consent of subjects, and data security.
3. Save money. The Science Exchange-powered YC marketplace enables companies to quickly identify cost-competitive options and provides access to special offers exclusive to YC-funded companies.

YC is the latest organization to choose to partner with Science Exchange, and joins over 30 enterprise clients using Science Exchange-powered marketplaces to manage their outsourced R&D.

“In the last decade, the landscape for biotech firms has changed dramatically,” said Michael Seibel, CEO of Y Combinator. “Bringing a drug to market, which once took millions of dollars and several years of work because of infrastructure costs involved in building a lab, can now happen in a fraction of the time and funding required because of the ability to outsource R&D. YC invested in Science Exchange years ago because we saw the promise of what they were doing to help companies innovate faster, get important products to market quickly, and reduce the friction inherent in starting a business. Now we are excited to offer these benefits to our companies who have brilliant ideas and are meeting urgent market demands, but need the administrative and cost barriers removed so they can focus on their innovations.”

"The Science Exchange platform solves the challenge of R&D outsourcing: we provide scientists with efficient access to a network of highly qualified service providers," said Dr. Elizabeth Iorns, founder & CEO of Science Exchange. “We believe, like Y Combinator, that key to advancing groundbreaking research is eliminating the barriers to innovation, and we are thrilled to help YC-funded companies bring potentially life-saving products to market faster.”