Preston “Cinco” Plumb says he had no thought of expanding beyond San Diego, much less the United States, seven years ago when he bought a business that buys and sells used biotech equipment. Since then, he says BioSurplus sales have grown by five times, and the company has expanded to Fremont, CA; Incheon, South Korea; and Boston.
Plumb sought outside funding for the first time this year, targeting $1.5 million to fund expansion planned for Boston. BioSurplus said in May it had raised most of that from San Diego-based KI Investment Holdings. But the company’s first round became a fast-growing target. Today BioSurplus is announcing the close of its Series A financing—raising a total of $2.4 million—with Durham, NC-based SJF Ventures accounting for much of the now-oversubscribed round.
The additional capital “doesn’t really change our strategy, but it allows us to expand faster,” Plumb tells me. “In Boston, we’re months ahead of where we would be if we’d just tried to grow organically.”
As a result, BioSurplus is seeking to fill five new positions in Boston, and is laying plans for its first Boston auction of pre-owned lab equipment next month. Part of the extra funding also could be used to expand further in the Bay Area, Plumb says. “The plan from here would be to continue to expand further. It could be other parts of the country, or internationally.”
Shops that buy and sell pre-owned specialized equipment and laboratory instruments tend to be mom-and-pop businesses, and Plumb says that’s the way it was when he acquired the company. BioSurplus began adding high-quality employees with deep scientific expertise, and Plumb says the company has
