If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Arboretum Ventures in Ann Arbor, MI, is once again teaming up with serial CEO Jeff Williams to try to spin a University of Michigan-bred company into investor gold.
This time Williams will lead Life Magnetics, a startup developing a desktop diagnostic device that uses disposable cartridges to rapidly test bacterial infections. The device will determine how bacteria responds to antibiotics within eight hours of sample collection, the company says.
Life Magnetics was the first tenant to occupy the university’s new Venture Accelerator, a former Pfizer research and development center located at the school’s North Campus Research Complex.
The team of Arboretum Ventures and Williams has proven to be a winning combination twice before. Becton, Dickinson & Co. recently paid $480 million to acquire Accuri Cytometers and HandyLabs, two Arboretum-funded startups guided by Williams.
Williams was previously CEO of Genomic Solutions, a life science products company in Ann Arbor he co-founded in 1997. The company ultimately went public in 2000 and eventually merged with Harvard Biosciences two years later.
Life Magnetics also named Sundu Brahmasandra its president. Brahmasandra was a co-founder and vice president of product development at HandyLabs.
“With the addition of Jeff and Sundu, we believe we’ve assembled the finest management team possible to lead Life Magnetics,” Arboretum Ventures managing partner Jan Garfinkle said in a statement. “The successful…experience and knowledge both of these leaders bring to the company will help ensure the profitable commercialization of the company’s proprietary technology.”
And if history serves as any guide, we just might be looking at another BD acquisition on the near horizon.
