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Biologistics tech, corporate innovation, AgeTech Connect, šŖs and more.
Healthcare through a Kentucky lens. Yeah, it's niche. But neat!
Andrew Steen
June 02, 2026
š£ļøā
Biologistics tech
āEmber LifeSciences, Inc., a leading provider of revolutionary cold chain technology, today announced strategic investments from Amgen Venturesā¦ā
Weāve discussed biologistics in Louisville before. Bioscience-related distribution. Itās a thing here. But, how come we havenāt seen many (if any) startups like Ember emerge from this industry sector in Louisville? I asked someone who has unique insights on that.
So if you think about the biologistics tech space, there are several different elements that would come into play. The first is having knowledge of the space. The second is having engineering or technology knowledge and expertise and third is having entrepreneurism and capital available.
If we match up the Louisville area with those elements, we certainly have knowledge of the space, but I would argue we have very limited engineering or development expertise because for the companies operating here, most of that type of talent is elsewhere. For example, when I was running the Genentech facility, I had one person focused on this type of thing, and that was purely because I couldnāt get sufficient support from the headquarters team. I am not sure Amgen has anyone locally in a tech development role, either.
With regards to entrepreneurism and capital, I donāt think the entrepreneur community in Louisville have been focused on this type of space at all. In the case of Ember their founder is a serial entrepreneur. Heās based very close to Amgen headquarters which probably led to the interest in the space as itās a bit different than other ventures he has created.
For other firms in this space like Cold Chain Technologies they are based in Boston, a hub with more tech talent and capital. So those factors may actually be much more important than having knowledge of the space.
Among other things over his career, Jeff was Site Head for Genentechās Kentucky Distribution Center. He knows a thing or three about supply chain.
Predicting Alzheimerās
This is cool.
And two thingsā¦
3DR Labs continues to be in you, Louisville.
Segmed is not in you, Louisville, but is in the portfolio of the Aging Innovation Fund managed by Castellan Group.
The corporate innovation landscape
Read the whole thing.
My two big takeaways:
āCapgemini research shows that 90% of corporate innovation labs fail.ā
āCB Insightsā analysis of startup post-mortems found over 40% of ventures fail simply because there is no market need.ā This is why it should be market product fit, not product market fit, FYI.
AgeTech Connect in Louisville
Hopefully you know that AgeTech Connect had their Senior Living and Post Acute Care Innovation Workshop at the Thrive Center last week.
Full house.
Boomerang theories
Timely piece by Cincinnati-based Refinery Venturesā Peter Schmidt.
I donāt know if yāall remember this or not.
Carta data
Boulder and Ann Arbor.
āItās clear that some smaller cities are punching above their weight by building strong institutions and networks of support for their startups.ā
Out here doing stuff.
Hey.
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