NY1 published a segment “How New York City is expanding its life sciences industry” featuring Opentrons, an SOSV HAX startup. If you’ve ever taken a COVID-19 test in New York City, it’s highly likely your sample was processed by Opentrons, a Brooklyn-based company that builds lab robots for biologists. And this is by design—pegged as a key to New York’s economic recovery, the life sciences industry has received $1 billion investment and support from the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and Mayor Bill de Blasio to attract new businesses, capital, and jobs. This week Opentrons received a $200M investment led by Softbank, boosting the company’s value to $1.8B.

“Beyond all our traditional industries, beyond the tech community that has grown so successfully in New York City, we need to build up life sciences. This is the future.” —New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio