Venture capital firm Portal Innovations is planning to open a 30,000-square-foot science incubator in Salt Lake City while also establishing a venture fund to support early-stage life sciences and biotech companies.

The expansion is part of Portal’s managed services platform, Powered by Portal, which has launched incubator locations in Chicago, New Jersey and Rhode Island over the past two years. 

The Utah location is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2027, according to a March 5 announcement.

The facility will include wet- and dry-lab space designed to help commercialize academic research through venture-backed companies, offering founder support and early-stage investment, according to the VC firm. The Utah incubator, called Woodbine Labs, Powered by Portal, will receive support from trade organization BioUtah and serve as a launchpad for research emerging from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.

Member companies will also gain access to Chicago-based Portal’s private network platform, which connects entrepreneurs, operators, investors and strategic partners to improve access to capital and expertise, Portal Innovations said. The nationwide network has supported 150 companies and more than 500 members.

The new venture fund, meanwhile, will invest in high-potential companies emerging from the incubator—with Convexity Properties and High Boy Ventures backing it.

“Utah has all the ingredients for continued life sciences and techbio growth, especially at the interface between AI and biology, and we’re excited to be part of that momentum in Salt Lake City,” Portal Innovations founder and CEO John Flavin said in the release.

Portal’s Utah investment builds on several recent biotech developments in Salt Lake City, which commercial real estate firm CBRE named an emerging life sciences market in a 2025 report. CBRE cited the city’s incentive programs, its top-10 medtech talent pool, its 17th-ranked biopharma workforce and its lower cost of living as key drivers of biotech industry growth.

Last year, Ratio Therapeutics signed a deal to build a 65,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the city to expand its capacity to produce radiopharmaceutical treatments and diagnostics. The facility is expected to open in the second half of 2027.