General Inception Creates First-Ever “Igniter” for New Company Formation

PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–General Inception (GI), the first-ever Igniter, today announced its launch to build deep-tech companies from their inception through commercial scale-up. GI is not an investment fund; it is a company partnering with scientific innovators to bring on the critical planning and execution functions on day one of a new venture, including ignition capital. With access to a global team of thought leaders and business executives in diverse scientific fields, regulatory, intellectual property, clinical development and manufacturing services, as well as back office and infrastructure support, the GI team industrializes company formation, technology commercialization, and market validation.

General Inception comprises a rapidly growing team that already numbers over 50 full-time and fractional executives focused on partnering with scientific innovators who aspire to play an active role in commercializing their innovation but need a complementary co-founder with both technical and business depth. The team brings real-world expertise to company development across a wide range of markets and a first-hand understanding of new product introduction challenges, including regulatory, development, and manufacturing risk.

“So many incredible and impactful discoveries do not fully realize their potential due to the complexities of forming and financing at the inception of a company’s life,” said Paul Conley, Ph.D., co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of General Inception. “After decades of personal experience in company building, I concluded that the craft of starting deep tech companies is different from the craft of investing in them. We believe the ideal approach is to combine the two under one roof while still ensuring that the inventors retain control of their destiny and majority interest in their companies.”

Since its founding in 2020, General Inception has raised over $60 million to launch and nurture companies with an initial focus on life science and health tech, but with plans and the team competence to play in every hard science domain in the future. As of today, GI has partnered with over 25 companies, several of which have already succeeded in attracting quality venture capital financing.

“As a serial entrepreneur, I have experienced firsthand the huge challenges in taking innovations from the lab through product development and to market,” said Utkan Demirci, Ph.D., co-founder of Mercury Biosciences with GI. Dr. Demirci is also a Stanford University School of Medicine professor and Director of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection. “General Inception comes in from day one with an experienced team to ensure strategic company inception and development. Their expertise enables rapid scaling and decision making across the board from licensing, product development to market entry.”

General Inception is backed by leading venture capital firms Genoa Ventures, Hughes Ventures, Northpond Ventures, OMX Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, and Vertical Venture Partners. GI also has strategic partnerships with contract research, development and manufacturing organizations that facilitate rapid translation of science into products.

“General Inception has thought about the challenges of scientific startups and has brought together a team of seasoned executives and experts to work with their co-founders to jump over the initial hurdles of company creation,” said Mike Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., founder and CEO of Northpond Ventures. “We believe General Inception will provide the VC community attractive early-stage investment opportunities with strong foundations for market entry.”

About General Inception:

General Inception is pioneering company creation as the first Igniter company. As an Igniter, General Inception partners with extraordinary technical founders at the inception of their journey in order to efficiently translate their groundbreaking innovations into transformational businesses that address humanity’s grand challenges. In its role as a co-founder, GI brings together domain expertise, executive talent, infrastructure and development resources, and capital to ignite, nurture and scale throughout the entire company journey. For more information, please visit www.generalinception.com