Professional Services
PROPEL participants can gain access to representatives at some of the top business services firms in Illinois and in the country. Through PROPEL, these firms educate entrepreneurs on business, financial, marketing and legal strategies. All services for PROPEL entrepreneurs are provided at no expense to the entrepreneur, but are coordinated through PROPEL only.
Current relationships include:
K&L Gates LLP
K&L Gates attorneys will provide educational information regarding general legal issues. K&L Gates provides pragmatic legal representation to life sciences companies across the globe in all aspects of their businesses. The firm's life sciences lawyers help clients evaluate and protect their intellectual property, negotiate and structure transactions, analyze competitive patent portfolios, obtain venture capital and navigate the complex regulatory process.
Center for Business Models in Healthcare (CBMH)
The business modeling specialists at CBMH will provide considerations of product commercialization and adoption models and their impact on product and company development. CBMH works with biotechnology and diagnostic companies to develop innovative business models of adoption, reimbursement and healthcare delivery of new medical products. These models are imperative to consider throughout the product development cycle from research to development to commercialization. The Center develops and pilots innovative business models working with individual companies and with small collaborative groups consisting of product developers, health insurance companies, medical centers and physicians, clinical laboratories and other healthcare stakeholders critical in adopting new medical products.
McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP (MBHB)
MBHB provides comprehensive legal services to obtain and enforce clients' intellectual property rights, from navigating patent office procedures to litigating complex infringement actions. MBHB prosecutes patent and trademark applications both in the U.S. and abroad, handles intellectual property litigation matters in trial and appellate courts across the country and counsels clients nationwide and worldwide on the enforcement and defense of their intellectual property rights. Their experienced attorneys, 28 of whom have doctorates, work with a staff of technical professionals to provide effective, efficient and economical representation to a broad base of clients in the biotechnology field.
Kleinfeld Kaplan & Becker LLP (KK&B)
KK&B attorneys provide educational information relating to the requirements, limitations and opportunities emanating from the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act. KK&B is a boutique specialty Food and Drug law firm that, for over 50 years, has been engaged in providing legal and regulatory advice to companies and associations who are interested in the development, investigation, approval and marketing of products subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and related regulatory agencies, including products regulated as drugs, biologicals, medical devices and combination products.
Sikich Investment Banking LLP
Sikich Investment Banking provides educational information regarding key life sciences merger and acquisition trends and how they might relate to critical issues facing PROPEL companies. Sikich is a highly integrated, multidisciplinary professional services firm with more than 300 employees and nine offices located in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and New York. Sikich Investment Banking is the corporate finance and advisory practice of Sikich, providing capital raising, merger and acquisition and strategic advisory services tailored to the middle market, including life sciences–related venture capital firms and venture-backed life sciences and technology companies.
Fusion Ventures
Fusion Ventures is an innovation advisory and investment firm focused on corporate entrepreneurship and growing startup businesses in the early stages of their development. The firm accelerates client and portfolio company growth through the development and implementation of sound strategy, deploying accomplished talent and providing with organizations seed-stage equity investment. Fusion's domain focus includes: healthcare, professional services, consumer goods, web and mobile technology and social enterprise. The firm has offices in San Diego, Chicago and Washington DC and serves a diverse group of US and international companies.
