City Council accepted the grant for RoVa Labs, the $26 million South Jefferson Street incubator Roanoke is counting on to start a life-sciences economy. The city hasn't said who the new tenants are.

Roanoke, VA

Author: Roanoke Rambler Staff

Published: 12:01 AM EST October 7, 2026

Edited: 12:01 AM EST October 7, 2026

Listen Here: Roanokesradio.com

Five months after it opened, Roanoke's biotech incubator is getting $1 million in federal money for lab equipment. City officials say it now has nine tenants.

Roanoke City Council accepted a $1 million U.S. Small Business Administration grant to buy advanced lab equipment for RoVa Labs. The city announced the grant Monday and credited Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine with helping secure it.

The tenant count is the bigger news. In early July, Tiny Cargo Co. was the building's only tenant. On Monday, the city said RoVa Labs has grown to nine tenants since opening in May. The city's announcement doesn't name any of the eight newer tenants.

Why This Matters

Roanoke is betting that research from the hospitals and medical school along South Jefferson Street can turn into local companies and local jobs, instead of leaving for Boston, Raleigh or Northern Virginia.

RoVa Labs is the key part of that plan. It's a 40,000-square-foot incubator at 1030 S. Jefferson St., in a building that used to house Carilion Clinic's sleep lab and diabetes nutrition program. Its backers project 250 jobs within five years (Virginia Business).

"Our researchers at Carilion Clinic are interested in becoming entrepreneurs, but they didn't have a commercial space to spin out into labs in Roanoke," Erin Burcham, CEO of the Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance, said when the building opened. "So this is giving them the opportunity to stay in Roanoke and advance their technologies" (WVTF).

Where the $1 Million Came From

The money traces back to Congress. In February, the Roanoke Tribune reported that the federal government funding bill for fiscal 2026 included $1 million for a project called "Roanoke Biotechnology Ecosystem Equipment Essential," or Project RBE. The city's Department of Economic Development requested it through Warner's and Kaine's offices to buy specialized scientific equipment and attract health and life-sciences businesses (Roanoke Tribune).

The city's announcement describes the money as an SBA grant. City Manager Valmarie Turner called RoVa Labs "a launchpad for turning new discoveries into thriving businesses." She said the city is "creating a life sciences ecosystem that will create jobs, attract investors, and help improve quality of life for everyone in our city." Marc Nelson, the city's economic development director, called the award "another foundational building block for the establishment of RoVa Labs."

The Money Behind the Building

The $1 million adds to several earlier rounds of funding:

Officials put the total project cost at $26 million. Nelson said that figure includes the value of the building, which Carilion contributed, and partners' in-kind time (Virginia Business). The Roanoke Regional Partnership says regional investment of more than $10 million matched the state grant (Roanoke Regional Partnership). Maryland-based Scheer Partners runs the building. The firm specializes in life-sciences incubators.

Where Roanoke's Lab-to-Market Bet Stands

Tiny Cargo, RoVa Labs' first tenant, is the clearest example of what the city wants. The company's technology came out of Virginia Tech researcher Rob Gourdie's lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. It opened a manufacturing plant in Roanoke in February and set up its drug-loading and quality-control lab at RoVa Labs (Roanoke Rambler).

Other big names are close by: the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, with the Carilion Taubman Cancer Center under construction.

The Roanoke Rambler