Waltham’s biotech growth continues as two companies lease entire floors at Genesis 21

Two biotech companies have each leased a full floor at Genesis at 21 Hickory Drive in Waltham, a newly converted life sciences building along Route 128.

Dash Bio, headquartered in Boston, announced the expansion of its Massachusetts operations last week into the 24,000-square-foot laboratory, increasing its lab space five-fold. Bonito Bio is relocating from 850 Winter St. in Waltham, according to Banker & Tradesman, which covers state financial and real estate news.

Dash Bio, founded in 2024, serves the biotech industry by using robotics and other technologies to speed up bioanalysis processes crucial in drug development. In its LinkedIn profile, the company says that “the [drug] development phase remains bogged down by manual, labor-intensive processes. We’re changing that narrative. Our tech-first products automate critical steps, reducing costs and time to market while improving quality of results.”

“This facility gives us the capacity to serve more biotech companies who are tired of waiting months for data that should take days,” CEO Dave Johnson said in a statement.

Bonito Bio specializes in developing targeted drug delivery systems—therapeutic “payloads”—to specific cells with high precision. The goal is to allow drugs to be delivered to specific targets in the body with minimal effects elsewhere, according to its website.

The Boston Real Estate Times noted that Dash Bio, which has raised $17.5M, has positioned itself to serve a growing customer base in Greater Boston as demand continues to rise for lab infrastructure that can support faster drug development cycles.

Together, the biotechs have leased a combined 48,127 square feet at the life science property owned by Phase 3 Real Estate partners and Bain Capital Real Estate. The property was acquired by the developers for $52.25 million in April 2021 and totals 121,000 square feet.

In a statement, the developers said that both biotechs “are relocating their operations to newly built lab space at a property that was converted by the ownership to meet the highest standards in the sector.”