Today Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Rock Health CEO Halle Tecco announced that digital health leader Rock Health will move their headquarters to Mission Bay in 2013. Rock Health supports entrepreneurs working at the intersection of healthcare and technology through a startup accelerator, public events, and open-source research. Rock Health chose Mission Bay for its proximity to both the startup hub in South of Market (SoMa) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“Rock Health’s move to Mission Bay comes at a critical time as San Francisco implements national health care reform and is striving to give residents more choices for healthier lifestyles,” said Mayor Lee. “We are partnering with innovative companies such as Rock Health to disrupt the way we do business and, at the same time, improve the health care industry. Rock Health’s new proximity to UCSF doctors, entrepreneurs and scientists at our small startups, pharmaceutical companies and investors will accelerate advances in the life science, healthcare and technology industries here in San Francisco.”

“Rock Health is committed to engaging with the brightest minds in healthcare to further innovation. Our choice of Mission Bay and new partnership with Alexandria reaffirms this commitment, and will enable us to support not just our portfolio companies but also the broader startup ecosystem,” said Rock Health Founder and Chief Executive Officer Halle Tecco. “This move will enhance our ability to collaborate with groundbreaking researchers, clinicians, and corporate partners in our industry.”

Rock Health will establish an open and creative space designed to bring together Rock Health’s network of investors, startup founders, and healthcare professionals, who are working together to make meaningful change in health through scalable, innovative, and groundbreaking technology. Rock Health will begin its fifth accelerator program, comprised of 11 startups, on June 10th. These companies, which deliver everything from intelligent software to wearable sensors to smartphone-enabled personal diagnostics, were selected out of a competitive applicant pool from across the country. Companies were selected based on their potential to provide disruptive and transformative solutions to the nation’s most pressing healthcare challenges.

Rock Health’s move from their current location at 615 Grant Avenue to Mission Bay follows on the UCSF announcement in May 2013 of the creation of a state-of-the-art Center for Digital Health Innovation.

The City’s Mission Bay development covers 303 acres of land between the San Francisco Bay and Interstate 280. The 35-year plan for Mission Bay includes 6,000 total residential units (1,700 of which are affordable units) and 1 million square feet are allocated for the two hospitals. Mission Bay currently includes more than 1.7 million square feet of commercial office and lab space as well as 3,455 housing units already available or in use with more units of retail and office space coming out of construction soon. Anchoring institutions include University of California San Francisco (UCSF), California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Gladstone Institutes and the Veterans Administration. There are 130 life science companies which are located or announced moves to San Francisco, 57 of which are in Mission Bay.

The building where Rock Health will locate, 455 South Mission Bay Boulevard, is owned and operated by Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
“For years, Mission Bay has been at the forefront of life science innovation,” said Alexandria Real Estate Equities Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder Joel S. Marcus. “Now, with Rock Health’s announcement that it will establish its global headquarters in Mission Bay, immediately proximate to UCSF and its new Center for Digital Health Innovation, this world-class ecosystem has emerged at the leading edge of the digital health revolution, as well. The intersection of life science and digital health is the wave of the future, and Mission Bay is poised to be at its epicenter.”

Mayor Lee last month announced a new biotech incubator at 953 Indiana Street in San Francisco’s Central Waterfront area called QB3@953 to advance QB3’s work to support life science companies and create jobs in California by providing two key elements of success for startups: efficiency and networking.

About Rock Health
Rock Health is powering the future of the digital health ecosystem, bringing together the brightest minds in health and technology to build better solutions. Rock Health supports digital health entrepreneurs through a startup accelerator, public events, and open-source research. Through their accelerator program, Rock Health provides crucial funding, mentorship and operational support to selected high-potential, early stage start-ups, nurturing the next generation of the digital health ecosystem to develop transformative tools that can be swiftly adopted by the marketplace to revolutionize health. Founded in 2010, Rock Health is funded by top health, technology, venture capital and consumer product companies, and is backed by a wide network of mentors, advisors and partners, including leading hospitals. Rock Health partners include Aberdare Ventures, Accel Partners, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fenwick & West, GE, Genentech, Harvard Medical School, Kaiser Permanente, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mayo Clinic, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Montreux Equity Partners, NEA, Ogilvy Public Relations, Qualcomm Life, Quest Diagnostics, Silicon Valley Bank, UnitedHealth Group, and UCSF. For more information, go to: www.rockhealth.com.