Bright Ideas

Light Up the world

Mr. Spencer Trask backed Thomas Edison — the ultimate innovator — and his light bulb -- the very symbol of a bright idea. Then, as President of the world’s first electricity network, Mr. Trask launched the infrastructure for civilization in the 20th Century.

Today, we strive to live up to this legacy by discovering big ideas and supporting innovators to light up the 21st Century.

Members of our team delivered on the promise by founding or first funding startups that have saved tens of thousands of lives, created more than 100,000 jobs and improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Together they reached an aggregated peak market value of $522 billion.

Come see how life-supporting ventures at Spencer Trask generate both net worth and net worthiness.

Light Up the Internet

DISCOVER
Based on Einstein’s quantum theory of light, Gordon Gould invented the laser-- the optical amplification that ushered in the Information Age.

CREATE
He commercialized it first at Optelecom Inc. which then, with former head of Light Optics Research and Spencer Trask Chairman, started Ciena Corp. Their venture deployed the world’s first dense WDM system, the optical amplifiers that powered the explosive growth of the Internet and made Ciena the fastest growing firm in its first year of operation in American business history.

ILLUMINATE
As the top-ranked optical innovator, Ciena now serves 85% of the world’s largest telecom providers. The leadership of Gould and Ciena made optical amplification and WDM the common basis of every major telecom network, the transport mechanism for 99% of all IP traffic and a foundation of the Internet.

Save Children's Lives

DISCOVER
Dr. Arnold Caplan discovered the MSC, a signalling cell that manages regeneration and repair throughout the body. The “Mesenchymal Stem Cell” secretes anti-bacterial, antiviral and tissue repair factors, recruits and activates cell growth and anti-scarring agents and manages the immune response to injury or infection.

CREATE
Dr. Caplan partnered with Spencer Trask to create Osiris Therapeutics, patent the MSC and turn it into a drug. The firm’s products regenerate or replace tissue function lost due to age, disease, damage, or deadly conditions like a fatal side effect of bone marrow transplants for infants with cancer.

ILLUMINATE
Osiris received the first regulatory clearance in the world for a systemically administered stem cell drug. Since that approval, clinical trials have been registered to test MSCs on over 928 diseases and conditions — more than any other drug ever discovered.

DISCOVER
The Human Genome Project, “the greatest scientific adventure humanity has ever taken,” originated from the pursuit of the breast cancer gene (BRCA1) by Dr. Mark Skolnick. His search was the impetus for Nobel Prize-winner, Dr. Walter Gilbert to conceive of the first plan for the Project.

CREATE
To improve the health of people, Skolnick and Gilbert partnered with Spencer Trask to form Myriad Genetics -- the first human genome company.

ILLUMINATE
Myriad discovered the breast cancer gene and made it the basis of a cancer diagnostic service that has saved the lives of thousands of women. Building on this foundation of unique genomic and molecular insights, Myriad is driving the transformation of medicine from treating symptoms to predicting and preventing the very cause of disease.