VIPC Empowers Life Science Startup Company, Tiny Cargo, in Opening New $1.5 Million Manufacturing Facility in Roanoke

New Clean Room Manufacturing Plant Will Create Six New High-Paying Jobs in Local Community.

ROANOKE, Va., Feb. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. (VIPC) celebrated alongside community partners the grand opening of The Tiny Cargo Company's new $1.5 million state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Roanoke, Virginia. With over 2,000 square feet of specialized clean room space, the new plant will be among the first dedicated exosome advanced manufacturing sites in the world and will create six new high-paying jobs across research and development, cleanroom manufacturing, and regulatory operations, according to the company.

Founded by renowned scientific expert Dr. Robert Gourdie, Tiny Cargo was incubated within Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute (FBRI) and commercialized its technology through an exclusive licensing agreement with Virginia Tech, leading to its spin-out as a newly launched startup company in 2018. Tiny Cargo's scale-up growth underscores the Roanoke-Blacksburg region's expanding innovation ecosystem that is uniquely interconnected by advanced research, lab-to-market commercialization, and startup entrepreneurship. 

VIPC, through collaborative partnership with Virginia Tech and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, has supported the founding and advancement of Tiny Cargo, helping to catalyze early-stage funding and resource development via research lab faculty recruitment, R&D and intellectual property commercialization, and private sector investor capital attraction.VIPC serves as Virginia's designated statewide economic development leader for fueling entrepreneur ecosystems that grow, attract, and retain innovation, talent, and capital across the Commonwealth.

"Tiny Cargo Company's grand opening of a new scale-up advanced manufacturing facility in Roanoke is a testament to both the opportunity and impact that can come to life in local communities when you combine talent and capital to unlock innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship," said Joe Benevento, President and CEO of VIPC. "VIPC is proud to be a close partner with Virginia Tech, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, and the regional Roanoke-Blacksburg innovation ecosystem."

"What we've built at Virginia Tech and in Roanoke allows us to turn something that was once only in research labs into a reliable, safe, and scalable production, making real products possible, ranging from oral medicines and nutritional supplements to advanced skincare," said Alan Gourdie, CEO of The Tiny Cargo Company.

"Tiny Cargo's growth reflects exactly what the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute was built to do," said Dr. Michael Friedlander, Executive Director at FBRI. "We create a space for discovery and innovation that allows researchers to move promising ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace. Seeing a company scale its operations here in Roanoke is a powerful example of research turning into real-world impact."

Tiny Cargo has developed a patent-pending drug delivery platform to lead the next generation of drug and biologics delivery using milk-derived exosomes as non‑immunogenic nanocarriers to encapsulate and deliver a broad range of novel therapies and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). Tiny Cargo's proprietary method involves isolating and extracting exosomes from dairy milk and then loading the exosomes with therapeutics or nutraceuticals. This novel drug delivery platform, branded as XOlacta, is poised to reduce damage caused by radiation therapy and substantially increase patient retention and acceptance of radiation therapy by eliminating its debilitating side effects. In addition to preventing radiation poisoning in cancer patients, XOlacta has the potential to serve as a therapeutic medical countermeasure for radio-nuclear attacks or accidents.

Dr. Robert Gourdie, Founder and President of The Tiny Cargo Company, is a renowned scientific expert in intercellular communication and therapeutic peptides with 160+ publications and 15+ patents.

About The Tiny Cargo Company
Founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech, The Tiny Cargo Company is leading the next generation of drug and biologics delivery using bovine milk exosomes. We utilize these natural, non‑immunogenic nanocarriers — nature's most efficient transport tools — to encapsulate and deliver a broad range of novel therapies and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). By converting injectable and poorly absorbed molecules into highly effective oral or topical treatments, The Tiny Cargo Company aims to transform product effectiveness and patient compliance across the pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and nutraceutical industries. To learn more about The Tiny Cargo Company, visit www.tinycargo.com.

About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. (VIPC) serves as Virginia's designated statewide technology and innovation economic development authority. VIPC unleashes growth, opportunity, and impact across the Commonwealth by fueling collaborative innovation ecosystems that accelerate startup entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, and investment attraction through public-private partnerships. For more information, visit www.VIPC.org.

Contact
Amber Salter
[email protected]
804.591.9591 

SOURCE VIPC