FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2021
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Contacts: Office of the Governor: Alena Yarmosky, Alena.Yarmosky@governor.virginia.gov | Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority: Sara Poole, Sara.Poole@cit.org
Richmond, VA: 34 small technology-focused businesses to receive grants in inaugural round of Commonwealth Commercialization Fund awards.
Governor Ralph Northam today announced that 34 small technology-focused businesses in Virginia will receive a total of $3.4 million in Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) grants to commercialize research in an array of sectors, including agricultural and environmental technologies, autonomous systems, clean energy, cybersecurity, data analytics, life sciences, and space and satellites. These awards mark the inaugural funding round for CCF, which was developed through the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA).
“Facilitating research breakthroughs and getting new technologies out of the lab and into the hands of consumers is key to driving economic growth and creating jobs in the Commonwealth,” said Governor Northam. “I am confident this first round of CCF awards will produce far-reaching benefits and congratulate these innovators and entrepreneurs on their success in developing transformative solutions to improve lives and address some of the most pressing challenges we face.”
CCF was launched in 2020 to promote innovative and collaborative commercialization efforts, consolidating two legacy programs, the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund and the Virginia Research Investment Fund. The Fiscal Year 2021 round offered grants of up to $100,000 to advance early-stage technology projects in strategically important industries through product or service development, market research, intellectual property protection, marketing, pilots, and more. Award recipients will provide 1:1 match funding.
“The new Commonwealth Commercialization Fund signals Virginia’s commitment to increasing commercialization outcomes for small Virginia businesses across many industries,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball. “Early funding is essential in bringing new products and innovations to market and we look forward to watching the awardees’ innovations thrive in the Commonwealth.”
“We are excited to announce these awards from this first solicitation of CCF,” said Bob Stolle, President of VIPA. “VIPA was created to be a catalyst for expanding innovation and entrepreneurship in Virginia with a clear goal of accelerating scientific, technology-based research and commercialization. These awards are just the beginning of our work with companies, universities, and research institutes to advance research from proof-of-concept to commercialization.”
CCF seeks technologies with a high potential for economic development and job creation and that position the Commonwealth as a national leader in science- and technology-based research, development, and commercialization. For more information about the CCF program, visit cit.org/ccf.
The following CCF projects will be awarded, contingent upon acceptance of award terms and conditions:
3 Ridge Technologies Inc. | Mr. Bill Sareen
Agria™ – Truly Organic Scalable Organic Farm Factories, $100,000, Agricultural and Environmental Technologies, Lynchburg
Advaray | Dr. Timothy Showalter
Progress Toward Commercialization of a Novel Hydrogen-Based Product for Pelvic Brachytherapy, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Charlottesville
AgroSpheres, Inc. | Mr. Ameer Shakeel
Commercialization of Reliable, Sustainable Crop Protection Products, $100,000, Agricultural and Environmental Technologies, Charlottesvill
AtWork Systems, Inc. | Mr. Jin Chun
Cybersecurity Assessment Tools for SaaS Platform, $100,000, Cybersecurity, Herndon
Babylon Micro-Farms Inc. | Mr. Graham Smith
Advancing Micro-Farm Technology – Developing Automated Quality Control to Improve the Producibility and Reliability of Babylon Micro-Farms’ IoT Platform, $98,250, Agricultural and Environmental Technologies, Richmond
BEAM Diagnostics, Inc | Dr. Sarah Snider
Commercialization of Beacon: A Digital Platform for Innovative Prediction Tools in Healthcare, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Roanoke
BlackBoiler, Inc. | Mr. Daniel Broderick
User Control of AI-Powered Contract Markup, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Arlington
Bonumose, Inc. | Mr. Edwin Rogers
Making Healthy Sugar Affordable for the Mass Market, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Charlottesville
Caza Health LLC | Ms. Peggy Robinson
Improving Women’s Health Outcomes – A New Diagnostic Research Tool, $99,898, Life and Health Sciences, Earlysville
Cerillo, Inc. | Mr. Kevin Seitter
Development of a Low-Cost, Miniaturized, Field-Deployable ELISA Reader, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Charlottesville
Contraline, Inc | Mr. Kevin Eisenfrats
Development of Market Access Strategy for a Novel Male Contraceptive, $99,998, Life and Health Sciences, Charlottesville
Federal Foundry LLC | Mr. Geoffrey Orazem
Government Contracting Capture Application, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Arlington
Fend Incorporated | Mr. Colin Dunn
Sales Acceleration: Fend Cellular Data Diode and Data Extraction Subscriptions, $100,000, Cybersecurity, Arlington
GPX LLC | Mr. Eric Berger
Reinvigorating Participatory Democracy with GPX, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Richmond
Humanitru | Mr. Alan Wei
Machine Learning and Marketing Automation to Improve Donor Retention and Acquisition, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Richmond
Icarus Medical LLC | Mr. Evan Eckersley
Determination of Clinical Outcomes for a Novel Multi-Compartment Unloader Brace, $99,989, Life and Health Sciences, Charlottesville
Itus Digital | Mr. Joe Nichols
Itus Go-To-Market, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Roanoke
Jeeva Informatics Solutions Inc | Mr. Harsha Rajasimha
Remote Touchless Patient Recruitment and Retention Platform for Clinical Research, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Vienna
Keshif, LLC | Dr. Adil Yalcin
Keshif/Exploratory Interactive Visual Data Analytics, $95,700, Data Science and Analytics, Alexandria
Laser Thermal Analysis, LLC | Dr. John Gaskins
Steady State Thermoreflectance in Fiber Optics: SSTR-F, $50,000, Data Science and Analytics, Charlottesville
Leading Edge Advanced Fibers, Inc. | Mr. Michael Duncan
Development of Ultra-Lightweight Materials for Use in Satellites, $100,000, Space and Satellites, Charlottesville
Li Industries, Inc. | Mr. Nolan Schmidt
Automatic Direct Recycling of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Lithium-Ion Batteries, $100,000, Clean Energy, Blacksburg
Meru Biotechnologies | Dr. Daniel Rodenhaver
Development and Commercialization of TruBind Technology for Drug Discovery, $95,850, Life and Health Sciences, Richmond
Metaform | Mr. Jeff Gunther
System for Effectively Integrating Disparate Information Sources, $97,547, Data Science and Analytics, Charlottesville
MOVA Technologies, Inc. | Mr. Matthew Gulotta
Panel Bed Carbon Capture: Component Design, Integration, and IP Protection, $100,000, Clean Energy, Pulaski
NOVI LLC | Dr. Amit Mehra
Remote Imaging and AI-Based Flaw Detection for Pavement and Infrastructure Maintenance, $99,250, Data Science and Analytics, Arlington
Onclave Networks, Inc. | Ms. Marianne Meins
Zero Trust Remote Access for Smart Communities, $100,000, Cybersecurity, McLean
Psionic LLC | Mr. Philip Ma
Psionic Navigation Doppler Lidar, $100,000, Space and Satellites, Hampton
Rimstorm Inc. | Mr. Ben Gerenstein
CMMC GovCon Enclave, $100,000, Cybersecurity, Herndon
Service Robotics & Technologies | Dr. Gregory Scott
Optimizing Energy and HVAC Usage through Integrated, Automated Scheduling for Facilities in Higher Education, $99,999, Autonomous Systems, Springfield
SVT Robotics | Mr. Jim Hodson
Natural Language Processing and Interface for Robotic Integration Systems, $100,000, Autonomous Systems, Norfolk
TrueAlgae | Mr. Zachary Pogue
Revolutionizing Algae for Multi-Purpose Agribusiness in VA, $100,000, Agricultural and Environmental Technologies, Chantilly
Visual Workforce, Inc. | Mr. Bryan Bostic
Visual Workforce Skills Management and Workforce Visualizations Software, $100,000, Data Science and Analytics, Richmond
ZeoVation | Dr. Bo Wang
Additive Manufacturing of Antimicrobial/Antiviral Polymeric Devices, $100,000, Life and Health Sciences, Manassas
