OTL - Startup Companies in the News

UF OTL Startup News

Read success stories about startup companies that license technology from the University of Florida. Over the past decade, the Office of Technology Licensing has launched more than 100 companies. These startups are developing products that cure diseases, create jobs, and help make the world a better place.

Edward’s Story (video by Axogen)

Axogen, Inc. produced a compelling video about how a UF nerve-graft technology has helped to save soldiers' limbs from amputation.

Nanotherapeutics Awarded Defense Department Contract for Advanced Development and Manufacturing of Medical Countermeasures

Nanotherapeutics, Inc., announced it has been awarded a Department of Defense contract to establish Medical Countermeasures Advanced Development and Manufacturing (MCM ADM) capability dedicated to meet the needs of the DOD. The MCM ADM capabilities established by Nanotherapeutics will allow the DOD to more efficiently and expeditiously develop Medical Countermeasures (MCM) to protect and treat military populations against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) attacks and outbreaks of naturally occurring emerging and genetically engineered infectious diseases

ViewRay Appoints Chris A. Raanes President

ViewRay™ Inc., a medical device company, has appointed industry veteran Chris A. Raanes as president and CEO. Raanes joins ViewRay from Accuray Incorporated, where he served as executive vice president and chief operating officer. At ViewRay, he will be charged with driving the worldwide commercial growth of the ViewRay system, which provides a unique combination of simultaneous radiotherapy delivery and continuous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the treatment of cancer.

SMART Biotechnologies -- New Subsidiary of UF Startup Xhale -- Appoints Thomas J. Bigger as President

SMART Biotechnologies, Inc., the newest subsidiary of the medical technology innovator, Xhale, Inc., has just appointed Mr. Thomas J. Bigger as its new president. Mr. Bigger comes to SMART with over 20 years of experience building shareholder value in pharmaceutical companies globally

Quick-Med Announces First Commercial Sale of Advanced Dressings With NIMBUS(R) Technology

UF startup Quick-Med Technologies, Inc., a life-sciences company that is developing innovative technologies for the healthcare and consumer markets, announced that Viridis BioPharma Pvt. Ltd. has begun selling and shipping Microfoam™ dressings to customers. Microfoam is the first advanced wound care dressing to utilize Quick-Med's proprietary non-leaching NIMBUS technology. Viridis received approval by the Food and Drug Administration of India in September 2011 to manufacture and market Microfoam wound dressings incorporating NIMBUS antimicrobial technology.

$37.5 Million in Financing For AGTC Brings Gene Therapy Closer to Market (BioWorld)

Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. (AGTC) bagged $37.5 million in a Series B financing that will let the company finish two Phase II trials with separate drug candidates, and see the firm through a pair of new, Phase I/II studies with other compounds in orphan eye diseases. Sue Washer, president and CEO of Gainesville, Fla.-based AGTC, noted that monoclonal antibodies took 25 years to ripen, and gene therapy is nearing the end of a similar timeline. Such is the road "for brand new, cutting-edge technologies to really come into their own," she said. "Everyone is very well convinced [that

Biotech firm AGTC lands $37.5M in venture capital funding (Gainesville Sun)

The Alachua company based on technology developed at UF has secured $37.5 million in venture capital funding in what is believed to be the largest private venture deal ever for an area company.

Gainesville tech firms attracting big money (Gainesville Sun)

It was a banner week in what has become a banner year in financing for area technology companies. Eight area companies have announced financing deals totaling more than $50 million this year. The University of Florida’s Innovation Hub business incubator reported that its tenant companies secured a combined $7.2 million in private investments in the 10 months through June 30. After years of venture capital deals trickling into the area, the money is starting to flow.

Scott visits Prioria Robotics, touts signs of Florida recovery (Gainesville Sun)

Prioria, which makes unmanned aerial vehicles for military and civilian surveillance, plans to create 40 new jobs over the next three years on top of the 30 it already has. The city of Gainesville is renovating the building abandoned when Gainesville Regional Utilities opened its new operations center on North Main Street. Prioria will lease it when construction is complete early next year.

AxoGen secures $21M in financing (Gainesville Sun)

Alachua-based AxoGen closed on nearly $21 million in financing to expand sales and development of products used in surgeries to repair peripheral nerve damage, the company announced late Tuesday. The financing comes from PDL BioPharma, based in Incline Village, Nev. PDL developed antibodies used to treat cancer and immunologic diseases and now invests in biotech companies and products.

Clinipace Worldwide acquires California firm (Raleigh News & Observer)

Clinipace Worldwide announced Tuesday that it is acquiring a California contract research organization that will more than double the size of its workforce. The deal for Paragon Biomedical is the third acquisition Clinipace has made in the past 18 months. The combined company will employ more than 430 worldwide and is expected to generate revenues of $55 million this year.

Enterade awarded $100,000 grant for chemo/radiation drink developed at UF (Gainesville Sun)

A small medical startup in Newberry is one of two companies in the nation to win a grant from a science institute funded by NASA. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute awarded Enterade USA $100,000 to develop a drink that limits stomach problems from radiation exposure.

UF Startup Pasteuria Bioscience Acquired for $113 M by Syngenta (Gainesville Sun)

Alachua-based biotechnology company Pasteuria Bioscience is being acquired by Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta in a deal worth up to $113 million, the companies announced Wednesday. Pasteuria Bioscience has been working with Syngenta since June 2011 to develop products to control plant-killing nematodes that cause an estimated $100 billion in crop damage worldwide each year.

Fast-growing startup graduates from Florida Innovation Hub at UF, moves to downtown Gainesville (UF News Bureau release)

Shadow Health Inc., a virtual education and training company based on University of Florida computer-programming technology, graduated from the Florida Innovation Hub at UF with an informal ceremony in the lobby.

Prometheon, ReliOx Among Four Cade Prize Finalists (Gainesville Sun)

Two UF startups, Prometheon Pharma and ReliOx Corp. are finalists for the Cade Prize. Out of more than 120 Florida inventors and entrepreneurs to apply, four remain standing in the chase for the third annual $50,000 Cade Museum Prize.

Mind2Market featured on Technology Spotlight (WCJB-TV 20)

When we talk about doppler radar here at TV20, it's usually Bill Quinlan assessing current weather conditions. But smaller versions of doppler radar can be used for other purposes. And one of them assesses current medical conditions. The device can measure your heart rate and other signs--from a distance of several meters. CEO Tim Toppen and inventor Yan Yan of "Mind2Market" test out their vital signs monitor on TV20's David Snyder.

Prometheon Pharma featured on Technology Spotlight (TV20)

If something needs fixing, you put a patch on it. These days, that means fixing a medical condition. Patches are used to deliver medicine--but there's a problem. The skin is an effective barrier, permitting only small chemical compounds through. That means many medications can't be used in a patch. Until now. Stephen Hsu with Prometheon Pharma tells TV20's David Snyder how he made the breakthrough in the Innovation Technology interview.

ViewRay: MRI-guided radiotherapy firm gets $10M in new funding (MedCity News)

AxoGen completes merger, becomes publicly traded company (Gainesville Sun)

Alachua-based biotechnology firm AxoGen Inc. is now a publicly traded company after completing its merger with LecTec Corp. The combined company is taking the name AxoGen Inc. and is initially trading on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under LecTec’s symbol LECT but has filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to change the symbol to AXGN, according to a news release. The companies announced their intention to merge in June in a $12.5 million stock deal.

Syngenta announces agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience (Golf Course Industry)

Syngenta Lawn & Garden (L&G) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pasteuria Bioscience Inc., a U.S.-based biotechnology company. Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta’s Turf & Landscape division will have exclusive licensing and distribution rights in global turf markets to Pasteuria Biosciences' existing and future nematicide product lines based on the naturally occurring biological agent Pasteuria.

Clinipace Worldwide lands $15M in fundraiser (Triangle Business Journal)

Clinipace Worldwide, a digital contract research organization that was recently named to the Inc. 500 list, has closed a $15 million Series C round. The round was led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital of San Francisco, with participation from existing investors Hatteras Venture Partners of Durham and Brook Private Equity Advisors of Boston. Hatteras was the lead investor in Clinipace’s Series B round in 2007, when it raised $2.5 million.

Clinipace raises money to fuel expansion (Raleigh News and Observer)

Rapidly expanding Clinipace Worldwide has raised an additional $10.5 million to keep its momentum going. The Morrisville company, a contract research organization that helps pharmaceutical companies test experimental drugs, is looking to continue hiring internally as well as make more acquisitions. In May Clinipace acquired a 65-employee Swiss firm -- its third purchase in an 18-month span, and by far its largest in terms of number of employees.

ViewRay: MRI-guided radiotherapy firm gets $10M in new funding

A company that’s developing MRI-based technology to deliver radiation therapy to cancer patients has secured $10 million in new investment funding. Oakwood Village, Ohio-based ViewRay‘s $10.3 million fundraise comes from existing investors, according to a document filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors listed in the document include Kearny Venture Partners, OrbiMed Advisors, Fidelity Bioscience, Aisling Capital and Siemens. All of those investors participated in a $20 million series C round that ViewRay announced in August 2010.

Optima Neuroscience Acquired by Tucker-Davis Technologies, Inc.

Alachua, FL – Optima Neuroscience, Inc. (Optima) and Tucker-Davis Technologies, Inc. (TDT) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which TDT will acquire Optima, a privately held medical device company focused on the development of clinical brain monitoring technologies pioneered at the University of Florida. The transaction was unanimously approved by the directors of both companies.

Pasteuria: Dave Duncan is on the cusp of another ag phenomenon, a solution to nematodes (Gainesville Sun)

Alachua — Dave Duncan saw in Pasteuria Bioscience the same potential to become a worldwide, $1 billion-plus agricultural phenomenon as Monsanto's Roundup. He should know. Duncan was one of the early developers of Roundup in the 1970s, and later ran Monsanto's specialty crop division in St. Louis.

Sharklet: On Wired's list of technologies imitating nature (biomimetic)

(From Wired.com article): Fighting Germs Like a Shark Unlike the skin of whales and manatees, shark skin doesn’t pick up algae or barnacles. This seems to be due to little scales called “dermal denticles.” Sharklet is an engineered surface that, through pattern alone, inhibits bacterial growth. The company, Sharklet Technologies, Inc., sells adhesive-backed films for covering surfaces and manufactures the pattern into medical devices like urinary catheters.

Grooveshark among Lifehacker/MSNBC's top 5 streaming-music services

Lifehacker listed Grooveshark among its favorite streaming-music services. Readers also named Grooveshark their favorite service last year http://lifehacker.com/5483355/best-music-streaming-service-grooveshark

Pasteuria partners with Syngenta for worldwide commercialization of products (Gainesville Sun)

Pasteuria Bioscience Inc. has partnered with Syngenta, the largest agri-business company in the world, to develop nematode control products for agricultural and specialty crops. The partnership will lead to the worldwide commercialization of Pasteuria-based products, Pasteuria Bioscience CEO David Duncan said in a news release Tuesday. “This is bigger than anything we could have imagined,” Duncan said.

Grooveshark founder says Gainesville location helped company succeed (Washington Post and Bloomberg news video)

Sam Tarantino, chief executive officer of Grooveshark talks about the company's business model, competition and music licensing issues. Locating in Gainesville, with low costs and a large talent pool, helped Grooveshark succeed, Tarantino says.

Axogen: Local biotech merges with Texas corporation in $12.5 M deal (Gainesville Sun)

Alachua-based biotechnology company AxoGen Inc. plans to go public through a merger with Texas-based LecTec Corp. in a stock deal worth at least $12.5 million. AxoGen makes three products to repair peripheral nerve damage. The deal would allow the company to expand development, marketing and sales in the U.S. and internationally, CEO Karen Zaderej said in a news release.

Myriant Files for $125 M IPO

Bio-based chemicals developer Myriant Corp., known until recently as Myriant Technologies LLC, has filed for an initial public offering that could bring in up to $125 million, according to federal documents filed by the company.

Florida Sustainables: Creating a plastic alternative; Cade Prize winner develops ‘green’ polymer that is stronger (Gainesville Sun)

The winner of the 2011 Cade Prize for Innovation hopes to replace plastic grocery bags, cups, milk jugs and other plastics with their degradable plastics and has had talks with major companies such as Wal-Mart, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Florida Sustainables has licensed a polymer invented by University of Florida graduate student Ryan Martin and associate chemistry professor Stephen Miller, the company's technical team who accepted the award May 12.

Florida Sustainables wins Cade Prize for Innovation (Gainesville Sun)

A startup company with a biodegradable plastic invented at the University of Florida was the winner of the second $50,000 Cade Prize for Innovation. "This is incredible. I feel like I'm on ‘American Idol,' " Ryan Martin said in accepting the award. Martin is a UF chemistry student who pitched the company with professor Steve Miller to a panel of judges that included Karl Tryggvason, an expert in medical chemistry who is a member of the Nobel Prize selection committee. The award was created by the Cade Museum Foundation to help strengthen a culture of innovation and create jobs in Gainesvi

HyGreen: St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital Implements Hand Hygiene System (CBS MoneyWatch)

HyGreen, Inc. announced today that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an international leader in the research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases, has implemented the HyGreen® Hand Hygiene Reminder System in its Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.

Sestar: Former UF President Marshall Criser Jr. elected to board (Gainesville Sun)

Former University of Florida President Marshall Criser Jr. has been elected chairman of the board of the Gainesville startup company Sestar Technologies. Sestar is commercializing several green products licensed from University of Florida research. Its Sgen polymer-based photovoltaic coatings can be used to make solar-powered camouflage military tents or artificial turf. Its SurfPlasma coating senses contamination and self-sterilizes medical equipment. Its biodegradable plastic for grocery bags is a final-four contestant for the $50,000 Cade Prize for Innovation.

Apollidon Learning Partners With Sopris Capital Associates for Growth Capital

Littlebanc Advisors, LLC Boca Raton on April 14 announced the completion of a $3 million Series A Preferred financing for Apollidon, Inc. The round was funded by Sopris Capital Associates, a venture capital firm that partners and provides funding to early and growth stage companies. The $3 million capital raise will allow Apollidon to accelerate development of its education marketing programs for its network of public universities dedicated to creating and implementing high quality and economical distance learning programs and services.

XHale's HyGreen hand-hygiene system cuts infection rate at Miami hospital by 89 percent

From NBCMiami.com: After using Hygreen from September to March, the hospital-acquired infection rate dropped 89 percent. They used to get around five cases every three months, now they get less than one. As the mother of a young cancer patient, it’s one less thing Barbara Padilla has to worry about. “It makes me feel good this hospital takes a little bit more initiative making sure they’re clean, sanitary.”

Sharklet Receives $1.2 M NIH Grant to Further Develop Urinary Catheter

DENVER - Sharklet Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases* to continue its development of a urinary Foley catheter with the Sharklet micro-pattern that inhibits bacterial growth on the surface of the catheter.

NIST Technology Innovation Program Awards Sinmat a $2.4M Matching Grant

The grant will help Sinmat develop low-cost, scalable manufacturing of surface-engineered super-hard substrates for next-generation electronic and photonic devices(Gainesville Sun).

Xhale's HyGreen Technology Adopted at Chicago VA Hospital

Xhale Innovations’HyGreen Hand Hygiene System was installed at Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JBVAMC) in Chicago, IL. This is the first installation of HyGreen into the VA system nationally(CNBC).

Nanophotonica Develops Breakthrough QLED Technology for Flat Displays

The UF startup has perfected realizable, breakthrough QLED display technology and is commercializing the technology for mass production (CBS MoneyWatch)

Sharklet: Featured by New York Times Columnist David Pogue on Special CBS News Nova Series, “Making Stuff Smarter”

The New York Times columnist explores how shark skin could help save lives and interviews Sharklet inventor Dr. Anthony Brennan of UF.

Optima Neuroscience Closes Series A Investment Round

Optima Neuroscience, Inc., a privately held medical-device company focused on the development of brain-monitoring technologies, announced in a press release that it had closed a Series A financing round. The funding, in combination with strong grant support from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, will allow the company to increase sales and marketing efforts for its software product, IdentEvent®, as well as to continue developing an innovative line of hardware-based brain monitors.

AGTC Secures $2 M in Grants

Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., a privately held company, received two $1 million grants from the Food and Drug Administration to develop therapies for genetic causes of blindness and emphysema, the company said in a press release.

Banyan Biomarkers Featured in Sports Illustrated Story About Concussions

EVEN AS doctors have learned more about brain trauma, the definition of a concussion remains frustratingly vague. The injury is diagnosed through a mishmash of symptoms, some of which may or not be present in any particular case. Bone breaks have X-rays and muscle tears have MRIs, but no form of medical imaging has yet been able to quickly and reliably confirm a concussion diagnosis. But a number of promising tests are in the medical pipeline ... Last month the U.S. Army, in partnership with the Alachua, Fla.--based company Banyan Biomarkers, announced a potential breakthrough in the developme

Banyan Biomarkers Inc. Awarded $26.3 Million Contract for Tramautic Brain Injury Test; Featured in Wall Street Journal

Banyan Biomarkers, Inc., the leader in developing in vitro diagnostic products to detect traumatic brain injury (TBI), received a $26.3 Million contract to develop a diagnostic test for TBI. Banyan’s good news was featured in the national media, including this Wall Street Journal story.

Banyan Biomarkers Inc. Awarded $26.3 Million Contract for Tramautic Brain Injury Test; Featured in USA Today

Banyan Biomarkers, Inc., the leader in developing in vitro diagnostic products to detect traumatic brain injury (TBI), received a $26.3 Million contract to develop a diagnostic test for TBI, according to a press release from the company. Banyan’s good news was featured in the national media, including this USA Today story.

AGTC Featured In Story About Oregon Girl Receiving Gene Therapy for Vision loss

UF startup AGTC was featured in a story in The Oregonian about a 6-year-old girl receiving gene therapy for vision loss.