Archives For InvestMaryland

Staq, Baltimore

Staq is a Baltimore-based advertising management system.

Staq, an InvestMaryland Challenge finalist and incubator-grown startup, recently raised $1 million in seed funding from The Hive, a California-based investment firm, the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

Staq was founded in 2012 and developed at the Betamore incubator by CEO and co-founder James Curran.

In a recent question and answer with MDBIZ News, Curran compared his product to Mint.com, except instead of aggregating all of a user’s bank account and loan information, Staq aggregates all of a company’s advertising accounts.

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InvestMaryland

InvestMaryland is the largest venture capital fund in Maryland history.

The Maryland Venture Fund is adding a new team member to assist in sourcing and evaluating equity investments in Maryland life sciences companies. Alastair Mackay, a cell biologist by training, has been named the Senior Life Sciences Principal, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development announced Thursday.

“Working at Johns Hopkins and then at Osiris Therapeutics, I learned first-hand of the tremendous practical impacts of scientific discoveries,” Mackay said in a statement. “I hope to spot early stage Maryland companies that combine promising technology with clear, achievable plans for bringing their innovations to market.”

Within the InvestMaryland program, Mackay will focus on channeling funding toward the state’s most innovative and promising life sciences companies. His extensive industry experience stretches from the lab to the board room.

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GrayBug

GrayBug won the $100,000 grand prize in the life sciences category of the InvestMaryland Challenge.

Entrepreneurs often follow a rough road to success, but on Monday evening, state officials and business sponsors proved there is help along the way.

The first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge culminated with the announcement of the three $100,000 grand prize-winning companies and presentations of in-kind awards worth a combined value of over $125,000. Participating companies represented some of the most innovative early-stage operations from Maryland and beyond.

Find a full list of winners here.

Governor Martin O’Malley, who welcomed grand prize winners to the stage inside the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center, said he identified with the start-up spirit of contestants.

“I’m an entrepreneur trapped in a public servant’s body. I believe in doing the things that work. I don’t have time for ideology. I don’t like bureaucracy. I’m not into process and I’m not into hierarchy. I’m into doing things that work, less of the things that don’t and putting together common platforms that allow people to come together and collaborate and innovate,” O’Malley said.

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InvestMaryland Challenge

i-Lighting won the $100,000 InvestMaryland Challenge prize in the general industry category.

From over 250 applicants, judges have chosen the final winners of the first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.

Representing some of the most innovative early-stage companies from Maryland and beyond are the three $100,000 grand prize winners in each competition category.

InvestMaryland Challenge sponsors have also provided thousands of dollars in grants and business services to several participating companies.

Find descriptions of each special award below:

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Finalists in the information technology category of the InvestMaryland Challenge represent some of the most innovative start-ups in Maryland and beyond.

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Finalists in the general industry category of the InvestMaryland Challenge represent some of the most innovative start-ups in Maryland and beyond.

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Finalists in the life sciences category of the InvestMaryland Challenge represent some of the most innovative start-ups in Maryland and beyond.

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InvestMaryland

InvestMaryland is the largest venture capital fund in Maryland history.

Cytomedix, a regenerative medicine company working to promote healing from chronic wounds and diseases, will receive a $500,000 investment from the Maryland Venture Fund within the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, officials announced Wednesday.

The Gaithersburg-based company was selected through the MVF’s InvestMaryland program. The state’s contribution is part of the company’s ongoing $27.5 million capital raise. Cytomedix plans to add 13 staffers and increase its national and international marketing efforts.

“Strategic investments in companies like Cytomedix help reinforce Maryland’s leadership in the life sciences, as well as position the State as an ideal place where entrepreneurs are developing innovative treatments, diagnostics and cures,” DBED Secretary Dominick Murray said in a statement. “Through InvestMaryland, we are able to make investments in cutting-edge companies like Cytomedix, which will help grow the next generation of companies and jobs in Maryland.”

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InvestMaryland ChallengeSifted from over 250 entries from around the country, the InvestMaryland Challenge has narrowed down its final nine competing companies.

The national business competition, hosted by the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, will award three $100,000 top prizes and another $125,000 in cash and in-kind awards. Companies also have the opportunity to receive direct investments from venture capital firms and angel investors.

The winning companies will be announced on April 15 at the Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

Finalists were narrowed down to 33 on Feb. 27, and on March 5, representatives of each company participated in 15-minute face-to-face interviews with Maryland DBED.

The following companies remain in the competition:

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bone graft

BOSS Medical specializes in bone graft devices.

Check back for Q&A profiles on all the competition finalists.

The first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge is down to its final round with just 33 companies competing for more than $300,000 in grants and business services. The final winners will be announced during the Governor’s Cup Awards Ceremony on April 15.

One of the companies, selected out of more than 250 applicants, is Baltimore-based BOSS Medical. To find out a little more about this innovative company, we spoke with CEO Neil Shah.

Q. What does BOSS Medical do, and how would you explain it to the average person?

A. BOSS Medical is an early-stage medical device company that we founded with the mission of developing orthopedic technologies to improve critical outcomes while decreasing health care costs. Right now we’re working on developing and commercializing our first product, which is the BOSS Harvester, which is a novel way for orthopedic surgeons to collect bone grafts from a patient in a minimally invasive manner. This is the core technology we’re working on commercializing right now. The product and our team both spun out of the Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design back in 2011.

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Cortix Systems

Cortix Systems is an InvestMaryland finalist.

Check back for Q&A profiles on all the competition finalists.

The first-ever InvestMaryland Challenge is down to its final round with just 33 companies competing for more than $300,000 in grants and business services. The final winners will be announced during the Governor’s Cup Awards Ceremony on April 15.

One of the companies, selected out of more than 250 applicants, is Cortix Systems, based in Alexandria, Virginia. To find out a little more about this innovative pharmaceutical company, we spoke with Matt Piekarczyk, company president.

Q. What does Cortix Systems do, and how would you explain it to the average person?

A. It’s primarily a platform that you can think of as a mix between Siri and Google. Effectively, what we do is provide answers to user questions out of the documents, databases and services which already exist within organizations. The user provides a query, just like they would in Google, except that instead of returning a zillion documents they may or may not find interesting, we actually return the data they’re looking for. So, if you put in the question, “How many patients have been coming into my office?” within a certain date range, to answer that question, you would have to scan several documents and systems and maybe create a Web search. Our system combines all of that to allow you to get the answer to your question. Any answer that can be arrived at by combining many different sources of information—that’s what our system does.

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InvestMaryland

InvestMaryland is the largest venture capital investment initiative in Maryland history.

Adlyfe, a biotechnology company working toward the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, will receive a $300,000 investment from the Maryland Venture Fund within the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, officials announced Wednesday.

The Rockville-based company was selected through the MVF’s InvestMaryland program. Adlyfe also recently received a $200,000 grant from DBED’s Maryland Biotechnology Center.

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