After successfully making it through its initial round of preclinical trials, an Albuquerque dental startup developing a nanotechnology-based product wants to raise several million dollars for scaling and prototype development.
MNT SmartSolutions is working on an efficient way to keep teeth clean using magnetic nanoparticles that move toothpaste into areas where a toothbrush's bristles wouldn't normally reach. It's made with sustainable nanotechnology materials that Leisha Armijo-Martin, the chief technology officer for the startup, and her team of researchers are engineering.
Backed by just over $250,000 through a phase one National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer grant, MNT SmartSolutions recently completed its first round of preclinical trials, which Armijo-Martin said proved the efficacy of the startup's nanoparticle technology on live mice.
Those trials were the first time MNT SmartSolutions — a recently-named Startup to Watch — has tested its nanotechnology in living creatures.
"It's a pretty high failure rate when you get to preclinical [trials]," Armijo-Martin said. "So, just knowing that we able to get passed that with efficacy and that we didn't see any adverse effects so far is huge.
"We had pretty exciting results," she added. "It seemed to totally knock out the inflammation in the gums, which is what we were hoping for in the animals."
Now, MNT SmartSolutions wants to take its tech into a second round of preclinical trials with two different animal species. If those are successful, it would help pave the way for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to conduct human clinical trials.
But to get there, the startup needs more money, Armijo-Martin said.
MNT SmartSolutions recently opened a series A investment round — a round typically aimed at helping proven startup companies grow — targeting $3 million. Andrea Garcia, the startup's chief operating officer, told Albuquerque Business First that money raised would go toward converting MNT SmartSolutions to a C-corp., developing a prototype of the startup's nanotechnology-backed toothpaste and starting on some small-batch manufacturing.
Job creation is also part of MNT SmartSolutions' plans. Armijo-Martin, the chief technology officer, said the company would need "at least 30 people just to run the [research and development] operation." That hiring would scale up over the next few years, she said. Currently, the startup has four staff, around a dozen students who help with lab work and a few scientific consultants.
To help find investors for the ongoing investment round, MNT SmartSolutions is heading to Boston for the 2023 Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) Conference, which aims to connect early-stage startups with investment and channel partners, according to its website.
Depending on how the startup's meetings with potential investors at the conference go, Garcia, MNT SmartSolutions' chief operating officer, said the company would look to close the series A round before the end of the year.
Established in 2019, MNT SmartSolutions is backed by the New Mexico Start-Up Factory, an organization that helps startups commercialize lab technologies, and received $25,000 through a state of New Mexico science and technology grant in late January.
