Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KCTC) has announced the opening of its next quarterly investment cycle and named the 25 companies it funded with a total of $4 million in investments last year.
As the venture capital arm of Kentucky’s leading innovation support organization, KSTC’s Kentucky Enterprise Fund has been investing in the future of Kentucky since 2002, leveraging $38 million to support 160 Kentucky companies, a news release stated. This fund makes early-stage venture capital investments in high-growth startups and entrepreneurs based in or interested in relocating to Kentucky.
“The future of innovation is bright in Kentucky, as seen by the number of companies the Kentucky Enterprise Fund was able to support in 2021,” said Kelby Price, KSTC’s executive director of venture finance, in the release. “We’re excited for this next year of growth of Kentucky companies and increased support for innovation, jobs, and growth in the overall economy of the Commonwealth.”
The investment cycle is open now through March 31, with $1.125 million available to invest in eligible companies. After that date, the remaining windows for the 2022 quarterly investment cycle are: April 1 through June 30, July 1 through Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.
To be eligible for funding, companies must be in the process of building an innovative, technology-enabled product, process, or service; have developed a prototype, be seeking product-market fit, or entering an early growth stage of development; and present a well-articulated market opportunity with some level of customer validation and a strong founding team.
In the last investment cycle of 2021, KSTC announced $1.78 million of investments in companies that included:
- C2Keep: Controlled Substances Inventory Management system for Pharmacies.
- Enviro-Fresh: Smart vending and supply management hardware solution for washroom hygiene and guest services/supplies for the hospitality and healthcare industries.
- Innovative Therapeutix: A pediatric-focused device company that solves early medical and developmental issues in infants and children, preventing long-term and more complex problems.
- Legal Gantt: Software that allows clients to track and understand the legal process.
- Moolathon: A social fundraising platform that is built on a fitness tracker.
- Nexosome Oncology: A division of NX PharmaGen focused on the applications of exosome-based diagnostics in the cancer field.
- Parasight System: Fecal egg count system intended for animals; quantitative diagnostic and management tools for veterinarians and animal industry professionals.
- Pyrochem: A leading producer of catalysts and specialty materials for automotive exhaust and reforming applications.
- RAADZ: Market research platform for digital advertisers
- Repaytient: Provide flexible payment plans to help hospital and clinic patients pay their rising out of pocket expenses.
- Symba: Real estate focused mobile-first customer relationship management and sales platform.
- Synaptek: Concussion-focused app that supports athlete health, recovery, and performance by making testing, documentation, and analytics easy.
- Victory Hemp: Developer of hemp-based food products and materials created to offer an alternative to synthetic proteins and food items.
- Yornest: Developer of a messaging platform designed to create close social groups for large or small audiences.
KSTC and the Kentucky Enterprise Fund have worked in partnership with KY Innovation, a part of the Cabinet for Economic Development, to create the easy to navigate quarterly investment process for the state’s most promising startup companies.
“Governor Beshear and the Cabinet for Economic Development are fully committed to making sure that Kentucky is a leader in creating the companies and jobs of the future,” said Anthony Ellis, interim director of KY Innovation. “The Kentucky Enterprise Fund, one of two of the state’s venture capital investment funds, is a key part of this success.
"KSTC, which manages the fund, has always shown a keen eye for supporting many of our state’s most promising and successful startups at the most critical early stages of growth. We believe the new application process and other initiatives KSTC is implementing will improve access for all of Kentucky’s entrepreneurs and help ensure that billion-dollar companies that change the world can launch and grow here.”
In 2021, KSTC invested a total of $4 million in 27 Kentucky companies. Other KSTC investments for 2021 investment cycles included:
- Alt Distilling: A low and non-alcoholic beverage development company.
- BehaVR: Platform for delivering VR experiences that activate cognitive, emotional and physiological responses with the goal of improving health.
- Cloverleaf: Developer of a team development tool intended to help businesses detect and combine personalities for a team.
- FlyWire: Developer and designer of wearable, line-of-sight video camera intended to provide electronic monitoring for capturing action videos.
- GoWild: A free social community helping outdoor enthusiasts improve their skills, discover gear and earn rewards.
- Griffin Residuals: Provider of Own/Operate advanced biosolids drying facilities in the municipal waste and industrial processing markets.
- HuMed: Cancer support company developing products that alleviate adverse effects of cancer treatment.
- Lok-N-Blok: Manufacturer and provider of “building making units” made up of a proprietary composite material named Envion.
- OmniLIfe: provider of a secured messaging application designed to make the organ procurement process more efficient.
- OrgVitals: A culture management platform that collects, correlates, and visualizes employee and culture analytics to reveal equity, business ROI, and predict employee health.
- Virtual Peaker: Developer of an energy assessment platform designed to monitor and manage residential electric demand.
You can find out more about the investment process and apply for funding here.
