Seven Wisconsin small businesses — including three in the Milwaukee area — were recently awarded a combined up to $650,000 to commercialize their innovations, according to an announcement earlier this month.
The funding came through SBIR Advance, a state matching grant program for companies that are also receiving funding through the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
Milwaukee-based battery technology startup COnovate Inc. and Wauwatosa blood clotting test developer Retham Technologies LLC were among the grant recipients. Each received up to $100,000.
COnovate raised nearly $1 million from angel investors earlier this year to scale up the production of its novel material that could be used in batteries for electric vehicles, among other applications.
Universal Real Time Power Conversion LLC (URTPC) of New Berlin was awarded $75,000. The company is developing a real-time simulation tool that could potentially help supercomputers predict severe weather events, crack weapon code and expedite engineering design, according to its website.
URTPC was founded in 2015 by Debiprasad Panda, who was working as a senior staff engineer at GE Aviation and formerly was an engineer at Rockwell Automation's Advanced Technology lab.
The other grant recipients included three Madison startups and one in Sullivan in Jefferson County.
Madison's Immuto Scientific is developing technology to make drug discovery and development more efficient. The startup raised $2.3 million last year from investors including Wisconsin Investment Partners in Madison, as well as BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation Inc., Golden Angels Investors and Milwaukee Venture Partners, all in Milwaukee.
Cadens LLC, based in Sullivan, received a grant of up to $75,000. The company is developing small hydropower turbine systems designed to tap undeveloped sites for renewable energy.
Steam Instruments and Neurosetta LLC, both in Madison, were each awarded grants of up to $100,000. Steam Instruments is developing technologies to improve the mass range, quantum efficiency and spatial resolution of mass spectrometry, the Dec. 14 grant announcement stated.
Neurosetta LLC is developing technology for quantitative high-throughput modeling of early human brain and spinal cord development.
