TEDCO Spotlight: Picklehead, LLC
By Barry Frey, RBI2 Mentor
Chefs and individuals working in kitchens are subject to knife cuts to their fingers when slicing foods. RJ Batts knew this first hand because his father is a chef and sometimes came home with deep cuts on his fingers, some of which required medical attention. RJ, with encouragement from his family, knew a protective product could be developed to protect chefs and household cooks from the injury and pain resulting from knife cuts. This would reduce 'lost time accidents', saving restaurants money.
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What's Happening @ TEDCO?
TEDCO ICE Awards, May 25 in Baltimore
TEDCO will honor some of its "coolest" portfolio companies and recognize the best and brightest that are developing cutting-edge technologies and enriching our community at the annual ICE Awards. The awards program, which stands for Innovation, Corporate excellence and Entrepreneurship, will recognize outstanding businesses and individuals from TEDCO's diverse portfolio of more than 300 seed and early-stage companies. Winners will be recognized on May 25 during the awards ceremony at the Columbus Center (IMET) in Baltimore. You can also connect with 20 of TEDCO's recently funded startup companies that will be exhibiting, as well as network with the coolest tech startups, investors, and entrepreneurship community in Maryland. More
Charles County Department of Economic Development: TEDCO Kickstarting Businesses in Maryland's Innovation Economy
"NIST's research in nearly every industry is unparalleled," said Petr. "When you combine this research with the tenacity of our
entrepreneurs, the financial support of TEDCO and the incubator services of our partners, Montgomery County has the infrastructure in place to accelerate these businesses and create a more diverse, and sustainable, local economy."
In 2015, Motobriiz LLC owner Mike Steele attended a Southern Maryland Innovation and Technology (SMIT) meetup, where attendees interact with other innovators, showcase promising ventures, and learn about principles and methods to accelerate market success. At the event, Steele met Angela Singleton, now a deal team member and portfolio manager at TEDCO, which supports technology startups based in the state of Maryland. Steele and Singleton discussed Steele's plans for expanding the consumer base for Motobriiz, which manufactures wind-powered automatic chain oilers for motorcycles. At the time, Motobriiz was selling primarily to individuals (B2C), but Steele hoped to expand the business to B2B customers and
wholesale accounts.
After connecting with Singleton, Steele worked with TEDCO to assess various market opportunities and market penetration strategies.
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| Tiffany W. Davis, TEDCO RBI2 Mentor |
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"Utilizing a vast network of relationships between research universities, federal laboratories, entrepreneurs, and investors,
TEDCO offers unparalleled access to key members of Maryland's entrepreneurial community," explains Tiffany Davis, a program mentor at TEDCO.
TEDCO's insight helps business owners, like Mike Steele, determine the industry climate, discover new market opportunities, and expand their customer base.
"TEDCO can recommend courses, provide insights into the local community, and really get to the core of your business needs," Steele explains.
In addition to market research, TEDCO, which is funded by the state of Maryland, offers mentoring, funding, and networking opportunities to entrepreneurs, startups, and early stage companies for the accelerated success of an innovation economy in Maryland and beyond.
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Upcoming Events
Featured Event: Technology Showcase - NCI Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research, June 7 from 3-5 p.m. in Frederick
The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) will be hosting a half-day event that will showcase technologies being developed at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and FNLCR. The event aims to introduce the Frederick community to the regional technology development stakeholders, highlight available resources, as well as to encourage startup company formation, technology licensing, and collaborations.
The program will feature short technology summaries presented by NCI and FNLCR innovators, as well as presentations from regional stakeholders involved with technology development and commercialization. There will be opportunities for networking throughout the event, including an interactive poster session by innovators and technology ambassadors.
Date: June 7, 2017
Time: 12:30-6:00 p.m.
Location: Advanced Technology Research Facility, 8560 Progress Drive, Frederick, MD 21702
Cost: Free
The event is free to attend, but we ask that you please
click here
to register.
Additional Upcoming Events
Venture for America's 2017 Northeast Job Fair, May 12, 2017 in Baltimore
The Northeast Job Fair in Baltimore, Maryland, will bring together 50+ startups and 100+ fellows for a full day of interviews and networking. They will pre-arrange interviews based on candidate preferences in addition to leaving open time for networking with additional fellows and companies. For more information
click here
.
How To Win SBIR Awards(SM) Workshop, May 24, 2017 in Hanover
The Maryland SBTDC will sponsor this highly-acclaimed workshop that equips entrepreneurs and senior personnel to WIN federal SBIR/STTR awards (NOT just write proposals) on a consistent basis at ALL agencies (with a special emphasis on NIH). The instructor, training media, 100+ page workbook and NIH handouts will be provided by the SBIR Resource Center®, the nation's leading supplier of business development resources to the SBIR/STTR community. For more info, click
here.
Maryland Entrepreneurs Resource List (MERL) Office Hours, June 20 in Gaithersburg; June 30 in Columbia
MERL provides a list of entrepreneurs who are available to mentor or provide leadership to early stage companies. MERL can be used by innovators who need an entrepreneur to commercialize their technology or by university and federal laboratory technology transfer professionals who want to identify management for a start-up opportunity being developed at their institution. Contact Dr. Linda Saffer at
[email protected]
for more information.
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Sonavex, Inc., a privately held medical device company dedicated to improving surgical patient outcomes with point-of-care imaging technologies,  announced that it received $3 million in recent financing, including the $2.2M first close of its Series A round. The offering, led by Grey Sky Venture Partners, was recently expanded by another $1.3 million following increased demand from investors. Other participating investors include CRCM Venture Capital, TEDCO, the Abell Foundation, medical device executives, surgeons, and successful business executives.
TEDCO is launching a $1 million fund to help technology startup firms cover the gap between seed funding and venture capital investments. The GapInvestment Fund program was included in Gov. Larry Hogan's fiscal year 2018 budget.
"Instead of piecing together a hundred thousand here or a hundred thousand there, we're trying to scale up the amount of money we're investing," John Wasilisin, president of TEDCO, said.
Andy Jones has been a whiff of fresh air, and a bundle of energy, at Maryland Venture Fund since taking its helm as managing director in late 2015.
TEDCO has new funding for startups who are past the seed funding stage but not quite ready for VCs... TEDCO will look to provide investments of $200,000 to $500,000, TEDCO President John Wasilisin said. It has to be matched from outside investors, and must be used to hire new employees.
Out of five startup companies selected to present in front of a panel of industry leaders at the 2017 BioHealth Capital Region Forum, LifeSprout was chosen to have the most commercial potential at the 2nd Annual Crab Trap Competition.
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From left to right: Ethan Byler (BHI), Mark Fitzgerald (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati), Kevin Colbert (LifeSprout/Johns Hopkins), Rich Bendis (Moderator/BHI)
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Elisseeff is the Morton Goldberg Professor and director of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at Wilmer Eye Institute and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at JHU.
"We are pleased to welcome Dr. Elisseeff to TEDCO's board of directors," said Newt Fowler, TEDCO Board Chair. "Our goal is to provide the support and resources to TEDCO executives, helping them continue to spur economic development and remain as the go-to funding source for Maryland start-up companies. Dr. Elisseeff's experience and insight not only as a leading researcher but as an entrepreneur involved in many biotech companies located on both the East and West coasts, will prove an incredible benefit not only to TEDCO but more importantly to our life science companies."
Technical.ly Baltimore: FitMango, a TEDCO funded company, picks up win (and funding) at Shore Hatchery
FitMango came away with the top prize, earning the startup $25,000. Based at the Co-op in Mt. Vernon, the company's software allows users to find small-group fitness classes with professional trainers.
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