university of missouri columns

Entrepreneur.com recently included Columbia, Missouri on their list of “15 Best U.S. Cities for Entrepreneurs to Live and Launch”. The entry for Columbia notes that Columbia is “one of the best college towns” and is “great for entrepreneurs, with an ecosystem that connects entrepreneurs and investors.” The listing links to the MIC website which has a new “ecosystem map” for Mid Missouri. Other cities in the list included Austin, Boulder, and Orlando.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has awarded $95,000 of tax credits to the Missouri Innovation Center. These tax credits are part of the Small Business Incubator Tax Credit Program which helps fund 10 Innovation Centers across the state of Missouri. The funds leveraged by these credits can be used for capital and other non-operating expenditures to support new business creation throughout the state. The credits can be applied to contributions received by MIC between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016.

According to the U.S Census Bureau, Missouri ranks No. 1 nationally in new business creation. Missouri’s new business creation recently surged by an impressive 16 percent while most states saw a decrease. Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2015 Missouri ranked—for the first time ever—as a Top 10 state for startup funding, according to Forbes.

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Sarah Hill created StoryUp in 2015 to create immersive 360 video stories. StoryUP’s first experience, Honor Everywhere, was released in November of 2015 with Jaunt VR, Google, Ghost Machine VR and VU Foundation. Since that time, they have created experiences for Zenith Aircraft company, Kilgore’s Medical Pharmacy, Pate-Jones, and Welcome Home, Inc. In early 2016, they will release stories for the American Heart Association and a documentary shot in Zambia named “Gift of Mobility”.

The concept for Sarah’s company is based on her experience telling stories in various media formats. An alum of the Missouri School of Journalism, Sarah is a National Edward R. Murrow and 12 time Mid-America Emmy award-winning Storyteller. A former interactive news anchor, her team at KOMU-TV pioneered the use of multi-way video chat during a newscast. Through that experience, Sarah learned the value of Human Media and the ability to simulate in-person communication. As Chief Storyteller at Veterans United Foundation, she told stories about Veterans and military families and used Human Media to give a voice to military charities.

StoryUp’s 360-degree experiences envelop the viewer and trick our brains into thinking the experience is happening all around us. You used to have to travel to an amusement park or an Omni-max theater to view Virtual Reality in a dome or cave. Now with new goggles, a VR renaissance is underway. Even without goggles, these spherical stories can be viewed in the web browser on Youtube, Vrideo or Littlestar – but the videos are best experienced inside viewers like Google Cardboard, Zeiss VR One or Samsung Gear VR. Most of these viewers work with newer model smartphones. Because of immersive video’s unique ability to create empathy, the medium is tailor made for storytelling. Sarah believes story is a verb that can lift the world.

eternogen logoEternoGen Aesthetics, LLC developer and manufacturer of advanced collagen scaffolds, announces the successful completion of its financial round. It has secured $5MM to prepare for the 2016 European commercialization of Rapid Polymerizing Collagen (RPC Pure-Collagen), the first of a rich pipeline of products delivering natural results through Bio-Dermal Restoration in facial aesthetics.

This financing enables RPC Pure-Collagen to complete the European regulatory process. It also provides EternoGen Aesthetics with a strong foundation from which to expand RPC Pure-Collagen production and build a premium brand to create transformative change in the $3B (CAGR12%) global facial injectable market.

The parent Company EternoGen, LLC was founded in 2009 by an award winning academic research group from the University of Missouri, led by Professor Sheila Grant, a world authority in biomaterials.  EternoGen has been a resident client at the MU Life Science Business Incubator since 2012.

CryoCrateCryoCrate LLC, founded by Dr. Xu Han, recently won a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The SBIR award will help fund the development of a new device that further improves the process and technique of CryoCrate’s existing products. The company has also received the University IP-Fast Track Award in 2013 and the University Faculty Innovation Award in 2014, both from the University of Missouri.

Founded in 2012, CryoCrate is a company that seeks to innovate and commercialize cryopreservation technologies. The company is currently working with the University of Missouri on a licensing agreement related to a cryopreservation medium that will revolutionize the $463 million cryopreservation industry. This medium facilitates long-term storage of cells using regular lab deep freezers, forgoing the need for liquid nitrogen, but without compromising the quality or lifetime of the cells. The device to be developed with funding from the NIH SBIR award will work in conjunction with the cryopreservation medium in order to apply this technological innovation more effectively within the industry.

CryoCrate is working with local angel investors and is a client of the Missouri Innovation Center. The company is currently looking for an experienced CMO/CEO to commercialize its technology pipeline.

BCS_VerticalLogoBayer CropScience recently announced a licensing agreement with Missouri Innovation Center client Elemental Enzymes. Founders Brian and Katie Thompson started Elemental Enzymes in 2011 based on research conducted at the Christopher S. Bond Life Science Center at the University of Missouri. They have been a resident client at the MU Life Science Business Incubator since that time. Elemental Enzymes has received funding from Centennial Investors and the Missouri Technology Corporation.

The research collaboration and licenses with Bayer are specific to certain Elemental Enzymes technologies in multiple areas of the agricultural industry and provide Elemental Enzymes the opportunity to use innovations created by the collaboration in other areas and industries. The research is part of an on-going collaboration between the two companies involving the use of soil microbes to help improve plant health and improve crop productivity. “Bayer CropScience is a world-class partner to help introduce our proprietary platform to farmers globally,” says Jim Zimmer, global commercialization lead for Elemental Enzymes. Dr. Brian Thompson, CEO of Elemental Enzymes, shares “Our research is focused on delivering unique biological solutions to crops, leading to increased yields.”

Bayer CropScience believes that research in this technology will help broaden the scope of its offerings as a means of addressing agriculture’s long-term goal of helping to feed a world population that will exceed 9 billion people by 2050. “We believe this research will advance the use of soil microbes as a key component of modern agricultural practices in the future,” says Jim Blome, President and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP.

O9zJvMX8_400x400The Missouri Innovation Center has agreed to sponsor Startup Weekend in Columbia again this year. Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. The Columbia event takes place this year on Sept 11-13 at Museau Building, 3500 Buttonwood Dr in Columbia. The community is welcome to attend the Opening Party, Pitches and Final Presentation. See the Columbia Startup Weekend website to register or for more information.

Many successful startups have evolved from Columbia’s Startup Weekend over the past 4 years. Last year, EquipmentShare was accepted into the prestigious Y-Combinator Accelerator in Silicon Valley just a few weeks after winning the local event. EquipmentShare came back to Columbia with over $2M of angel investment after attending the accelerator. The same thing happened with Zapier 3 years earlier – although Zapier decided to remain in California.

In addition to the sponsorship, the Missouri Innovation Center has offered to provide the top 2 teams with free space and consulting services in its new Digital Venturing Center. MIC CEO, Bill Turpin, has also been selected as one of the judges.

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Dr Jake Halliday recently joined Tensive Controls as CEO and Chairman. Dr Halliday will assume corporate business and management tasks along with Tensive founder, Dr Ken Gruber, who will continue as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr Halliday served on the Board of Missouri Innovation Center from 1993, and as its CEO from 2004 – 2014. Dr Halliday led the effort to design and build the MU Life Science Business Incubator at Monsanto Place during his tenure as CEO. He was also instrumental in recruiting Tensive Controls as a resident client. Dr Halliday was CEO of ABC Labs in Columbia, MO from 1993 – 2003 and VP for Pharmaceutical Business Development at Battelle (1984 – 1993).

Tensive Controls has a platform technology based on a class of peptides, named Melanocortins, that control metabolism hence regulate weight. Tensive Controls has received innovation R&D grants from NIH for development of a drug to reverse the loss of lean body mass experienced by cancer patients (cachexia). Melanocortins and related peptides also have antimicrobial properties and Tensive Controls is funded by USDA to innovate peptide antimicrobials as an alternative to the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Tensive formed a subsidiary, named Animal Health Specialties, in 2014 to deliver targeted solutions for both companion and production animals.

Tensive Controls moved to Missouri from North Carolina has been a resident client of the Missouri Innovation Center since 2012. Tensive has received investment from Centennial Investors and Missouri Technology Corporation.

Screen-Shot-2015-07-23-at-1.06.51-PMUniversity of Missouri’s Chancellor Loftin discussed expansion plans for the Life Science Business Incubator in an interview for the July 24, 2015 issue of Columbia Business Times. In the interview, Loftin notes that “The incubator is maxed out right now in the wet labs.” He listed his goals to “expand the reach of the incubator beyond the traditional life sciences” and “expand the incubator … to support more traditional life science programming.” Missouri Innovation Center is creating the Digital Venturing Center to support the creation of software and internet-related businesses. And, planning is underway on an expansion of the MU Life Science Business Incubator at Monsanto Place that will triple the wet lab capacity.

You can read the entire article online at columbiabusinesstimes.com