‘START Grants’ help Massachusetts-based Companies Convert Federally Funded Research into new Businesses and Jobs.
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development and MassVentures has announced that 26 companies will receive $4.5 million in grant funding through MassVentures’ SBIR Targeted Technologies (START) Grant Program.
Launched in 2012, the program helps startups convert research developed under SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) contracts into viable businesses and jobs in Massachusetts.
This year, MassVentures expanded the program by increasing the number of grants awarded from 17 to 25 and awarding an additional $1.5 million.
The START program offers $100,000 to $500,000 in non-dilutive funds to companies that receive a Phase 2 SBIR or STTR award. START grants fill an important gap by covering activities that are crucial for business growth but not included in federal research grants like marketing, business development, and IP strategy.
The funding supports companies across Massachusetts and across key sectors, including cleantech, biotech, advanced materials and quantum computing.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is dedicated to helping startups and businesses of all sizes and across all industries start, scale, and grow in Massachusetts,” said Massachusetts Interim Economic Development Secretary Ashley Stolba.
“We’re excited this year’s START grants will support groundbreaking ideas in the biotech, climatetech, and AI sectors and help entrepreneurs grow their businesses here in Massachusetts.”
“START is a visionary program that helps prepare founders to raise private capital, create jobs, and grow successful businesses,” said MassVentures President and CEO Charlie Hipwood.
“We are excited to expand the program this year to support additional companies making scientific and engineering breakthroughs that address big societal challenges.”
Since launching START in 2012, MassVentures has awarded $41.7 million to 141 companies that have employed more than 3,300 and leveraged more than $5 billion in private capital. The businesses, 65 percent of which are outside Boston and Cambridge, cover more than 40 locations throughout the state.
“Our state is a national leader in SBIR awards,” said MassVentures Vice President Stacy Swider, who oversees START. “Massachusetts companies have received over $4 billion in Federal SBIR/STTR grants since 2012. START helps them catalyze this funding to build successful businesses.”
The recipients of this year’s Stage III Awards ($500,000) are:
- Electrified Thermal Solutions (Medford) is commercializing the Joule Hive thermal battery that converts and stores intermittent renewable electricity into constant, high-temperature, industrial-grade heat.
- Gel4Med, Inc. (Lowell) is redefining tissue repair and regeneration with first-in-class, peptide biomaterials. Its FDA-cleared lead product, G4Derm Plus, promotes infection-free healing in chronic wounds.
- Osmoses (Cambridge) designs molecular filters with exceptional size selectivity for chemical separation to unlock a low-carbon future powered by green molecules.
- The recipients of this year’s Stage II Awards ($200,000) are:
- Bloomer Tech (Boston) is tailoring cardiovascular care for women using a wearable bra and generating novel digital biomarkers.
- Emvolon (Woburn) is commercializing a platform technology that converts greenhouse gas emissions into carbon-negative fuels and chemicals today.
- Eyebot (Boston) is a deep-tech company operating at the forefront of innovation in the vision care industry, developing a comprehensive suite of self-serve, rapid vision test technologies that deliver reliable results in a matter of seconds.
- PhagePro, P.B.C. (Mansfield) is an early-stage biotech startup developing solutions for antibiotic resistance in emerging markets.
- Theromics (West Bridgewater) has developed a novel biocompatible thermal accelerant biopolymer that moves energy more effectively in human tissue with wide-ranging applications in cancer ablation, women’s health conditions and targeted drug delivery.
- Transcend Air Corporation (Carlisle) is developing a family of optimized vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicles, and the software to manufacture and fly them.
- Versatope (Lowell) uses a nano-vesicle technology for vaccines and targets therapeutics to specific cells.
The recipients of this year’s Stage I Awards ($100,000) are:
- AutonomUS Medical Technologies (Cambridge) is developing “The Pocket Interventionalist”, a handheld device that combines artificial intelligence, ultrasound, and robotics to perform critical medical procedures quickly, safely, and reliably across civilian, military, and point-of-care environments.
- Eascra Biotech (Worcester) is a nanomedicine company that provides precision therapeutic delivery of nucleotides, gene editing and other medicinal cargos to hard-to-penetrate tissues like articular cartilage, kidneys, and solid tumors.
- Enigma Aerospace (dba Crgo) (Burlington) is redefining logistics with ultra long-range, autonomous cargo aircraft designed for dual-use applications.
- Eva (Boston) is building next-generation training processors based on a semiconductor breakthrough to enable advanced AI applications far beyond current reach.
- Gencores (Somerville) develops material technology to unlock mass manufacturing of high-performance composites and enable car manufacturers to produce ultra-lightweight, high-efficiency vehicles.
- Highland Instruments (Cambridge) is innovating ESStim, a novel noninvasive brain stimulation platform to help patients address Parkinson’s Disease.
- LoopCO2 (Marlborough) delivers CO₂-based bio-additives that transform brittle, heat-sensitive, and low-adhesion bioplastics into durable, high-performance materials, opening markets once beyond the reach of existing bioplastics.
- LuxMed Systems (Weston) is advancing catheter ablation with sensor-based PFA technology that provides real-time metabolic tissue feedback for direct lesion assessment and gap detection.
- Micro-Leads, Inc. (Somerville) is developing the world’s first self-expanding neurostimulator that offers the first minimally-invasive, migration-free treatment for millions suffering from chronic pain after joint-replacement surgery.
- Mother’s Milk is Best (Wellesley) created a medical device that concentrates human milk, at point of care, to provide the low volume, high nutrient feedings premature infants need to get the best nutritional start for healthy lives.
- Nanopath (Cambridge) is a women’s health company developing point-of-care molecular diagnostics for pelvic and gynecologic infections.
- Optigon (Somerville) is developing high-speed research instruments and manufacturing inspection tools to accelerate the deployment of solar photovoltaics and other advanced material technologies.
- Qunett (Boston) is building the foundational hardware stack for scalable, platform-agnostic quantum networks, paving the way for global quantum connectivity.
- Salient Predictions (Falmouth) combines novel ocean and land-surface data with machine learning and climate expertise to deliver the world’s most accurate subseasonal-to-seasonal weather forecasts two to 52 weeks in advance.
- Sangtera (Lowell) is developing a breakthrough electrostatic actuation system, delivering high performance in an ultra-compact form factor, for applications from robotics to semiconductor advanced packaging.
- VeraMorph (Norwood) is developing a pipeline of clinically superior, orally reformulated drug products across several indications with a proprietary drug delivery platform to maximize the quality and duration of patients’ lives.
