Stories

NASHVILLE, TN—Construction finance platform Built Technologies announced $125 million in Series D funding at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Lead investor TCV, along with Brookfield Technology Partners, 9Yards Capital, XYZ Venture Capital and HighSage Ventures, will join existing investors. COLUMBUS, OH—Software startup Aware has raised an additional $50.5 million, just nine months after a $12 million round. Aware…

Astrobotic’s first mission to the moon PITTSBURGH, PA—Astrobotic, a lunar logistics company, is looking at next year’s calendar to set a date for sending the first commercial mission to the moon and the first American spacecraft to soft land there since the Apollo missions. (We interviewed Astrobotic’s CEO, John Thornton, earlier this year.) Exploring quantum technologies URBANA-CHAMPAIGN,…

Twice-daily pill to treat COVID CHAPEL HILL, NC—Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say a twice-daily pill – molnupiravir – could change the way COVID-19 is treated. Strong clinical trial results showed the experimental antiviral drug reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with coronavirus. Merck Co. is seeking emergency authorization…

CLEVELAND, OH—A revolutionary technology developed by MediView holds “the promise of X-ray vision for surgeons” using augmented reality. The tech allows a health care professional to wear glasses that let them see inside a patient without an incision or open operation, based on 3D patient-specific holograms of internal anatomy (taken from previous or intra-operative imaging). NASHVILLE,…

Big win in Kentucky KENTUCKY—The Bluegrass State has landed the single largest economic development project in its history, a $5.8 billion investment by Ford Motor Corp. and South Korea-based SK Innovation to build two battery manufacturing plants in Glendale in Hardin County. The plants are expected to employ 5,000 people. The project will not only…

KANSAS CITY, MO—FoxPoint Trucks, LLC, a technology enabled, specialty finance truck leasing company has raised $85 million of capital to support its continued expansion. Gordon Brothers, a global investment firm, supplied the capital infusion. ST. LOUIS, MO—Online training platform Nerdy went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Nerdy, which went public by merging with…

Changing treatment for COVID patients MADISON, WI—A new pharmaceutical therapy created by biotech Nano RED could change the way doctors treat patients with COVID. The therapy binds to surface proteins on lung cells that the virus typically latches onto. Then, when a viral particle comes across the lung cells, it finds all the binding sites taken.…

COLUMBUS, OH—The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes has allocated $16 million toward a seven-year, multicenter research project led by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine that will compare inpatient rehabilitation treatments for traumatic brain injuries (TBI). MADISON, WI—DotCom Therapy, which offers mental health, speech and occupational therapy to children through a virtual therapy solution, has…

RALEIGH, NC—AgBiome, a company that discovers and develops innovative biological and trait products for crop protection, has landed $116 million in a funding round co-led by Blue Horizon, Novalis LifeSciences and multiple new and existing investors. The latest investment gives AgBiome over $200 million in total funding to date. PITTSBURGH, PA—Cascadia Capital, a Seattle-based investment banking firm…

Taxi to Takeoff COLUMBUS, OH—Taxi to Takeoff Aviation Academy is a new program offered to high school students enrolled in Ohio State’s College Credit Plus program to introduce them to the inner workings of careers in aviation. Aside from pilot training, the academy will cover aerospace engineering and maintenance, airport management, and logistics. Madison could be…

Novel cancer platform could treat SARS-CoV-2 MADISON, WI—Nanotechnology startup Nano RED formed when its founders sought to discover a new method of treating cancer. During the COVID crisis, they discovered  their novel platform could also prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2. In-home saliva test LAWRENCE, KANSAS—Researchers at the University of Kansas are looking to place an in-home, saliva-based testing unit for COVID-19 on…

ST. LOUIS—Flywheel Exchange, which makes a cloud-based, biomedical research data management platform, has raised $22 million in a Series C funding round. The fresh funding helped finance the acquisition of Radiologics, a St. Louis-based startup. COLUMBUS, OH—Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the College of Medicine will be participating in building an interdisciplinary resource network for Alzheimer’s…

MADISON, WI—DataChat, a spin-out from the University of Wisconsin, has closed on a $25 million Series A round. The funding will enable DataChat to continue its development of data analytics using conversational intelligence. The round was led by Redline Capital and Anthos Capital, Celesta Capital (formerly WRVI Capital) and Nepenthe Capital. PITTSBURGH, PA—Investment firm Tecum Capital Management announced that it received a…

Turning sewer gas into hydrogen fuel COLUMBUS, OH—A research associate at The Ohio State University is partnering on a study that seeks to turn hydrogen sulfide – more commonly called “sewer gas” – into hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen sulfide is emitted from manure piles and sewer pipes and is a key byproduct of industrial activities, including refining oil and…

Genetics and COVID CAMBRIDGE, OH—COVID-19 forced many schools to take a closer look at the technology they had in place to educate students and find new ways to use it. Ohio school districts such as East Guernsey and Cambridge City Schools are preparing for a potential return to remote learning. AI tool may predict who will…

COLUMBUS, OH—The presence of a cancer tumor can lead to cardiac damage due to free radicals interacting with cells in the heart. Researchers at The Ohio State University studied the phenomenon using fruit flies. Researchers added antioxidants to food consumed by fruit flies with tumors that then reversed the damage to the heart. MINNEAPOLIS, MN—The University of Minnesota announced that…

PITTSBURGH, PA—Carnegie Mellon University and Emerald Cloud Lab (ECL) have entered into a partnership to build the world’s first cloud lab in an academic setting. As part of Carnegie Mellon’s $250 million investment in state-of-the-art science facilities, the remote-controlled lab will provide a universal platform for AI-driven experimentation. MICHIGAN—The Michigan Rise Pre-seed Fund III has closed at $6.5 million in state…

Fixing cell battery drain problems ANN ARBOR, MI—Alanson Sample, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, has co-developed an invention that could eliminate the battery drain problems experienced by cell phone users around the world. The device is a wireless charging chamber that can deliver power over the air to any laptop, tablet or phone without requiring plugs…

A look at genetics and COVID reactions OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Why do some people get infected by COVID while others with the same exposure remain unaffected? Why do some people suffer more severe symptoms than others? The answer might be genetic. A study at the University of Pediatric Genetics at the University of Oklahoma College of…

CLEVELAND, OH—A Cleveland Clinic-led international research team have engineered a new type of bionic arm. This one enables a patient to send nerve impulses from the brain to the prosthetic when the patient wants to use or move it, and to receive physical information from the environment and relay it back to the brain through…