UMass Amherst Start-up Companies in Alphabetical Order
1. Aclarity, LLC
Aclarity, LLC (formerly ElectroPure) designs, tests, and develops innovative water purification devices for various applications. Its core patent-pending electrochemical technology removes pathogens, metals, and other impurities from water. Aclarity is currently focusing on the residential and commercial markets to produce a cost effective, low maintenance, and comprehensive home treatment solution to ensure safe, clean, and reliable drinking water. However, the core technology is scalable and the company is actively looking into other market segments. Read More about Aclarity, LLC
2. Anellotech, Inc.
Founded by former Professor George Huber, Anellotech is developing a catalytic process for converting non-food biomass into chemical precursors usually obtained from petroleum. These precursors are used to make important plastics such as polyester, polystyrene, polycarbonate, nylon and polyurethane. Read More at: www.anellotech.com
3. AuCoDe, LLC
Machine learning techniques for real-time detection of controversy in alternative data that could affect publicly traded companies, providing valuable insights to trading and asset management firms to inform their investment strategies. Read more about AuCoDe, LLC
4. Cyta Therapeutics, Inc.
Cyta Therapeutics was formed to commercialize the nanogel-based drug delivery technology developed by Professor Sankaran "Thai" Thayumanavan. The nanogel can be made with a drug captured inside, and when coated with antibodies that make the nanogel go to a particular tissue, the drug will be delivered only to that tissue.
5. Ernest Pharmaceuticals
Ernest Pharmaceuticals is developing programmed bacteria to destroy cancer. Bacterial therapeutics have the power to seek out tumors and deploy anticancer payloads. Read More at: https://www.ernestpharma.com
6. Felsuma, LLC
Felsuma was created to commercialize a unique material called Geckskin® invented by professors Al Crosby and Duncan Irschick. Geckskin is a super-adhesive that is based on the feet pads of geckos, which allow geckos to walk on walls and ceilings. It is easy to apply, incredibly strong and easy to remove. It can replace Velcro, nails and adhesives. Read More about Felsuma
7. Genoverde Biosciences, Inc.
Bioengineered tree seedlings with 20% more wood density and improved yield address economic and environmental challenges, as well as sequestering more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, help to combat climate change. Read more about Genoverde BioSciences, Inc.
8. Intrata, Inc.
Unfortunately, many potential biotechnology drugs can’t penetrate the cells where they are needed, so they don’t work well or at all. Professor Greg Tew has developed a chemical tag that when added to such drugs allows them to enter the cells, and Intrata was formed to apply this technology to a vast number of potential biologic drugs.
9. Lumme Inc.
Professor Depak Ganeson and graduate student Akshaya Shanmugam have developed software that uses a wrist-worn motion sensor to detect when a person is smoking. Lumme is developing a smoking cessation program that uses data from this software to predict when the craving to smoke will occur, and provide feedback to help patients resist lighting that cigarette. Read More about Lumme Inc.
10. MPF, LLC
MPF was founded by the late professor Herbert Hultin to commercialize a process that produces a superior, healthier filet or meat product, --while improving yield. This MPF “Succulence System” does this by efficiently extracting meat from trimmings, racks or other low value sources to "put meat back into meat". Read More at: www.succulence.com
11. PA Technologies, LLC
PA Technologies was co-founded by the late professor Robert Weis to commercialize an innovative biologic drug screening platform. PA Technologies exclusively licensed the technology to Blue Sky Bioservices, which in 2016 was purchased by LakePharma, the largest biologics contract research organization (CRO) in the U.S. Read More at: http://www.patechllc.com/ http://blueskybioservices.com/ https://www.lakepharma.com
12. PearlPod LLC
Female horses can behave erratically during their mating season, which can be hazardous to riders. UMA veterinarian Carlos Gradil has developed unique intrauterine devices that can prevent this behavior. The company PearlPod will develop this device for horses, and develop it further as a contraceptive for pets, wild animals and humans. Read More about PearlPod LLC
13. Soliyarn LLC
Soliyarn is an early-stage start-up that is focusing on developing next-generation smart textiles for wearable applications, such as conductive clooth for heated garments. Read More about Soliyarn LLC
14. Sperm Capacitation Technologies, Inc.
Infertility and subfertility are critical health problems affecting about 9% of couples worldwide. Professor Pablo Visconti and former UMA graduate student Felipe Navarrete developed a simple method to improve the success rate of fertilization, embryo development, and pregnancy. The company Sperm Capacitation Technologies (SCT) will develop kits based on this method for use in the animal breeding industry, e.g. cattle, pig, horse, experimental mice. Long term, SCT hopes to apply this method to improve human fertility.
15. TetraMem, Inc.
TetraMem, Inc., founded by Professors Joshua Yang and Qiangfei Xia and an industry-experienced CEO, is creating the next generation of computing devices for burgeoning AI and IoT applications through memristors. Memristors physically change based on past current flow, conferring two key advantages over traditional transistor-based computing. One, they do not need to be continuously powered to retain memory, enabling low power computing. Two, memristors can go beyond binary and have multiple levels, enabling the design of computers that can mimic the firing of synapses in the brain, key to a nascent field called neuromorphic computing.
