The seed fund has joined forces with the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund.
New York state-based Accelerate Long Island (ALI) and Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund (LIETF) have announced initial investments in five Long Island-based biotech and clean energy companies. Both contributed $250,000 and the total $500,000 will be split equally between Goddard Labs, Green Sulfcrete, PolyNova, SynchroPET and Traverse Biosciences.
ALI is a regional collaboration between public and private organisations, including Hofstra University, Stony Brook University and Ernst & Young, among others. LIETF is a collaboration between Topspin Partners and Jove Equity Partners.
Three of the companies are based on research at Stony Brook University. Goddard Labs, located at the university’s Calverton incubator, is developing a molecular diagnostics technology that tests for food-borne pathogens in agriculture. Traverse Biosciences is commercialising an edible prescription drug for the prevention and control of canine gum disease, which affects approximately 80% of dogs over the age of two. Meanwhile, PolyNova came out of joint research between Stony Brook University and Arizona University and is working on a polymer prosthetic heart valve.
The remaining two spin-outs are based on research at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Green Sulfcrete is commercialising an environmentally friendly sulphur-based concrete. SynchroPET is creating a next-generation positron emission technology (PET) with multiple applications.
Mark Lesko, executive director of Accelerate Long Island, said: “We have identified over 150 tech startup companies on Long Island, and to date, 35 companies have pitched our seed funds. Our initial investments are in five promising startup companies that are based on technology invented at world-class research institutions, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University. These investments could not have happened without support from the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, Empire State Development, and LIETF. Today is an important milestone in our joint efforts to create an innovation-based economy on Long Island.”
