Purdue Ag-celerator Fund, an investment vehicle linked to Purdue University’s agtech accelerator competition, has backed two US-based plant science spinouts each with $50,000 in funding.
The investees, both finalists in the Ag-celerator competition, are animal vaccine enhancement developer ZeaVaxx and crop dehydrator manufacturer JUA Technologies International.
ZeaVaxx has designed a plant-sourced nanoparticle ingredient for animal vaccines that could bolster the specimen’s immune response, open up alternative biological pathways and enhance resistance to temperature changes.
The spinout was co-founded by Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine’s associate dean for research, Harm HogenEsch, together with his research associate Fangjia Lu and Yuan Yao, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science.
JUA Technologies, meanwhile, is helmed by the married duo of Klein Ileleji, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Reiko Ileleji, who holds a PhD from Purdue in foreign languages and multi-cultural education.
The team has designed a solar-powered dehydrator that will dry crops on farms in developing countries while also acting as a solar generation plant. JUA is also due to launch a hygienic drying tray this summer.
Both spinouts have allocated funds for further development, with ZeaVaxx preparing further R&D to ascertain its nanoparticle’s stability and efficiency following thermos treatment.
JUA Technologies will amass enough marketing and branding capacity to enhance the company’s commercial presence. It expects the dehydrator to be ready for the market in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The Purdue Ag-celerator contest is run by entrepreneurship hub Purdue Foundry together with Foundry’s co-investment arm Purdue Ventures and Purdue College of Agriculture. Purdue Moves, one of the university’s research advancement departments, backs the entrants through a $2m fund.
