Company News

Office Space Available: Do you need a small office for your life science or advanced tech startup? The VA Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond has two offices available to fit 1-2 people. Find out more here or contact Heather.Allen@vabiotech.com. Shared Lab Space Available: Do you need to run a test but don’t have a dedicated lab? The VA …

Ceres Nanosciences announced it has been awarded an $8.2 million contract from the National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Initiative. The funding will support the development and implementation of wastewater-based surveillance systems for COVID-19. Manassas, Virginia-based Ceres plans to develop surveillance systems using its Nanotrap particle technology at a network of sites, with …

The Greater Richmond Partnership (“GRP”), the lead regional economic development organization serving the City of Richmond and counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico in Virginia, announces that Mitchel Allen-Rivera is the new Executive Vice President of Business Development. “I am thrilled to welcome Mitchel to Greater Richmond to lead business development,” said Jennifer Wakefield, President …

Case Western Reserve University and Atelerix Life Sciences Inc., a Charlottesville, Virginia-based biotechnology company, have signed a two-year option to license a novel family of small molecules called Active Thiol-Based Compounds (ATBC’s) to prevent or reverse life-threatening opioid-related side effects. The lead compound, ATLX–0199 (also called sudaxine), will be first targeted at opioid-induced respiratory depression …

HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held clinical stage biotechnology company, has identified a second drug target for the treatment of gout under its collaboration with Horizon Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: HZNP) that was established in January 2019. Leveraging its proprietary REVEAL-TxTM disease modeling platform, HemoShear has earned two milestone payments to date in accordance with the …

Governor Ralph Northam announced that startup company Sunny Farms, LLC will invest $59.6 million to establish a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse for production, workforce development, and research in the City of Virginia Beach. The company’s location at Taylor Farms will also house One Matters Inc., a new 501(c)(3), not-for-profit entity that will offer workforce development opportunities …

Grenova Inc., a Virginia-based sustainable biotech firm that designs, develops, and manufactures devices that wash and sterilize contaminated pipette tips for reuse, will invest $10.6 million to expand in the City of Richmond. The company will relocate its operations from Manchester to a larger facility in Scott’s Addition and increase capacity with new production lines …

SWARM Engineering, Inc, the next generation of cognitive software for the food supply chain, announced it has closed funding for a $2.7 million seed round. SWARM Engineering is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform specifically for the food supply chain, rapidly solving complex problems such as supply & demand forecasting, optimizing inbound and outbound logistics, or maximizing …

Children’s National Hospital announces a $4.2 million funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to support maternal mental health research. The Developing Brain Institute at Children’s National will lead a new program that seeks to advance perinatal mental health and well-being while addressing racial disparities in access to resources that could boost positive …

Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia (UVA), has joined the Focused Ultrasound Foundation as a Senior Advisor for Brain Tumor Research. In this role, Dr. Sheehan will help define the Foundation’s overall strategy for brain tumor research. He will also engage in Foundation-initiated laboratory and clinical research, interface with …

The Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation (VBHRC), announced that it is accepting letters of intent (LOI) for Grant Round 12 to fund the development and commercialization of life science projects that address major unmet needs for improving human health and advance Virginia’s economy. Virginia Catalyst awards these funds to …

Healthcare data science company DrugViu is the first company to receive an investment from Riverflow Growth Fund. Riverflow, a new seed-stage venture fund based in Richmond, VA, has invested $250,000 from their first fund into DrugViu. The company aligns with Riverflow’s investment thesis of funding early to late seed-stage companies headquartered in Virginia and the …

MetiStream Incorporated and Carilion Clinic announced a partnership to create an Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled solution – the Surgical Clinical Reviewer (SCR) – that will find the proverbial needle in a haystack – extracting meaningful insights from unstructured surgical quality data in electronic health records (EHRs). “Carilion physicians know the ins and outs of reviewing …

Phlow Corp., a U.S.-based, public benefit corporation committed to a bold mission of providing every American with access to affordable, high-quality essential medicines, joins in announcing the launch of a groundbreaking Children’s Hospital Coalition: Powered by PhlowTM (CHC). This first-in-kind coalition brings together some of the top children’s hospitals across the nation, in collaboration with …

AMPAC Fine Chemicals (AFC), an SK pharmteco company, is a custom manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs, Drug Substances) and registered intermediates for customers in the pharmaceutical industry. Their integrated facilities located in California, Texas, and Virginia specialize in process development, scale-up, and cGMP compliant production from kilograms to multi-ton quantities. The Petersburg, VA location …

Entrepreneurs developing fabrics that filter viral matter like SARS-CoV-2, and therapeutic peptides from cow milk, are among the four startup companies from around Virginia invited to RAMP’s Spring 2021 cohort focused on health and life sciences. The companies were selected in a rigorous application and interview process by RAMP, the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program …

Embody, Inc., a privately-held medical device company developing novel collagen-based technologies for soft tissue injury and repair, announced today the expansion and clinical use cases of TAPESTRY® Biointegrative Implant in the U.S. market. TAPESTRY Biointegrative Implant is the first collagen-based implant with a bioengineered micro-architecture and biostimulative, highly organized type I collagen chemistry specifically designed …

A strategic alliance has a new name — Verge — and a new vision of acting as the front door for an innovation economy that stretches from Lynchburg to the New River Valley. Formed last year, the alliance is a joint mission of the Valleys Innovation Council, the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council and the Regional Accelerator …

MBF Bioscience, a leading provider of bioscience image analysis tools, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Vidrio Technologies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Ashburn, VA, Vidrio is a fast-growing provider of software and hardware components for laser scanning and two photon microscopes. “Vidrio Technologies builds widely loved tools for …

Indoor Biotechnologies, Inc is delighted to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany), operating as MilliporeSigma in the US and Canada, to be a global distributor of Indoor Biotechnologies’ purified food allergens. Under the agreement, MilliporeSigma will employ its sales, marketing, and e-commerce channels and platforms to distribute Indoor …