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"The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has been awarded $625,000 in state funding to launch its new business incubator program.
The grant, which will help pay for start-up and operating expenses, will be disbursed over five years through Empire State Development and its Division of Science, Technology and Innovation, also known as NYSTAR.
ESD is the state’s economic developent agency, and the grant to the pharmacy college is one of eight grants totalling $5 million awarded to business incubators across the state as part of ESD’s Regional Economic Development Council program.
The college is launching what’s going to be known as the Accelerator for Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, a business incubator that will focus on early-stage businesses involved in both biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals — essentially medical devices and drug discovery.
The new incubator will be run by Michelle Lewis, who is a professor at the pharmacy college and executive director of its Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training.
NYSTAR runs a business incubator support program across the state in which it funds 20 “certified” incubators across the state. Each certified incubator receives funding over a five-year period.
The Capital Region has had four of these NYSTAR-certified incubators: Innovate 518, which is overseen by the University at Albany; the RPI Incubator run by Renssealer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, and the Manufacturing Incubator at Tech Valley Center of Gravity, also in Troy.
A fourth incubator that NYSTAR had previously certified was the Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center at Albany Medical College, also known as BACC.
The BACC was started in 2015. However, Cassie Nelson, manager of communications for the Albany Med Health System, told the Times Union that the BACC has “evolved” into Albany Medical Center’s Office of Translational Research, Innovation and Technology Transfer.
And as a result, the “physical space” of the BACC is closing, although it is helping the Albany College of Pharmacy to create the Accelerator for Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, or AMPS, in a nearby building owned by the pharmacy college.
“While the physical space is moving to the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, (Albany Med’s new tech transfer office) is continuing the BACC’s mission by providing biomedical innovation advisory resources and clinical support through virtual business incubation for the community and for Albany Med Health System students, researchers, clinicians, and faculty who have biomedical ideas with potential for commercialization or licensing,” Nelson said in an email.
AMPS will be located in the same building as the Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training at 150 New Scotland Ave. Last year, the pharmacy college acquired the building, previously known as the Center for Medical Sciences.
“It will be a hub, if you will, for up-and-coming businsses,” Lewis said during a recent phone interview.
Those who will be able to use the incubator might be a researcher with a novel idea for a medical device or a new drug therapy. Or it could be a startup with just a few employees. The benefit will be cheap space and access to research tools and machines that otherwise would be too expensive for an early-stage company.
“They can use the space and develop the idea into a business,” Lewis said. She envisions that the AMPS would be ideal for researchers or early-stage companies located in Boston or New York City that can’t afford the real estate there and would find more support and resources in the Capital Region.
According to NYSTAR, AMPS will learn “best practices” from Albany Med and the BACC, and Albany Med will provide “transitionary mentorship” to the new incubator to “mitigate investment risk.”
Nelson said that former tenants of the BACC are now spread out at other incubators, although some may make their way to AMPS.
Albany Med’s tech transfer office “is continuing to work with many of the companies that were physically located on the Albany Med campus and continues to actively support commercialization, bio innovation, and entrepreneurship across the region,” Nelson added.
NYSTAR is led by Ben Verschueren, its newly-hired executive director who used to work at General Electric Co., which has its research center located in Niskayuna.
Verschueren is very excited about the creation of AMPS, and he said that incubators are vital to bridging the gap between business ideas and sustainable companies that get capital investment. The NYSTAR incibator program is designed to give startups all the tools they need to transition into a standalone company. The goal is to eventually graduate to their own space, opening up space for the next round of companies.
“There’s a lot of reasons why (startups) can fail,” Verschueren said in an interview. “This gives them the support they need.”
"Saratoga-based startup founder Sean Austin's two artificial intelligence companies have both crossed significant milestones.
Markets EQ just closed its pre-seed round and is now pursuing a few million dollars in seed funding. And Austin's first company, Helios Life Enterprises, launched a more powerful version of its voice tone analysis in partnership with an international audio analytics firm.
Markets EQ
Markets EQ, which launched in August with backing from Capital Region investors, is focused on raising capital this year.
Markets EQ is an AI tool that can analyze pitches and presentations and give feedback based on questions users ask. Austin co-founded the company with Daniel Shields in August 2023. It is a separate endeavor from Helios.
The company's software can take audio and answer questions like, "Was I on message?" It gives feedback by pulling from data sets. It officially launched Dec. 1.
Austin said Markets EQ closed its pre-seed funding round of $500,000 and has opened its seed round. The company is seeking $3.5 million and already has some funding committed.
"That is our Q1 target for EQ for venture capital ... we are all in on raising this round," he said. "There will definitely be an A round, a B round. We think there's just such a huge marketplace. We can keep growing."
The company has upcoming meetings with East Coast venture capital firms to help raise that money. Early investors from the region include Sam Clifford, owner of the Albany Patroons, and Derek Foster, owner of Daigle Cleaning. Both are alumni of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, like Austin.
The Markets EQ software is made for professionals who work in communications, investor relations and finance. Austin said the company is starting to meet with large public relations firms to pitch their product.
"Communication has a lot of value," Austin said. "From the public company to PR firms, we think it can be very valuable for a lot of people."
Helios Life Enterprises
While Markets EQ is pursuing funding, Helios is doing the opposite and using the funding it already has raised to deploy its latest product.
Helios is developing technology to analyze and derive meaning from tonal shifts in speech, specifically in the comments made by executives during public company earnings calls.
Helios launched Quantum Tuesday in partnership with German research firm audEERING. The product analyzes executive speech patterns and develops market predictions based on the voice data. AudEERING is in charge of packaging the data and findings for clients, like hedge funds.
Quantum is 100,000 times more powerful than Helios' first product, Austin said.
"We figured out a partnership that allows us to make this next generation for Wall Street. Essentially, what we believe — and we're seeing, actually, because the meetings are stacking up — is it's going to be a breakout year," he said. "We cover everyone who's public on planet."
With the launch of Quantum, Austin said Helios is on track to be profitable by the end of the first quarter this year. By the end of 2024, the goal is to grow the company's client base and revenue tenfold.
With the addition of a large client in October, Austin said firms that collectively manage just under $1 trillion in assets use Helios software in some form.
Austin co-founded Helios Life Enterprises in 2019. Since its founding, Helios has raised funding totaling $1.2 million on a rolling basis, Austin said.
The company hired a new chief technology officer, Sam Debnath, who previously worked at Amazon Global Robotics, last year. The hire comes after chief scientific officer Dr. Gerwin Schalk resigned."
Company founded at Cornell moves HQ to Albany(and more): https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/i...onductors.html
"A research company is moving to the Albany Nanotech Complex to be closer to collaborators. Meanwhile, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is set to lease 10 times more square footage at the complex come next year.
Ithaca company moves HQ to Albany
Ithaca-based nanotechnology research company Xallent has moved its headquarters to the Albany Nanotech Complex.
Xallent was founded in 2013 by Dr. Kwame Amponsah with Dr. Amit Lal and Dr. Ashish Kumar at Cornell University. The company develops nanoscale measurement hardware and software tools for imaging, testing and analyzing semiconductors and thin film materials.
Over the last decade, Xallent has contracted with the Department of Defense and its research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But now, the company is ready to move beyond testing other company's silicon wafers to sell or license its machinery.
"Most of our initial products were focused on the R&D side of the market. But now because of our relationship with these clients, we are now scaling into full production, and now require some form of partnerships with, let's say, the semiconductor instruments manufacturers," Amponsah said.
Amponsah said the company moved to Albany Nanotech in January to be closer to clients and potential collaborators. Xallent currently rents an office and a lab. Amponsah is also an adjunct professor at the University at Albany.
The advantage of being at the complex is having access to more advanced technology and being able to bring potential clients/collaborators into the lab for a demonstration.
"We found [demos] to be so powerful, you have no idea. It's so powerful for them. Seeing what what we can do minimizes any barrier ... that is one of the true powers in being on site with clients as well as potential partners," he said. "We are a small company. We don't have the muscle, we don't have the experience to be building complex systems that will go into a cleanroom for Intel or Samsung. But what we have is technology."
RPI leases more space
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is increasing the amount of space it leases at Albany Nanotech.
In addition to the 660 square feet RPI currently leases at the NanoFab East Building, the university will lease an additional 6,600 square feet of office space in the ZEN Building, according to NY CREATES meeting documents.
RPI will fit up the space with an anticipated completion date of March 1, 2025. The lease runs until December 31, 2033.
Rent for the new square footage for one year will be over $229,000. The Fuller Road Management Corporation — a real estate arm of NY CREATES — will provide $978,000 toward fit-up.
More change on the way at Albany Nanotech
The final steps for the complex's new $495 million building, NanoFab Reflection, were approved by the NY CREATES Board Thursday. Even without shovels in the ground yet, requests for space already exceed what will be available at the new space, an official said.
NanoFab Reflection will include 50,000 square feet of clean room space. New York state will be funding the purchase of an advanced lithography machine used in semiconductor manufacturing, part of a $10 billion public/private partnership announced in December.
The partnership if part of the push for the Albany region to land the National Semiconductor Research Center, a new federal initiative expected to spur the creation of more than 1,000 jobs."
Troy video game company, Velan Studios is expanding with an international office: https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/i...deo-games.html
"Velan Studios is growing its footprint by adding an office in Montreal this year.
Guha Bala, president of the Troy-based video game studio, said the goal is to develop a talent pipeline and establish a foothold in the city, which has a high concentration of game companies.
As gaming companies scale, many will outsource labor to keep costs low — which sacrifices some creative control — or establish offices in a place with lowers costs, he said. Velan Studios decided to expand into Montreal to keep growing at half the cost of labor due to exchange rates and the province's video game tax credit program.
"Having a lower cost center, in addition to access to talent, that could bring down our overall cost of innovation in the United States," Bala said. "It's a good idea for us in the long run."
The province of Quebec offers a tax credit of up to 37.5% of qualifying labor expenditures. There are also additional programs, grants and interest-free loans.
Economic development organization Montréal International in 2023 estimated that the local industry had grown to more than 300 game studios and 13,500 workers since government support started in 1996.
New York has implemented its own $25 million video game development tax credit program, which awards up to $5 million per year for five years. It's a good first step, Bala said, but Montreal's program is different because it's easy to use, widely used, uncapped and permanent.
Canada also implemented a skills-based immigration policy, which would give Velan an easier way to recruit international talent.
"That means that it's not only the talent in Quebec, but it's talent around the world. And we can, in a pretty straightforward manner, apply for work permits and get them to work there," Bala said. "It's much more challenging to get that done in the United States now, and it's become more challenging over the years."
Over the course of the year, Velan plans to hire five to 10 employees in Montreal. The group will be focused on product development. Bala said the additional employees won't detract from the workforce in the Capital Region. In total, the company currently has 123 employees.
Bala said Velan is trying to grow slowly in Montreal.
"I think you could get lost in the numbers in terms of building a company. You could say, 'It's half the cost, so let me double the number of people,'" Bala said. "It's more important to be able to develop and establish a small footprint that works really well, understand the local market, establish the local leaders, and set the foundation to build really good organic growth there over time."
"Interior design software company Spoak began as a fully remote, international organization.
Founder Hilah Stahl started the company while living in Berlin, Germany, and collaborated with engineers in Ireland and Italy.
But when Stahl had to return to the United States, she chose the Hudson area for the company's headquarters.
"It's a very design-centric area. It's embedded in the value system," she said. "Everyone I meet, even not in a professional context, cares about it or works in it in some adjacent way — even if it's just like a hobbyist antiquer."
Spoak is software that allows users — both amateurs and professionals — to plan interior design projects by creating floor plans and room mockups, managing projects and sourcing products. It also has an in-software catalog of decor items created in partnership with small businesses and retailers through which users can purchase items.
Today, the company has nearly 200,000 projects using the software. The software has been featured in design publications like Architectural Digest, Domino Magazine and Real Simple.
The first version of the product launched in the spring of 2019, with the refined version going live in March 2020. When it first launched, Stahl said the company raised a friends and family round, followed by $2.5 million seed round raise in 2022. The company hasn't needed to raise any more capital since 2022.
Spoak is subscription-based and doesn't offer a free tier of the software. Memberships range from $9.99 per month for a basic package to $99.99 per month for access to all of its features.
Stahl got the idea for Spoak when trying to decorate her first apartment in New York City and couldn't find a tool for amateurs/DIY-ers like herself or professionals that fully visualized a design.
"I had always worked in tech, so I was up to date, obviously, with software that was available. I knew Adobe, I knew everything and felt like there was just an enormous amount of tools out there for the inspiration phase of a project — like Pinterest and Instagram — and then the buck stopped basically after that," she said.
As the company grew, Stahl returned to the United States and settled in Chatham. Now, three of Spoak's 10 team members live in Columbia County. The rest are remote, but on-site company events happen in Chatham.
Spoak doesn't have a physical office space — the Hudson Valley team rotates working at each other's houses or at local businesses/coworking spaces. They frequent the Old Chatham Country Store, Wylde Hudson, Barnfox Hudson, and Morningbird in Kinderhook.
Stahl said some of the company's investors see Spoak's Hudson Valley location as an edge. Not only is the company removed from more stressed competition, but the area — specifically Hudson — is known for being an antiques/art hub.
"Our biggest professional network is in Manhattan, but even those designers are really excited to come up because this is a design destination — architecturally, antique-wise, it's a place you go to intentionally from a design perspective," Stahl said. "I think for us to be at the epicenter of that, and hopefully build a community around it up here, feels really right for us as a brand."
As the company continues to grow, Stahl wants to double down on the Hudson area. The long-term plan is to buy a house, use Spoak to design it, and make it the company's headquarters. It would also offer out-of-town employees a place to stay.
"I think [we would] just fill it with our local brand partners' products, to host events there. It would also be an office for us," Stahl said. "That's just a fun thing that we've really always wanted to do."
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