News Archive

The National Business Incubation Association has again awarded the NBIA Soft Landings International Incubator designation to the Emerging Technology Centers of Baltimore. This was ETC’s third renewal of the designation they first received in 2006.

Through its Soft Landings program, NBIA recognizes business incubation programs that are especially capable of helping nondomestic companies enter the incubator’s domestic market. “ETC was selected for the program because of its slate of business services for nondomestic firms and its demonstrated success at helping these firms enter the U.S. market,” said Randy Morris, NBIA director of member services.

Grotech Ventures has been selected as the first private venture capital firm to receive funds to invest through the state’s $84 million InvestMaryland program.

The newly launched program has previously given awards directly to early stage technology companies.

Grotech Ventures, with offices in Hunt Valley and Tysons Corner, Va., received $12 million from InvestMaryland to invest in early-stage companies in Maryland. If the investments are successful, the firm is expected to repay the funds and 80 percent of the profits to the state.

Cerecor Inc today announced that it has signed an option with Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for an exclusive license to develop and commercialize small molecule D-Amino Acid Oxidase inhibitors (“DAAO inhibitors”) that were developed at the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute (“BSi”).

DAAO inhibitors inhibit the degradation of D-serine, an amino acid which has a central role in the normal function of the glutamate / NMDA system in the human brain.  Growing evidence suggests that deficits in glutamate transmission are central to the neurobiology of schizophrenia.  D-serine, when administered in multi-gram quantities per day, has been shown in multiple studies to improve cognition (executive function) and reduce positive symptoms in schizophrenics. DAAO inhibition in the brain, as a means of increasing D-serine levels, has been a target for treating schizophrenia by major pharmaceutical companies for many years. 

The University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the nation’s top hospitals, according to the annual Leapfrog Group survey. This is the seventh year UMMC has received this distinction.

The Leapfrog Group survey analyzes patient safety and quality performance measures from almost 1,200 hospitals. UMMC is one of only two hospitals in the U.S. (and the only one on the East Coast) to make the list every year since it began in 2006.

Baltimore’s newest incubator is officially open for business — and class.

Betamore, located at 1111 Light St. in Federal Hill, aims to help grow technology companies by day and teach the next generation of entrepreneurs by night. The incubator will host technology companies developing products for Internet and mobile devices and offer co-working space for freelancers and contractors in other technology sectors. After work hours, the entrepreneurs from tenant companies and other experts in the area will teach classes on practical technology and entrepreneurship skills, like Web development and pitching to investors.

While accelerators may be in a bubble, they’re also beginning to have a measurable, positive impact on the ecosystem. The real opportunity, though, is not in creating another Y Combinator, but in building vertical-specific accelerators that bring together industry partnerships to create learning and business opportunities for their startups. In healthtech, there’s Rock Health, Blueprint, Healthbox, New York Digital Health Accelerator and Startup Health to name a few.

The roster is growing, and today we have another addition to the list from veteran accelerator DreamIt Ventures. Today, DreamIt is partnering with Independence Blue Cross (IBC) and The University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine) to create a digital health accelerator, designed to provide with entrepreneurs with the resources they need to take advantage of opportunities in the changing landscape of the health industry.

KQED and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation each invested $1.25 million in Matter Ventures, a media startup accelerator they’ve created with help from Public Radio Exchange.

Corey Ford, who ran the accelerator Runway, is CEO of Matter Ventures.

The accelerator — publicized last year as Public Media Accelerator — will pick startups for its four month program and pay them a $50,000 investment as they work in shared space in the South Park area of San Francisco.

A new $50 million investment fund will provide seed capital to launch new businesses that use technologies from government and university research labs in the Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia.

The Chesapeake Regional Innovation Fund will provide seed capital for startups and emerging technology companies focused on innovations in energy, life sciences and security. The first investments are anticipated for later in 2013.

Early stage startups already see New York as a hub for media, advertising and fashion. But the city is starting to build up its name in health tech as well.

At the start of this year, both Startup Health and Blueprint Health – two incubator-type programs that provide funding, mentorship and connections – announced their first classes of startups.  Then, in October, the New York Digital Health Accelerator, backed by the New York eHealth Collaborative nonprofit and the private New York City Fund, introduced its own batch of health tech startups.