Montgomery Tech Businesses Earn State Funding

Rockville biotechnology company Cellphire got a $1 million grant from the State’s InvestMaryland program and two Montgomery County companies each took home the top prize of $100,000 in their respective categories recently as part of the 2014 InvestMaryland Challenge.

PHOTO | Cellphire website

Cellphire is developing stabilized cellular products, including freeze-dried platelets that can be stored for years and used in a range of advanced therapeutic and diagnostic applications including sports medicine, plastic surgery and dentistry. The company received a contract last year worth up to $57 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research Defense Authority, a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, according to the county release. The InvestMaryland funding will be used to continue development of the company’s freeze-dried platelet product, Thrombosomes, and move it closer to winning FDA approval, according to a county release.

The InvestMaryland Challenge is a national seed and early-stage business competition hosted by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development in partnership with Inc. Magazine. Grants are provided by the Department’s Maryland Venture Fund and the BioMaryland Center.  Bethesda-based life sciences company, Brain Sentry, won for its helmet-mounted sensor used to identify team sport players who should be evaluated for a concussion. Gaithersburg-based IT company, ClickMedix, won its category for technology aimed at helping physicians and health organizations maximize the number of patients they are able to serve.

More than 250 companies applied to the competition. The annual contest helps encourage entrepreneurship in the state by supporting early stage companies in four distinct categories:  life sciences, cyber security, IT hardware and software and a general industry.

About Krista Brick

Krista Brick is a multi-media journalist with Montgomery Community Media.

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