The University of Arizona Center for Innovation developed a new pilot program that is now allowing three entrepreneur teams to launch their companies into the market. The three companies are Metfora, Obanj and Dive. The three completed the university’s 8-week Arizona FORGE Advanced Entrepreneur Program (AEP), which provides early-stage entrepreneurs with education on general startup concepts and [...]
Arizona's four-year public universities can be likened to cousins. Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, knows the dynamic well. “Family arguments are probably the most intense arguments I’m ever in,” he said. “That’s like universities in the same state -- they’re competing for students, they’re competing for status, they’re competing for resources.” Crow is set [...]
As soon as this fall, patients could be quickly and cheaply tested for the virus that causes COVID-19 with a device invented by University of Arizona optical scientists. The portable pathogen detection system, developed by Botanisol Analytics, uses a laser with sensors that can instantly analyze the chemical makeup of a virus test sample. Botanisol’s device, [...]
Ryan Ott joined Tech Launch Arizona (TLA) earlier this year as a Student Entrepreneurial Fellow alongside three other students in a program designed to leverage their unique talents while giving each the invaluable opportunity to learn from TLA’s accomplished team members. These students have shown a deep commitment to advancing their education and professional skillset, [...]
University of Arizona-focused venture capital fund has invested in an optics startup developing laser-based countermeasures to protect military and civilian aircraft from missiles. UAVenture Capital’s undisclosed investment in CMLaser Technologies Inc. is the fund’s 15th portfolio investment in just over two years. Based on an invention of longtime UA optics professor Nasser Peyghambarian and patented [...]
Two teams of entrepreneurs, one that tackled a critical recycling problem and one that’s trying to disrupt the oil and gas industry, each won $100,000 on Friday. The two ventures were the top winners in the fourth ASU Innovation Open pitch competition at Arizona State University. This year’s event gave away $300,000 in funding, the most [...]
Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft were launched by college-age students. To stimulate a similar dynamic for the healthcare industry, Arizona State University is creating a breeding ground to foment a new generation of innovators. The Tempe, Arizona-based university, which has been ranked the last five years by U.S. News and World Report as the nation's most innovative university, offers a bachelor's degree [...]
When Dana Stephenson began to court Arizona State University two years ago, he was looking for a higher ed client for his education technology startup. Instead the university wound up as one of his most important investors. What began with faculty interest in Stephenson’s Canadian company, Riipen, which connects students with class projects offered by [...]
UAVenture Capital Fund (UAVC), a Tucson-based venture capital fund dedicated to the commercialization of University of Arizona discoveries, products, technologies and services, today announced its thirteenth investment. The Fund has invested in StimAire, Inc. where breakthrough technology may revolutionize the treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). StimAire replaces today's surgically implanted neural stimulation devices with a small wearable and [...]
UAVC, the University of Arizona's in-house venture capital fund, has invested in three new laser companies recently spun out of the Tucson institution. Between them the three companies to win backing - DeUVe Photonics, CThru Lasers, and Wavelength Unlimited Technologies - are looking to cover almost the entire breadth of the optical spectrum. DeUVe is [...]