BY PATRICIA DADDONA
Two local startup technology firms in Groton and Stonington will benefit from an investment of $150,000 each in funding from Connecticut Innovations.
Through its “Pre-Seed Fund,” CI, the state’s quasi-public authority responsible for technology investing and innovation development, will invest in Arcanatura LLC of Groton; Medical Device Logistics LLC of Stonington; and also C8 Sciences (formerly BeCaid LLC) of New Haven.
Each of these companies will receive $150,000 and has secured matching funds from private investors, as required by pre-seed legislation.
“The Pre-Seed Fund is off to a strong start this fiscal year, providing capital to three exciting new startups,” Charlie Moret, CI’s managing director of business development, said in a statement. “The entrepreneurial activity we’re seeing is robust and encouraging, and we believe momentum continues to build – which will boost demand for this important initiative.”
Launched in 2008, Arcanatura is an early-stage, green, animal health care product company committed to developing natural, high quality, clinical trial tested health products (mainly from plant origin) for targeting chronic and recurring health problems of dogs, cats and horses.
The funding, a complex mix of loaned funds and investments, “is quite critical and quite timely because we are in the process of launching four products in the U.S. market,” said Dr. Serge Martinod, the company president.
The money will help Arcanatura put together its marketing program, he said.
The four products to be launched include a product package that helps control allergies in dogs; a product package called “Ticked Off” to remove an embedded tick on a dog; “Skunked 911,” a product package to deal with skunk odor on a dog; and a cream to treat a skin problem in horses.
The company plans to offer its products direct to consumers via its website and social media marketing. A sister company, Arcanatura SAS, is based in France and will market the company’s products in Europe and Africa.
Medical Device Logistics is an early-stage company that is developing a closed trading platform for hospitals and surgical centers to sell and purchase new medical implants and surgical devices that are considered idle inventory. The company also plans to provide an inventory management tool.
Using the MDL platform, participating hospitals and surgical centers will be able to anonymously create listings of their idle inventory, and buyers will be able to anonymously search other hospitals’ listed idle inventory. The platform should help trim the average hospital’s $250,000 in idle inventory.
“We just think it’s great,” said Ben Davol, MDL spokesman. “We’re in the very early stages here but with the loan we’re going to be able to really flush out our business plan and move forward.”
C8 Sciences intends to market neuroscience-based, web-delivered brain development programs that are integrated with physical exercise. The initial product is designed to improve the learning ability of elementary school children and also promises to have value in identifying and treating children with ADHD.
CI’s $4 million Pre-Seed Fund supports the formation of new Connecticut technology companies with loans of up to $150,000 to Connecticut-based startup and early-stage technology companies.
Funding may be used for expenses such as accounting, legal, intellectual property development, technology and prototype development, business plan development, technology assessments, market analyses, market entry strategy development, and hiring of advisers and employees.