Ten tiny companies get support from the state

Five-year-old Amulet Pharmaceuticals, a resident of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's technology incubator, lately has found itself courting offers from Fortune 500 companies and venture capital firms.

That didn't seem possible for the tiny company just months ago. And it wouldn't have been, said Amulet CEO Craig Liddell, but for a state-funded program Liddell calls “perfect.”

Amulet in November received a $75,000 grant from the Maryland Technology Development Corp., or TEDCO, through its Maryland Technology Transfer Fund.

“Amulet would not have died, necessarily, without this money,” Liddell said, “but we certainly could not have accelerated the program to the point of getting term sheets from Fortune 500 companies and venture capitalists the way it did. This was just about the right amount of money at the right time.”

In an event yesterday at Amulet's headquarters at the techcenter@UMBC incubator, TEDCO announced the 10 local startups, including Amulet, that shared the $750,000 in grants the tech transfer fund had awarded in the past six months.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. attended, touring the facility and praising the program, one of TEDCO's flagship initiatives.

But the governor already had made his feelings about the program clear several months ago, writing into his budget proposal $750,000 for the tech transfer fund, bringing its 2007 fiscal year budget to $2.25 million.

That's up from $1.5 million this fiscal year, $1.75 million in 2005 and $1.5 million in 2004.

“The state is very pleased to provide vital seed funding to these 10 companies, and we look forward to them prospering and helping to strengthen Maryland's technology economy,” Ehrlich said in a statement.

Presumably, the state also is pleased with the program's record. In the Maryland Technology Transfer Fund's existence, the 49 companies that completed their funded projects have drawn more than $1 billion in additional funding from outside sources.

That's a return of $36.70 per state dollar.

“We've had great success,” said TEDCO interim Executive Director Renée Winsky.

The purpose of the program is not necessarily to make money for the state directly — Maryland receives no equity stake in the funded companies or their technologies — but to encourage companies to partner with federal laboratories and academic researchers and foster technology transfer, Winsky explained.

All of the funded firms are partnering with such researchers. Amulet is working with UMBC's William R. LaCourse, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Each company eventually reimburses the state for the funding at up to twice the amount of the original grant, with interest beginning to accrue one year after the funded project ends.

In addition to Amulet, $75,000 awardees included ADF Solutions Inc., Alertus Technologies Inc., Baltimore Shipping Technologies, BioFortis Inc., Excimus Biotech Inc., NetImmune Inc., Nora, and Promogen Inc. Mirari Biosciences Inc. received $74,730.

Amulet, for its part, already has put the funding to good use, said Liddell. It may even close on additional funding before the tech transfer funding expires in June, he added.

“It served its purpose almost perfectly,” Liddell said of the grant.