This week 25 small businesses were awarded $184,832 in FAST Grants by the Arizona Commerce Authority. The ACA hopes that this will initiate the commercialization process. The grants ranged from $5,000 to $7,500 for each company and may be used toward reviews of technology, commercialization feasibility studies and commercializations assistance.
According to the president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority Don Cardon, “This is a seed investment the ACA is making towards startup companies which we believe will assist the company advance in the crucial steps towards bringing the idea to the market place.” Don Cardon states that he is pleased with the amount of responses received for the program and believes that they are a promising glimpse into the future of Arizona.
Since 2008, Arizona has seen a 57 percent increase in entrepreneurial activity, ranking 5th in the U.S. for business start-ups. Programs such as the ACA’s FAST Grants awards have been crucial in the advancement of small businesses.
Executive director Laura Tyler of Stimwave Technologies Inc. said, “We are so thankful to the AZ Commerce Authority for their support of Stimwave’s efforts in expanding the reach of our innovative wireless neuromodulation platform.” Tyler also added that the grant will allow Stimwave to complete market investigations and device planning as well as local research partners like TGen/TD2 and Barrow’s Neurological Institute. This will further their ability to provide effective and minimally invasive therapies for cancer and brain disorder patients.
The co-founder and chief technology officer of Acudora, Inc. stated that the grant will be used to assist their continued commercialization efforts. Mark Banister, founder and chief technology officer of Medipacs said, “This grant will provide Medipacs the ability to finish market research and our product launch plan for a medipacs device that can be launched in the Veterinary market late this year. This product will help build value for our investors and jobs for Arizona.”
Besides awarding FAST Grants, the ACA also secured $18.2 million for the Arizona Innovation Accelerator Fund — A fund that helps stimulate business growth, capital investment and the creation of jobs in Arizona. The ACA’s second Arizona Innovation Challenge is also underway and semi-finalists will be announced in early March.
2012 Arizona FAST Grant Recipients
Acudora, Tucson, $7,500
Arbsource, Tempe, $7,500
Arizona Cancer Therapeutics, Tucson, $7,500
Castle Biosciences, Inc., Phoenix, $7,500
Colnatec, Gilbert, $7,500
Cyclone ADG, LLC, Tucson,$7,500
Earth Knowledge, Tucson, $7,440
ECOmplete, LLC, Chandler, $7,500
Fennova Corp., Tucson, $5,000
inXsol, Phoenix, $7,500
Kinetic Muscles, Inc., Tempe, $7,500
Latitude Engineering, LLC, Tucson, $7,440
Medipacs, Inc., Tucson, $7,500
MSDx, Inc., Tucson, $7,500
NEST Energy Services, Prescott Valley, $7,500
Power Gold, Phoenix, $7,500
Prime Solutions Group, Goodyear, $7,500
Provista Diagnostics, Inc., Phoenix, $7,500
Quaesta Instruments, LLC, Tucson, $7,452
Reply Buy, Inc., Scottsdale, $7,500
Science Tomorrow, LLC, Phoenix, $7,500
Serious Integrated, Chandler, $7,500
Siegel Consulting, LLC, Scottsdale, $7,500
Stimwave Technologies, Inc., Scottsdale, $7,500
VisionGate, Phoenix, AZ, $7,500
