Startups tell subcommittee TEDCO funding helped build companies; CurieDx, Ecomap and Rooster Bio cite early support
February 12, 2024 | Education, Business and Administration Subcommittee, Budget and Taxation Committee, SENATE, SENATE, Committees, Legislative, Maryland
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Entrepreneurs and founders who have worked with TEDCO told the Education, Business and Administration Subcommittee that state-backed early-stage funding and programs helped them grow, attract outside capital and advance clinical work.
Sharad Davis, co-founder and CEO of Ecomap Technologies, said TEDCO was one of his company’s first partners and investors and helped Ecomap scale. Davis said Ecomap employs about 30 people in Baltimore, with roughly half the staff women and half people of color. "TEDCO participated in two" of their fundraising rounds, he told the subcommittee, and the relationship helped the startup expand into multiple international markets.
Dr. Therese Canaris, CEO and founder of CurieDx and a pediatric emergency physician at Johns Hopkins, said MII funding "changed my life" and provided CurieDx’s first real funding. Canaris said the company has developed a diagnostic that can identify conditions such as strep throat from a smartphone image and that it can produce a result "in under 10 seconds." She said the company has won National Science Foundation support and expects to begin pilot customer work and revenue in the current month.
John Reilly, founder and chief product officer at Rooster Bio, described long-term commercial growth supported in part by Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation grants. Reilly said Rooster Bio has helped customers run clinical trials involving roughly 150–200 patients to date and has attracted about $25 million in venture capital from outside the state into Maryland’s biotechnology ecosystem. He asked the committee for continued MSCRF funding to support manufacturing and product development grants.
The witnesses’ testimony illustrated how TEDCO programs and affiliated initiatives such as MII and MSCRF have fed the state’s innovation pipeline. No formal decisions or votes occurred during this portion of the hearing; a later question from Senator Benson focused on a $265,000 reduction affecting a new Maryland cyber program and its pilot capacity.
Sharad Davis, co-founder and CEO of Ecomap Technologies, said TEDCO was one of his company’s first partners and investors and helped Ecomap scale. Davis said Ecomap employs about 30 people in Baltimore, with roughly half the staff women and half people of color. "TEDCO participated in two" of their fundraising rounds, he told the subcommittee, and the relationship helped the startup expand into multiple international markets.
Dr. Therese Canaris, CEO and founder of CurieDx and a pediatric emergency physician at Johns Hopkins, said MII funding "changed my life" and provided CurieDx’s first real funding. Canaris said the company has developed a diagnostic that can identify conditions such as strep throat from a smartphone image and that it can produce a result "in under 10 seconds." She said the company has won National Science Foundation support and expects to begin pilot customer work and revenue in the current month.
John Reilly, founder and chief product officer at Rooster Bio, described long-term commercial growth supported in part by Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation grants. Reilly said Rooster Bio has helped customers run clinical trials involving roughly 150–200 patients to date and has attracted about $25 million in venture capital from outside the state into Maryland’s biotechnology ecosystem. He asked the committee for continued MSCRF funding to support manufacturing and product development grants.
The witnesses’ testimony illustrated how TEDCO programs and affiliated initiatives such as MII and MSCRF have fed the state’s innovation pipeline. No formal decisions or votes occurred during this portion of the hearing; a later question from Senator Benson focused on a $265,000 reduction affecting a new Maryland cyber program and its pilot capacity.
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