Emerging Technology Fund invests in nine North Texas firms

Texas’ Emerging Technology Fund on Oct. 7 awarded $11.15 million in funds to nine North Texas companies developing technologies ranging from banking software to ultrasound imaging for horses. Most of the firms are working with area universities, such as the University of Texas at Arlington or the University of Texas at Dallas to develop their technologies and products.

“The ETF is super-charging the research environment in our state, harnessing Texan’s pioneering ideas and encouraging even greater efforts to inquire, innovate and invest,” Gov. Rick Perry said, in a press release. “These investments will help further the research and ideas born in Texas university laboratories, and invest in their development into products that can ultimately create jobs, improve people’s quality of life and strengthen our state economy.” 

The nine companies are:

* Bynari of Dallas is receiving a $1.5 million investment for commercialization of its messaging integration software. The program allows interoperability between all versions of Microsoft Outlook and third party e-mail. Bynari is partnering with UT-Arlington to continue development of the software.

* Varaha Systems Inc. of Dallas is receiving a $1.5 million investment to commercialize their uMobility software. The program allows users to extend voice, data and video applications to mobile devices, creating ease of communications for the mobile workforce while maintaining security and network accessibility. Varaha is partnering with UT-Arlington.

* 2Cimple Inc. of Dallas is receiving a $1.5 million investment for commercialization of its interactive online video system software. The program allows interactivity within the video, and can be used for target advertising, merchandizing, and other markets. 2Cimple is working with UT-Dallas’ computer science department to commercialize the software.

* iLearning Gateway of Dallas is receiving a $1 million investment for the development of their TeachingBOT tutoring software. iLearning is partnering with the University of Texas at Dallas College of Engineering.

* Advanced Receiver Technologies (ART) of Dallas is receiving a $250,000 investment for its Single Antenna Interference Cancellation handset technology for 3G cellular phones. The device addresses problems that result from adjacent-cell interface in cellular communications systems. The technology aims to improve call connectivity and allow 3G mobile users to have uninterrupted high speed broadband internet connectivity. ART is partnering with UT-Dallas.

* DeviceFidelity Inc. of Richardson is receiving a $3 million investment for commercialization of its In2Pay technology, which enables contactless, secure banking transactions via mobile phone. DeviceFidelity is working with the UT-Dallas’ computer science department.

* Interoperate.biz Inc. of Plano is receiving a $250,000 investment for the commercialization of its rapid computer language translation software. The program enables the automatic translation of obsolete computer legacy codes to modern computer languages.

* Net.orange of Dallas is receiving a $1.9 million investment for the development of their Clinical Pathways Management Solution software. The program allows health care providers to more easily analyze, monitor and act on information for better patient care and treatment. Net.orange is working with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

* OnTrack Imaging Inc. of Flower Mound is receiving a $250,000 investment to commercialize its high-definition ultrasound imaging system for horses. The system can detect defects in a horse’s soft tissue, such as pre-injury lesions, to avoid catastrophic or career ending injury in performance horses. On Track Imaging is working with Texas A&M University to develop and test the device.

In addition to the announcements of new ETF awards, Perry’s office announced also that two previous ETF award recipients are moving forward on an eye treatment.

MacuCLEAR Inc. and Mystic Pharmaceuticals, both of Plano, completed a stage one clinical trial for their ophthalmic drug delivery system. The collaboration pairs MacuCLEAR’s therapeutic topical eye drops with Mystic’s innovative drug delivery platform as a treatment for macular degeneration.

The preliminary results indicated MacuCLEAR’s MC-1101 drug is safe and well tolerated by study participants, and has a biological effect on blood flow in the back of the retina, according to a press release from the two companies

 “We are very pleased with the groundbreaking results of this study,” said Philip G. Ralston Jr., president and CEO of MacuCLEAR, in the release. “We have confirmed the safety of MC-1101 in humans, a primary endpoint for the study.”

MacuCLEAR officials said they will publish the full results of the study later this year.

MacuCLEAR received a $1.7 million investment in March from the ETF and Mystic received a $1.56 million investment in May from ETF.

The Emerging Technology Fund was established by the Texas Legislature in 2005 and was funded for $203.5 million for 2010-2011.

rfrancis@bizpress.net