Firms founded by UB faculty, alum among latest START-UP NY businesses

Five companies, including one founded by two UB medical researchers, have been approved for START-UP NY through their affiliation with the university.

The companies, which will start up, expand or relocate on or near UB’s campuses, expect to create 39 jobs and invest $597,000 in the region within five years.

Each company has ties to the university’s academic and research strengths, will collaborate with UB faculty researchers and offer internships, scholarships or jobs to students.

“Our university is excited to partner with these latest START-UP NY companies, which are breaking new ground in fields ranging from software development to potentially game-changing technologies in medicine and energy,” says Venu Govindaraju, interim vice president for research and economic development. “It’s especially gratifying to see our faculty members participate in this innovative economic development program, created by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, which promises to create great educational and professional opportunities for our students and Western New Yorkers.”

START-UP NY stands for SUNY Tax-free Areas to Revitalize and Transform Upstate New York.  The program aims to spur economic development by enabling universities to identify areas where new and expanding businesses can operate for 10 years without paying New York State business, corporate, income, sales or property taxes, or franchise fees.

Since Cuomo announced the program, 42 companies — including these five — have pledged to move or expand in the Buffalo Niagara region and work with UB to further their respective businesses. The 42 companies plan to create 1,491 jobs and invest $47,241,322 in the region.

The five new companies are:

• CytoCybernetics, a startup company founded by UB researchers Glenna Bett, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Randall L. Rasmusson, professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. The company, which is developing technology to increase the safety of all drugs prescribed to humans, expects to create four jobs and invest $41,000.

It will move into the Sherman Annex on the South Campus. The company plans to work with UB researchers and the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR). It also intends to create internships and hire graduates from the engineering, medicine, management and law programs.

• Geocove, an existing software company from Florida that builds geographic information system (GIS) products that government agencies can use to assess damage. Founded by UB alumnus Karyn Tareen, the company expects to create five jobs and invest $60,000.

It will move into STOR’s business incubator at Baird Research Park adjacent to the North Campus. It plans to work with UB researchers and recruit interns and graduates with GIS expertise from UB’s geography department.

• Natural Energy Systems Inc., an existing company from Canada that is developing proprietary technology to convert organic materials, without incineration, to gases that can be used to create electricity or biofuels. The company expects to create five jobs and invest $50,000.

It will move into STOR’s incubator at Baird Research Park. It intends to work with researchers from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Center for Industrial Effectiveness, more commonly known as UB TCIE, as well as recruit interns and graduates from UB.

• Patient Pattern (Greenwich Geriatrics), a startup company that is developing software to assess care needs and identify risk for geriatric patients and health care organizations. The company expects to create 20 jobs and invest $355,000.

It will move into UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences (CBLS) in downtown Buffalo. It plans to work with researchers from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and UB’s Center for Computational Research (CCR), and expects to recruit interns and UB graduates.

• Zintera Corp., a California technology company that develops software models inspired by the brain to explore big data and small data sets for health care, genomics and life sciences commercial applications. The company, whose headquarters will remain in California, expects to create five jobs and invest $91,000.

It will open an office in CBLS and plans to work with researchers from UB’s Institute of Healthcare Informatics and CCR. The company will recruit PhD graduates from the schools of medicine and engineering.