A Longmont company forging advancements in measuring brain temperature is one of 38 Colorado companies given a piece of $8.5 in funding from the state for its innovative work.
LumenAstra received $250,000 for developing a patented wearable, non-invasive core body thermometer. The initial target market for the sensor is aortic dissection repair surgery, according to a news release.
The funding was awarded by the Global Business Development division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade through its Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program, the news release states.
The funding boost requires LumenAstra to match with $500,000 of outside additional investment which creates a great incentive for investors to take a chance and invest money sooner than they usually would because the company has been endorsed by the state, Jim Pollock, CEO, said via email.
“...Their investment would be matched by this grant, reducing their risk and improving their chances of a win,” Pollock said.
LumenAstra is commercializing a patent from the University of Colorado for the sensor that measures internal body temperatures several centimeters below the skin, wherever placed, Pollock said.
“This allows a first time opportunity to directly measure brain temperature which can improve the safety of cardiac bypass surgeries, reduce the risk of brain damage in the critical hours after cardiac arrest, stroke or brain trauma, and even offer an accurate determination of fertility windows and more,” Pollock said.
A total of $8,517,011 was approved for Proof-of-Concept and Early Stage Capital and Retention Grants to support Colorado’s advanced industries. Together, the grants are intended to drive innovation, accelerate commercialization, encourage public-private partnerships, and increase access to early-stage capital across the state from Dolores to Grand Junction to Fort Collins, the news release states.
“With these grant programs, we aim to fill a funding gap left by the market and foster the types of partnerships that will help Colorado’s Advance Industries continue to lead in their fields,” Rama Harris, Advanced Industries Senior Manager at OEDIT, said in the news release.
Proof-of-Concept grants help Colorado research institutions work with the private sector to commercialize products and services as well as speed up applied research in advanced industries, the news release states. Early Stage Capital and Retention grants fund early stage companies developing and commercializing advanced technologies that will be created or manufactured in Colorado.
Pollock said LumenAstra’s technology is quite cutting edge, receiving tiny signals from inside the body proportional to temperature. But more steps need to be taken before the technology reaches the market, he said.
“We have proven the science but still have to work to create a product that can be sold to hospitals and consumers,” Pollock said. “Which means, it is a ‘high risk, high reward’ technology which is hard to fund from traditional venture sources.”
The state set up the “Advanced Industries” fund for early stage companies like LumenAstra that promise ground breaking technologies that can impact society, he said. Those technologies “can impact societies and drive the economy of Colorado but are difficult to fund otherwise,” Pollock said.
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