Inside INdiana Business is reporting the Purdue Ag-celerator Fund has awarded a total of $100,000 to two plant science startups. The university says the recipients will be able to use the funding to advance their technologies to the public.
JUA Technologies International LLC has received $50,000 for the continued development of its multipurpose crop dehydrators. Purdue says the devices, known as the Dehymeleon and the Dehytray use thermal solar energy to dry crops such as processed and unprocessed grains, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, fish and meat.
The company plans to launch the Dehytray, a hygienic drying tray, this summer. It also hopes to launch the Dehymeleon in the fourth quarter of 2019. JUA Technologies was profiled in our Life Sciences INdiana e-newsletter in March of 2017.
The Ag-celerator awarded another $50,000 to ZeaVaxx LLC, which is developing a plant-derived nanopartical that can be used to improve animal vaccines. The nanopartical will help boost the immune response, enhance the animals’ resistance to temperature changes and provide alternative vaccine delivery routes.
ZeaVaxx says it will use the funding to further its research and development efforts.
“Purdue’s plant sciences startups are advancing quickly throughout the industry, and the Ag-celerator is contributing to this success,” said John Hanak, managing director of Purdue Ventures. “The selection committee was, as always very impressed by presentations’ high quality, and they deliberated very carefully before choosing ZeaVaxx and JUA Technologies as the recipients for this round of awards.”
You can learn more about the Purdue Ag-celerator by clicking here.