News

2024 may well become the year of the bootstrapped founder.

The startup “mass extinction event” that doomsayers have predicted for two years is likely to ramp up in 2024. New founders facing a brutal funding environment may instead opt to bootstrap their growth.

Over 55,000 VC-backed companies are operating in the US right now, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Many of them are aggressively competing for funding in a slow dealmaking landscape.

At the same time, over 2,000 VC firms effectively halted making new investments in startups in the first nine months of 2023. Approximately 3,200 startups failed in 2023, and there’s even a burgeoning industry dedicated to helping founders wind down their companies.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. – Adventist HealthCare has been named one of Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Companies in America 2024. The list of 700 U.S. companies was announced March 27 after an analysis by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

Adventist HealthCare was among only 10 hospitals and healthcare systems in the U.S. to receive this prestigious recognition.

Adventist HealthCare ranked 18th among 37 public and private organizations in the Healthcare and Life Sciences category, which included a broad range of care providers, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and online health and wellness firms.

SAN DIEGO — Kimryn Rathmell, director of the National Cancer Institute, gestured toward the screen and asked an audience of clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates what they thought they were looking at. Projected behind her was a patchwork of purple, red, pink, and blue squares.

Moments later, a larger-than-life image of Taylor Swift flashed in the middle of the pattern, and laughter rippled through the room here at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting as attendees realized they were staring at a poster of the singer’s “Eras Tour.”

Maryland biotech company continuing mission to provide antibiotic sensitivity precision diagnostics

COLUMBIA, Md. (April 15, 2024) – fdfsTEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $250,000 Seed Funds investment in Astek Diagnostics, a biomedical company.

“From the early days in my basement during the pandemic, TEDCO saw potential in our idea and supported us with our very first check,” said Mustafa Al-Adhami, CEO of Astek Diagnostics. “Today, our team stands strong at nine, having achieved the milestone of our first version of the product and partnerships with urology practices and hospitals across the globe.”

Senators Cardin and Van Hollen requested more than $1 million to fund this new program

COLUMBIA, Md., (April 11, 2024) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, has received $1,150,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending to advance its Federal Lab Leveraging Innovation to Products (FLLIP) Pilot Program. The direct spending request was sponsored by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and included in the Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Services and General Government funding bill, which was signed into law last month as part of a FY24 appropriations package.

“Maryland is home to more than 70 federal labs, from the NIH in Silver Spring to the Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research and the Army Medical Research and Development Command,” said Senator Cardin. “With this federal investment, we’re making it easier for traditionally underserved businesses in the healthcare industry to take full advantage of the resources right in their backyard. Community partnerships like the FLLIP Program drive innovation in the state and help build a more equitable, prepared and developed health care system.”

COLUMBIA, Md. (April 8, 2024) – TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $100,000 Pre-Seed Builder Fund investment in Aloe Therapeutics, a company working to deliver cancer cures. TEDCO’s Pre-Seed Builder Fund is housed under TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds which were created to engage and invest in economically underserved founders and communities.

“At Aloe Therapeutics, we are working to increase efficacy and expand eligibility for patients with hard-to-treat solid tumors and limited treatment options,” said Martha Sklavos, founder and CEO of Aloe Therapeutics. “Thanks to TEDCO’s investment we can continue to develop our lead therapy to the clinic to ‘wake up the immune system’ with our cell-based therapeutic vaccine, Allo-Immunotherapy (AIM).

Anticipation is building for the pending decision on Baltimore’s Phase 2 Tech Hubs application to the US Economic Development Administration (EDA).

That energy was most recently demonstrated during a roundtable discussion on the region’s tech hub designation at Coppin State University (CSU) on Monday. The HBCU’s president Anthony L. Jenkins kicked off the Greater Baltimore Committee’s (GBC) event by welcoming dignitaries and leaders in Maryland’s public and private sector to CSU’s sprawling 38-acre campus along North Avenue in West Baltimore.

RIVERDALE, Md., April 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Medcura, Inc., a developer of hemostatic products for use in surgery, today announced that it has closed a private placement with aggregate gross proceeds of US $22.4 million (the “Offering”) in Convertible Debt. The Company intends to use the proceeds from this Offering to accelerate the development of its lead surgical product, LifeGel™ Absorbable Hemostatic Gel.  Medcura will complete its pre-clinical testing and file an Investigational Device Exemption for LifeGel with the U.S. FDA to support a global investigational study focused on stopping bleeding in spinal surgery. Current hemostatic agents swell and can cause neurological issues, including paralysis, when used in confined spaces routinely addressed in spinal surgery.

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — NeoImmuneTech, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 950220), announced that Luke Oh, Ph.D. has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NeoImmuneTech, Inc. (NIT or “NeoImmuneTech”), effective from March 29, 2024 (EDT).

Having joined the company as President in January 2024, Dr. Oh now succeeds Dr. Se Hwan Yang, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer of NeoImmuneTech, Inc. In his new role, Dr. Oh will lead NeoImmuneTech from its Rockville headquarters and overview all the operations in Korea.