Industry – Page 23 – Swanson Reed | Specialist R&D Tax Advisors

PlantBaby Acquires $4M in Seed Funding for Children’s Vegan Milk

Hawaii-based PlantBaby has announced the closing of their seed funding round which pulled in $4 million in funding. The round was led by Big Idea Ventures and with participation from The Fund LA, Two Culture Cap, Springbank Collective and Western Technology Investment and notable private investors.

The vegan milk maker intends to use the funding to support their ongoing R&D and to open up new opportunities. The company started out by launching their first milk product, Kiki Milk, in December of 2021. This milk formulation is made from both whole and superfoods for children.

The concept of vegan milk formulations specifically for children was inspired by the co-founders own personal experience. Lauren and Alex Abelin tried vegan, soy-free and dairy-free infant formula when they found out their son needed specialist nutrition but were overall unsatisfied by the product.

They set out to formulate their own plant-based milk that would meet the needs of the 40% of children who have health conditions not supported by nutritional products already on the market. By working with pediatricians and nutritionists, their formula takes into account the unique developmental needs of children – especially those with special nutrition needs.

“Since launching just six months ago, we’ve seen constant consumer demand,” Alex Abelin, co-founder of PlantBaby said in a statement. “This fundraising round will support continued research and development of new plant-based culinary innovations and continued growth of the brand to make PlantBaby itself a vehicle to create positive change for children’s health and well-being of children everywhere.”

PlantBaby’s formula opts for whole foods in place of refined sugars, preservatives, protein isolates, gums, and GMO ingredients. The company has confirmed organic oats, hemp seeds, and coconuts as key ingredients alongside superfood plants, blueberries, and spinach. To date, Kiki Milk has been released in original and chocolate formats.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

UNH FInds Repurposed Drug Could Inhibit Enzyme used in COVID-19 Replication

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have recently found that an existing drug compound could be successfully repurposed and used to block the activity of an enzyme of the coronavirus.

“The goal was to slow or prevent the spread of the virus by using a strategic therapeutic that could possibly disrupt key steps in the viral life cycle at the molecular level, like the first contact with a healthy cell or the first step in replicating within an infected cell,” said Harish Vashisth, associate professor of chemical engineering.

They published their first-of-its-kind study in the journal PROTEINS: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics. The researchers targeted this key enzyme, the main protease enzyme Mpro, which has become a primary target of intense research and therapeutic development due to its role in the virus’s replication.

They explored the inhibiting properties of a derivative of the existing compound – Thiadiazolidinones (TDZD). TDZD is already being studied as a potential treatment of neurological disorders like Parkinson’ Disease. Using molecular dynamics simulations combined with laboratory experiments, the researchers determined that the TDZD compound was able to inhibit the Mpro enzyme. Preventing the enzyme for working could prevent the virus’s ability to develop defenses at the cellular level.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R35GM138217, P20GM113131, and the National Science Foundation under award number OIA-1757371. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Binarly Raises $3.6M in Seed Funding to Support R&D and Scaling

Firmware security company Binarly, Inc. on Wednesday announced that it has raised $3.6 million in a seed funding round.Several angel investors took part in the seed round, led by Westwave Capital and Acrobator Ventures.

The funding will aid in speeding up R&D initiatives, expanding their engineering team, and scaling the adoption of their technologies.

Binarly has developed a SaaS platform designed for firmware threat identification and response. This AI-powered firmware protection platform performs in-depth introspection through a combination of machine learning and code analysis techniques. These techniques are proprietary technologies developed by the company. With this technology, security teams can identify vulnerabilities and malicious firmware modifications.

“The current approach in the industry is to detect risks related to the firmware by leveraging the current version number of the firmware update against a public database of vulnerabilities and threats. This leads to firmware supply chain failures because known vulnerabilities that are not associated with a certain version number of a firmware release will not be detected, thus keeping the ‘doors’ open for an attacker,” said Alex Matrosov, co-founder and CEO of Binarly.

Binarly has identified firmware vulnerabilities in products from major manufacturers such as AMI, AMD, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Insyde, Intel and Lenovo. The startup claims to have identified more than 100 new flaws this year alone.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

V-Quad Accepting Applications for $25K Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program Grants

The Mississippi Development Authority has announced the opening of their application process for the Mississippi Energy Program for Innovation Cluster: Virtual Quad (V-Quad). Applications will be accepted from qualified teams developing new products or services in the energy and agriculture technologies.

V-Quad was founded with the mission of building an innovative, virtual incubator network. This network should support Mississippi entrepreneurs and innovators as they launch energy and agriculture-focused technologies.

In building this network, these startups will have access to technical expertise through connections at Mississippi’s research universities, industry government, and nonprofits.

The current applicants will be applying for V-Quad Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program (ETAP) grants. If selected, they will be eligible for a maximum award of $25,000 each in vouchers to receive technical assistance from a research university in the state. MDA – who is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program – will award a total of $100,000 in the ETAP.

The teams will be paired with a relevant research university, based on their proposed projects, to tackle specific technical challenges and uncertainties. They will have nine months from the award date to complete these proposed projects.

Examples of eligible projects include the use of clean energy and energy-efficient products and services, agricultural products and services, as well as robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, unmanned aerial and terrestrial vehicles and genomics applied within the energy and agriculture sectors.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

West Virginia High Technology Foundation

The West Virginia High Technology Foundation has announced their plans for two major projects for the I-79 High Technology Park. The first will be a solar test bed aiming to spark growth in renewable energy; the second will be a new NOAA ground station to monitor and collect space weather data.

The Foundation conducts intensive R&D projects in physics, electrical engineering, computer science and related fields for a range of government and industrial customers. With a vast team of experts and scientists, the Foundation acts as an engine of economic change across regional, statewide, and national high-tech business sectors.

The I-79 High Technology Park is their premier location for high priority Federal operations that require advanced electrical and telecommunications infrastructure. The park is located within the heart of the I-79 High Technology Corridor just south of Fairmont, West Virginia.

The team is in the process of finalizing plans for the solar test bed, which will include a 1-megawatt solar grid. The grid should generate energy and be used for testing and evaluation in future projects. The production of the test bed will be completed in collaboration with West Virginia University and FirstEnergy Corp.

The second project will see the construction of a third satellite ground station for NOAA. The other two satellites have proven to be crucial to weather and climate data collecting for years and will benefit from the additional location. The new station will collect a new type of weather data – that of space itself. The new data will be collected from a satellite that will eventually sit in an area of space known as Lagrange 1. This area is a central point between the Earth and the Sun which will allow the satellite to collect data associated with space weather. Space weather impacts Earth’s weather conditions as well as satellite communications. This third station will ensure the foundation has the most comprehensive coverage and collection of climate and weather data across the globe.

The Foundation hopes both of these projects will be completed by the end of the calendar year. Foundation President and CEO Jim Estep believes that both the ground station and the solar test bed could mean huge things for the I-79 High Technology Park and North Central West Virginia in general, and he’s excited to see both projects get up and running.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Venus Aerospace Unveils Stargazer – their first conceptual hypersonic vehicle designed for one-hour global travel

South Dakota Patent of the Month - August 2021

Venus Aerospace, an aerospace startup, has made an exciting announcement at the UP.Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company introduced their first conceptual vehicle design, the “Stargazer”, which will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just an hour.

The Mach 9 hypersonic aircraft has been under development since the company’s founding in 2020. The aircraft’s design is meant to allow it to fly at hypersonic speeds at the edge of the atmosphere.

This kind of design is no joke and requires some serious funding. Venus has been backed by leading venture capitalists and has received $1 million in government funding. The company has stated they have raised over $33 million to build a Mach 9 hypersonic drone and Mach 9 spaceplane – each of which will be capable of one-hour global travel.

Venus has made significant progress since their founding, scaling rapidly in their bid to design and build a demonstration engine. This engine has since been tested in hypersonic wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities across the U.S.. Next tests include their plans to start subsonic and supersonic flight testing of a scaled drone.

With a team of experts including aerospace, military, and R&D veterans, the company is focused on three main technologies: a zero-emission next-generation rocket engine, innovative aircraft shape, and leading-edge cooling.

This combination of technology could be the key to making one-hour global transport a cost-effective possibility.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

US Department of Agriculture Tackles Cercospora Leaf Spot Disease

Cercospora leaf spot disease is an infectious disease affecting a range of plants in landscapes and nurseries. The disease is the result of the fungus Cercospora beticola and occurs wherever table beets, swiss chard, sugar beet, and spinach are grown and is one of the most important diseases affecting the Chenopodium group. The disease leads to significant losses especially in late summer. The leafy greens become unmarketable and the beet roots fail to grow to full size.

With such an impact, it’s no surprise that plant pathologist, Nathan Wyatt, has committed to researching this disease. The project, which is underway at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, will aim to find a way to more efficiently control the disease in sugargeats. It will also look into how to reduce fungicide resistance to the pathogen.

Nathan Wyatt, who works in the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center’s Northern Crop Science Laboratory in Fargo, North Dakota will be conducted during the next few years to fine tune the model that predicts when the risk of cercospora leaf disease is at a level at which growers can respond by spraying fungicides on the sugarbeets.

The research will focus on looking at the thresholds of relative humidity and temperatures at which you start to see cercospora leaf spots. Wyatt will use that research, which identified weather conditions conducive to cercospora leaf spot disease development, together with new information about asymptomatic infection to devise more specific fungicide predictions.

Currently, the 2022 NDSU sugarbeet production guide recommends that farmers begin spraying fungicides early on and then spray every 10-14 days for the remainder of the season.

Data will be collected this summer, and field trials will get underway in 2023, Wyatt said. The goal is to have prediction models available for sugarbeet cooperatives in 2024.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Flywheel to Serve as Research Platform in Study on Pediatric Brain Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Georgia Patent of the Month - January 2022

Flywheel, founded in 2010, is rapidly emerging as a platform of choice for researchers interested in the use of imaging research and machine learning. The company has recently received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support research on the neurodevelopmental health of children growing up in poverty and other adverse environments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

This data management platform has focused on powering healthcare innovation by accelerating collaboration between partners, enabling machine learning, and streamlining the daunting task of data aggregation, curation, and management.

With their unique technology and expertise, the company will utilize the multi-year grant to provide a centralized, cloud-based research infrastructure to an international cohort of researchers led by King’s College London.

The research will be conducted by distributed research teams, each of which will use Flywheel to curate, share, and analyze MRI scans of young children between the ages of 0 and 24 months across 25 LMICs in Africa and Asia. The use of Flywheel is intended to reduce the constant IT burdens and data sharing restrictions normally experienced in multi-site initiatives of this size.

“We are honored to participate in this important project,” said Can Akgun, PhD, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Flywheel. “By leveraging our comprehensive research data solution, the team will now focus on gaining a deeper understanding of pediatric brain development rather than spending valuable time on management of data and computational workflows. We believe this research effort will make a major contribution to improving the health of future generations.”

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Submittable Secures Largest-Ever Venture Capital Investment in Montana

Submittable, the software company focused on helping nonprofits, governments and corporations accelerate their social impact work, has just secured Montana’s largest-ever venture capital investment.

The Missoula-based company has announced the close of its Series C funding with a successful investment of $47 million in funding. The round was led by Accel-KKR with support from existing investors.

The company’s next steps will see the funding go towards growing their team with the intention of doubling staffing. After doubling revenue in the year prior, the capital will support the much needed labor to effectively scale.

Submittable was founded in 2010 by local entrepreneurs Michael FitzGerald, Bruce Tribbensee and John Brownell. After 9 years of dedicated R&D and commercialization, the company secured $10 million in venture capital.

Thor Culverhouse, CEO of Submittable, said the social impact sector has experienced “unheard-of” growth in recent years as public, private and nonprofit entities have all increased the funding going towards justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Submittable’s technology provides a start-to-finish grants management platform to simplify and streamline the process of applying for and tracking grants. The platform allows users to track the entire initiative from the first grant application to the final report using workflow automation, funds distribution services, and reporting tools.

In 2020, the state government of Montana used Submittable’s platform to roll out multiple grants to distribute federal CARES Act funding to businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic.

This record-breaking funding round could have great implications for the state, bringing more high-paying jobs and investments to the region. It may even inspire local entrepreneurs to maintain their roots and grow their ideas right at home.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Kingsbury & Associates Still in R&D Phase for Massive Packing Plant Project

Kingsbury & Associates had recently set out to build a giant beef packing plant capable of processing up to 8,000 head of cattle a day. They anticipate this plant will take about three years to build and will eventually employ about 2,500 people. If successful, it would become the single-largest beef processing plant in the country.

The company has recently announced a new partner – Farmers Union Industries. The project will be linked to a facility that will be operated by Farmers Union. This facility will be set next to the packing plant and designed to handle byproducts out of the facility, using meat and bone meal and making tallow and grease products for the feed ingredients industry.

The project is still in its R&D phase, while the company works to tackle challenges in construction, efficiency, and optimization. For instance, the company is working with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, as well as others, to bring in technology that would manage odors from methane. This phase will require extensive research into the optimal design and layout, followed by additional R&D during construction. Currently, the company is working to get approval for the location and operation of the facility before moving into next steps.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.