IPIRA Startups

IPIRA Startups

OmniTact

Brief Description

OmniTact was founded to commercialize a robotic manipulation sensor designed by researchers at UC Berkeley. The sensor uses micro-cameras to detect multi-directional deformations of a gel-based skin. It is designed to be used as a fingertip for robotic manipulation with robotic hands, and uses multiple micro-cameras to detect multi-directional deformations. This provides a rich signal from which a variety of different contact state variables can be inferred using modern image processing and computer vision methods.

Timeline 2020. Company founded...

SmartSense Energy

Brief Description

SmartSense Energy developed sensors that predict faults in underground electric utility cables, enabling repair of cables before faults occur. The company received California Energy Commission's Energy Innovations Small Grant (EISG) to spin out technology from UC Berkeley research into a company. Founder and CEO Ryan Hanley, Haas MBA 2011, and his team accelerated the commercialization of the technology in the UC Berkeley Cleantech to Market course, and the team won the Cleantech to Open Business Plan Competition in 2010.

Timeline 2010. Company...

Target Analytics

Brief Description

Statistical consulting services and software developer for translating causal interference methodology.

Timeline 2007. Company founded Inventor

Mark van der Laan

TerraForma Technologies

Brief Description

TerraForma Technologies develops advanced water and environmental technologies focused on tackling drought and desertification. The company uses dynamic models and technologies to combine a range of innovative agricultural, forestry and water resourcing techniques to convert desert landscapes into highly productive arable land. It also builds electrically conductive membrane technologies for the treatment of wastewater, brackish water and highly saline brines and developed a suite of desalination modules resistant to organic fouling and scaling.

Timeline 2015...

Viasense, Inc.

Brief Description

ViaSense, Inc. developed software for image and video processing based on the biology of human vision. ViaSense IPeG software compressed still and video images two to four times better than any other available technology while preserving the same quality. The company's image-processing principles were further developed for transmitting DVD-quality video through the internet, adapting automatically to the bandwidth available. The ViaSense perceptual processing tool kit is still being used today in professional pay TV encoders.

The startup was spun out of...

TL Revolution, LLC

Brief Description

TL Revolution delivers the next generation of data analysis tools with superior precision, reliability, and ease of use to pharma, FDA, and beyond. Data analysis drives mission-critical decisions, but hasn’t kept up with proven advances in statistics. Biased and imprecise analyses lead to wrong conclusions and significant loss of time and money. The company's software encapsulates expertise in super learning and TMLE to proved state-of-the-art machine learning and robust causal inference.

The company was co-founded by UC Berkeley Professor in Biostatistics and...

Cognitive Wearable Technologies

Brief Description

Cognitive Wearable Technologies developed a minimally obtrusive wearable system that can assess cognitive performance continuously throughout normal life activities by excitation of the peripheral nervous system and detection of the central nervous system response. The innovative cognitive assessment technology monitors the cognitive state of the wearer continuously throughout the day. The invention was developed in the lab of Boris Rubinsky, UC Berkeley Professor of the Graduate School at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering. The...

Azalea Therapeutics, Inc.

Brief Description

Azalea Therapeutics is an early-stage biotech startup on a mission to revolutionize genomic medicines. By designing vehicles that enable cell-specific delivery inside the body, the company aims to unlock precision therapeutics for genetic diseases and unleash the promise of cellular-based therapies. The company's co-founders include Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and UC Berkeley Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, with Postdocs and a PhD student from her lab: CEO/CSO Jennifer Hamilton (PhD, 2018-2023); Founding Scientist Connor...

Atoco

Brief Description

Atoco was created to leverage decades of advancements in reticular chemistry and nanotechnology to fight climate change. The company is tackling the causes of global warming and the resulting water scarcity by developing sustainable and transformational solutions in the fields of Atmospheric Water Harvesting and CO2 Capture – all built upon Professor Omar Yaghi’s discoveries in molecularly engineered materials. When Yaghi pioneered reticular chemistry in the 1990s, he did not envision that this breakthrough could change the world. He was more focused on the task at hand:...

Frontier Medicines Corporation

Brief Description

Frontier Medicines was founded to develop medical treatments for currently "undruggable" diseases. The clinical stage precision medicine company pioneers medicines for genetically-defined patient populations in oncology and immunology, and plans to broaden its therapeutic focus over time. The company uses chemoproteomics - an innovative approach to chemically interrogate proteins in living systems – to discover and pharmacologically target new binding pockets (or "hotspots") on proteins, making them accessible to small-molecule drug discovery and development. The...