SBIR/STTR Recipient

California Wave Power Tech

Brief Description

CalWave Power Technologies Inc. provides a solution to harness the renewable power of ocean waves to produce electricity and freshwater. CalWave’s patented Wave Energy Converter (WEC) is moored offshore, simple and scalable. WEC operates submerged, allowing it to survive stormy seas while causing no visual pollution or posing any collision danger.

CalWave co-founder and CEO Marcus Lehmann co-invented the company's foundational technology during his time as a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Theoretical & Applied Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Marcus was inspired...

Ventria Biosciences (formerly known as Applied Phytologics Inc.)

Brief Description

Ventria Bioscience is a privately held biopharmaceutical company with a product pipeline enabled by ExpressTec. ExpressTec is a patented, plant-based recombinant protein manufacturing technology that delivers a ten-fold higher recombinant protein yield than other plant-based systems. Ventria Bioscience's platform technology delivers meaningful and sustainable economic advantages by enabling new product opportunities that were not previously available. It can be used to develop new biotherapeutics, novel vaccines, reagents for biomanufacturing, and industrial and biofuel...

Valitor Inc.

Brief Description

Valitor, Inc. has developed novel methods of modifying therapeutic proteins to achieve substantial control over their pharmacokinetics, target specificity, and bioactivity. The company's technology platform can be broadly applied to improve the pharmacological properties of many protein drugs that are currently approved or under development. The lead product will be used to improve the treatment of diseases in ophthalmology. The company also has development pipelines for oncology and orthopedics products.

The company was incubated at Berkeley Skydeck, UC Berkeley's...

Tularik Inc.

Brief Description

Tularik, Inc. engages in the discovery and development of orally available medicines that act through the regulation of gene expression. The company’s drugs include T67, T607, T131, T71, and T487. The T67 is an anti-cancer drug. The T607 would be used for treating gastric cancer and esophageal cancer. The T131 would be used for treating diabetes. The T71 would be used for treating obesity.

Tularik Inc. was acquired by Amgen Inc. for approximately $1.3 billion in 2004.

Timeline 1991. Company founded 1999. Initial public offering...

Travertine Technologies

Brief Description

Travertine partners with mining and fertilizer operations around the world to recharge critical element production with a circular, electrified process. Standard mining methods use megatons of sulfuric acid annually, and dispose of vast amounts of byproducts, such as phosphorus, lithium, and nickel. The Travertine process upcycles sulfate byproducts into carbon-negative sulfuric acid and green hydrogen, while siumultaneously and permanently sequestering CO2 from the air into carbonate minerals.

Travertine Founder and CEO Laura Lammers obtained a...

Thuris Corporation

Brief Description

Thuris Corporation was a biopharmaceutical company focused on medical device solutions to aid in drug development and diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) disorders including mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Thuris was also developing pharmaceuticals for select CNS orphan and niche indications ranging from ischemia-related conditions, brain inflammation and Huntington's disease. Thuris received 510k FDA clearance for a non-invasive medical device, the NeuroGraph, for diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders over a broad range of brain-...

Synvivia, Inc.

Brief Description

Synvivia is a synthetic biology company that optimizes cell behavior for gene therapy manufacturing, providing a practical solution for genetically encoded biocontainment. The company is building genetically encoded biocontainment technologies that will enable the widespread use of synthetic biology outside of the laboratory.

The company's technology was developed at UC Berkeley with grants from the NSF and DARPA. The work was published in ACS Synthetic Biology and featured as an Editor’s Choice in Science Magazine. Synvivia has exclusive license to the...

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Brief Description

Sunesis is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and future commercialization of new oncology therapeutics for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumor cancers. Sunesis has built an experienced cancer drug development organization committed to improving the lives of people with cancer. The company is focused on advancing its novel kinase-inhibitor pipeline, with an emphasis on establishing proof of concept that it's oral non-covalent BTK inhibitor, vecabrutinib (SNS-062), is effective in the treatment of ibrutinib-resistant chronic lymphocytic...

Algen Biotechnologies

Brief Description

Algen Biotechnologies is building a next-generation, functional genomics-based platform for the discovery of novel therapeutics for cancers with high unmet need. Algen’s research group focuses on developing and applying novel functional genomics technologies to address scientific challenges in drug discovery. The company's biologists and data scientists are collaborating to deliver innovative, patient-centric medicines for the toughest-to-treat diseases.

The company was founded to commercialize technology developed at UC Berkeley while Algen Biotechnologies CEO...

Ambi Robotics

Brief Description

Ambi Robotics offers advanced robot grasping software for logistics and warehouse order fulfillment, allowing robots to grasp a wide variety of objects.

Ambi Robotics grew from the Dexterity Network (Dex-Net) project at UC Berkeley and is led by Dr. Jeff Mahler and Professor Ken Goldberg, experts in robot grasping with a combined 50+ years of experience.

Formerly known as Ambidextrous.

Timeline 2018. Company founded Inventors

Ken Goldberg, Jeffrey Mahler, Matthew Matl