UI biomanufacturing center awarded a $1 million grant to expand infrastructure
Two startups in Des Moines and Coralville were approved for loans at the Iowa Economy Development Authority board’s meeting on Jan. 17, and a University of Iowa biomanufacturing center was awarded a grant of just over $1 million.
Coralville-based Reality Wave uses artificial intelligence technology to provide objective evaluations of academic manuscripts and grant proposals. The company was awarded a $50,000 Proof of Commercial Relevance loan for key personnel and market analysis.
Tumbleweed Vida Inc., a Des Moines-based company providing legacy planning software for end-of-life or post-loss plans, was awarded a $100,000 Demonstration Fund loan for product refinement, key personnel and market planning and entry activities. The company aims to support individuals, families, executors and trustees in organizing records, logging final wishes, storing legal documents and sharing grief resources.
The University of Iowa’s Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing (CBB) was awarded a grant of just over $1 million through the state’s Strategic Infrastructure Grant program. The CBB is an academic and research center and it operates a contract bioprocessing facility.
The grant will be used to expand the existing biomanufacturing infrastructure in the state by doubling the pilot-scale fermentation capacity with the acquisition and installation of a second fermenter. The assets, technologies and infrastructure will be made available to industrial, governmental and academic partners to scale contracted bioprocessing services, according to IEDA’s news release.
The Strategic Infrastructure Program supports projects that develop commonly used assets with the goal of providing a competitive advantage to one or more private sector entities or that create necessary physical infrastructure in the state, and such projects are not adequately provided by the public or private sectors, the release said.