{"id":1569,"date":"2022-03-30T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T21:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2024-08-20T11:23:59","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T15:23:59","slug":"purdue-foundry-invests-75000-in-three-high-tech-purdue-related-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/Q1\/purdue-foundry-invests-75000-in-three-high-tech-purdue-related-startups","title":{"rendered":"Purdue Foundry invests $75,000 in three high-tech, Purdue-related startups"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"purdue-initial-words-wrap\"><p class=\"purdue-initial-words\">WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash;<\/p> \n<p>Three Indiana-based, high-tech startup companies with connections to Purdue University each received $25,000 at the conclusion of Purdue Foundry&#8217;s Boost accelerator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Seven companies took part in the program and received a $5,000 non-dilutive grant at the start. The companies participated in several weeks of programming, including consultations with entrepreneurs-in-residence, mentors and industry professionals. They concluded with business pitches to a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors; if two panelists decided a team was worthy of investment, Purdue Foundry invested $25,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The companies that received the investments are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/araqev.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Araqev<\/a> from West Lafayette; Arman Sabbaghi, CEO. Araqev advances the capabilities of additive manufacturing by leveraging machine learning to improve accuracy and quality while reducing waste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/plutoaerospace.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pluto Aerospace<\/a> from West Lafayette; Christopher Nilsen, CEO. Pluto Aerospace is developing rapid and economical launch vehicle platforms for hypersonic and other suborbital applications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reprohealthtech.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ReproHealth Technologies<\/a> from Indianapolis; James Donahue, CEO. ReproHealth is improving the efficacy of bovine reproductive technology, enabling farmers to save time and money while growing their herd.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Bill Arnold, managing director of the Purdue Foundry, said the long-term value of the Boost program goes beyond the $25,000 investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;All seven companies tested their business model, developed a customer acquisition strategy, created a repeatable sales model, refined unit economics and financials, designed a defensible IP strategy, strategized on building a winning team and developed equity strategy,&#8221; Arnold said. &#8220;The work these entrepreneurs put into their companies has made them more investment-ready, and not just for the Boost program.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What they said<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>James Donahue, ReproHealth Technologies: &#8220;Many thanks to the Purdue Foundry&#8217;s Boost program for helping our company become &#8216;investible&#8217; in a few short months. We learned from experts in all phases of startup development, EIRs and our fellow Boost program participants. This program is the start of a long and fruitful relationship.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christopher Nilsen, Pluto Aerospace: &#8220;Boost plugged us in with the Indiana entrepreneurial community. The connections we made through Boost played a major part in our recent success. We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this fantastic program.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arman Sabbaghi, Araqev: &#8220;Participating in this program was game-changing for us. We learned a wide variety of important skills and concepts for effective entrepreneurship and consistently received constructive feedback and advice for improving our company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The team at Araqev eagerly looks forward to building on our new, solid foundation created as a result of the Boost program and taking the next giant leaps to move our company forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Purdue Foundry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/purduefoundry.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Purdue Foundry<\/a> is an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. The Purdue Foundry is managed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prf.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Purdue Research Foundation<\/a>, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Contact the Purdue Foundry at <a href=\"mailto:foundry@prf.org\">foundry@prf.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"note\" class=\"post-content__attribution \">\n    <div class=\"columns\"> \n                    <div class=\"column\"> \n                <p class=\"post-content__source\">\n                    <strong>Writer:<\/strong> Steve Martin, <a href=\"mailto:sgmartin@prf.org\">sgmartin@prf.org<\/a><br><strong>Sources:<\/strong> Bill Arnold, <a href=\"mailto:waarnold@prf.org\">waarnold@prf.org<\/a><br>James Donahue, <a href=\"mailto:jdonahue@reprohealthtech.com\">jdonahue@reprohealthtech.com<\/a><br>Christopher Nilsen, <a href=\"mailto:christopher@plutoaerospace.com\">christopher@plutoaerospace.com<\/a><br>Arman Sabbaghi, <a href=\"mailto:sabbaghi@araqev.com\">sabbaghi@araqev.com<\/a>                <\/p>\n            <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash; Three Indiana-based, high-tech startup companies with connections to Purdue University each received $25,000 at the conclusion of Purdue Foundry&#8217;s Boost accelerator. Seven companies took part in the program and received a $5,000 non-dilutive grant at the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,316],"tags":[],"department":[24,25],"source":[35],"purdue_today_topic":[72],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-prf","department-research-foundation","department-research-park","source-purdue-research-foundation","purdue_today_topic-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1571,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions\/1571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}