Pre-seed

With 500K+ annual structural fires causing $500B+ in economic loss, firefighters across the U.S. face life-threatening risks searching for victims, resulting in tens of thousands of injuries, fatalities, and immense healthcare costs exceeding $6B annually, despite 60% of these fires having no human presence. Beyond firefighting, industries like oil and gas encounter thousands of dangerous incidents yearly (300+ fires, 300+ explosions annually), while over 15,000 HazMat emergencies demand swift, advanced robotic intervention.

HAND Technologies, LLC (HAND) is a custom materials company founded upon extreme performance materials discovered at Mississippi State University (MSU). Our startup is committed to expanding the high-performance materials options available to the U.S. aerospace market, starting with one materials platform at a time.   We are currently commercializing a platform of BODA-derived resins (BDR) to help solve a staggering production limitation plaguing the carbon/carbon (C/C) composites industry.

Coulomb Technology is developing next-generation sodium-ion batteries that are fire-safe, durable, and sustainably manufactured in the United States.

80% of all business data is structured data in the form of tables and databases. Regulatory constraints like HIPAA, CCPA & GDPR make it difficult and costly to run AI, analytics, and software development workflows on structured data. With the synthetic data market projected to grow from $600M in 2025 to $4.9B by 2032 at a 35% CAGR, there is an urgent need for scalable, efficient, and privacy-compliant solutions.   

Annate Bitherapeutics is fundamentally reengineering a natural component of the human innate immune system to target and destroy cancer cells. Our approach focuses on Relapse Refractory Multiple Myeloma (RRMM), a difficult stage where patients become resistant to all available therapies, leaving them with few options and no cure.  Rather than relying on traditional drugs, stem-cell transplants, or T-cell activation, our approach harnesses Apolipoprotein L1 (ApoL1), a protein that naturally protects humans against the parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

The rapid growth of AI, data science, and GPU-based workloads has resulted in a "data explosion," creating a widening gap between well-resourced organizations and the majority who lack GPU expertise. This disparity is particularly pronounced in the $16.5 billion simulation software market and the $600 billion cloud computing market, where prohibitive costs and limited expertise often hinder impactful R&D.

Cervu is developing an innovative at-home pelvic health trainer system that combines a hardware device that features multiple functionalities with a mobile app to deliver personalized care for women seeking to improve their pelvic health.

Nemea Therapeutics is advancing first-in-class oral small molecule therapies that inhibit mitochondrial sustenance to treat aggressive solid tumors.

The lead program targets mitochondrial RNA polymerase (POLRMT)—a long-elusive cancer hallmark. Many advanced cancers increase reliance on mitochondrial function after standard chemotherapy, making POLRMT inhibition a promising approach for safer, more effective therapy across a broad range of malignancies.

Ecoatex is a biomaterials technology company that transforms agricultural and marine byproducts—nutshells, crop residues, and seaweed—into advanced cellulose materials, including cellulose, nanocellulose, and lignin.

These bio-based materials enable production of sustainable fibers, nonwovens, leathers, coatings, and composites for textiles, packaging, sportswear, and medical applications.

Fibarcode’s core technology—an engineered optical structure integrated directly into textile fibers—serves as a unique, indelible identifier that can be woven or knitted into fabrics using standard manufacturing processes.

Over 200 customer discovery interviews (conducted during and after the NSF I-Corps program) revealed critical pain points in the apparel resale and recycling ecosystem: