Investment boost for UniQuest start-up companies

Two start-up companies spun out of UniQuest, The University of Queensland’s main commercialisation company, have received a financial boost to advance their research priorities.

Uniseed Management Pty Ltd, which supports the commercialisation of university research through pre-seed and seed stage venture capital investment, has committed $630,000 and $530,000 to DendriMed Pty Ltd and TenasiTech Pty Ltd respectively. Both companies were established to develop discoveries from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at UQ.

DendriMed Pty Ltd is developing a novel drug-delivery platform which combines polymer and dendrimer nanotechnologies. The technology seeks to reduce side effects, increase efficacy and improve the stability of drug molecules so their chemical structure supports rather than inhibits targeted delivery to where the drug is meant to act in the body. The company’s research team, led by Professor Michael Monteiro, will use the capital to fund a proof-of-concept program to identify the technology’s effectiveness in the delivery of cancer therapies.

TenasiTech Pty Ltd’s technology is a materials science breakthrough that increases the strength of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers while maintaining their flexibility. Dr Darren Martin and his team have identified a number of commercial markets for the rubbery polymer-based materials, including footwear, mining, wire and cable, textiles, pool equipment, sporting, automotive, toughened glass lamination, medical elastomers and biomedical device industries. The investment will fund the development of material samples and support comparative performance data to take to the market and secure a commercial partner.

UniQuest’s managing director, David Henderson, said the investments reflected confidence in the outcomes of UQ research and UniQuest’s ability to identify technologies which have significant commercial potential and worldwide community benefit.

“Uniseed’s investment will now accelerate the development of these companies and enable them to prove up the potential of their technologies,” Mr Henderson said.

Dr Peter Devine, CEO of Uniseed Management Pty Ltd, said both investments were attractive, especially with the commercial prospects in train.

“DendriMed is developing the kind of technology that is drawing a lot of attention from the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. TenasiTech has also attracted commercial interest which can be leveraged to boost its resources even further. We are pleased to be a link between academia and business to extend the reach of such innovations for global consumption,” Dr Devine said.