Image courtesy Pixabay by florantevaldez
Podcast editing company raises pre-seed round
Forecasts suggest that the number of podcast listeners will surpass 160 million in 2023. What many people don’t realize is that the podcast editing process can be time consuming. Louisville-based software startup Resound is developing AI to do the editing work for podcasters. The company recently closed on its first capital raise: a $1.34 million pre-seed round. Render Capital, Keyhorse Capital, Lunsford Capital, Bluegrass Angels, Hidden Ventures, Rounsavall Investments, Garrett French and Commonwealth Seed Capital participated in the funding.
This news comes on the heels of the announcement that Louisville-founded company Podchaser was acquired by Swedish tech company Acast. According to TechCrunch, the deal initially values Podchaser at $27.2 million, though this could rise by a further $6.8 million depending on Podchaser meeting certain “performance conditions.”
RxLightning CEO selected as Endeavor Entrepreneur
Julia Regan, CEO and co-founder Of RxLightning, has been selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur at the 94th International Selection Panel. Endeavor’s International Selection Panel is the culmination of a rigorous multi-step selection process to identify high-impact entrepreneurs. Regan was selected into the global Endeavor network in a unanimous vote. Jackson Andrews, founding managing director of the Endeavor Midwest affiliate office said, “The rate of growth that Julia is driving at RxLightning since founding the company in 2020 is nothing short of remarkable.”
Louisville Future previously did a story on Regan that you can read here.
UofL wins prize for health innovation
For their work aimed at helping spinal cord injury patients regain function, University of Louisville spinal cord injury researchers have won a Phase 1 prize in a $9.8 million National Institutes of Health innovation competition. The team includes UofL Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center researchers Susan Harkema and Claudia Angeli, working in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Medtronic, and the Kessler Foundation. Their project involves developing an analysis system, called StimXS, that integrates multi-modal sensor information to simultaneously stabilize blood pressure and improve respiratory and bladder function.
Grants awarded to 9 proof-of-concept projects
KYNETIC (Kentucky Network for Innovation and Commercialization) has funded nine proof-of-concept projects in its Cycle 5 round. The grants are awarded to those working on innovative products–from preventative, device, to software–that have the potential to impact human health. Here are the awardees who were the recipients of the distributed grants.
National Stem Cell Foundation to fund study on International Space Station
The Louisville-based National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF) is funding a study of neurodegeneration on the International Space Station (ISS) with a bi-coastal team of leading experts in the fields of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple sclerosis (MS). The project launched from Cape Canaveral on July 14 and traveled to the International Space Station for a fourth time aboard the SpaceX 25 Commercial Resupply Mission for NASA.
Recognizing veteran business leadership
Automated Packaging company CRG Automation has been recognized with the Vet100 Award, which reflects the scope and impact of veteran leadership and ownership in the world of business. The Vet100 award was inspired by Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list, which spotlights 5,000 quickly growing, private American-owned companies. CRG Automation was cited earlier this year as one of the world’s most innovative robotics companies of 2022 for its work with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Louisville ranks high in list of logistics hubs
For the second year in a row, Business Facilities Magazine named the Louisville MSA third in its Top 10 list of global and metro logistics hubs. This comes off a record year of growth and investment in both the manufacturing and logistics sectors throughout the Greater Louisville region.