Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public authority responsible for technology investing and innovation development, today announced that it has committed funding totaling more than $1 million to seven diverse startup technology companies through its new Pre-Seed Fund:

• AlloStem Therapeutics LLC (Farmington)
• Alphachromics Inc. (Farmington)
• CMDBioscience^SM (Orange)
• eGen LLC (Groton)
• Floop Inc. (New Haven)
• HDB Newco Inc. (New Haven)
• Shizzlr Inc. (New Haven)

Each of these companies has also secured matching funds from private investors, as required by the pre-seed legislation.

“Entrepreneurship is clearly alive and well in Connecticut,” said Peter Longo, president and executive director of CI. “We’ve been highly encouraged by the robust level of interest in our Pre-Seed Fund and are delighted to announce our pre-seed support for these seven emerging high-tech companies.”

“They’re focused on a wide array of technologies – including advanced materials, bioscience, clean tech, information technology and social media. Interestingly, four of the companies either licensed technologies from universities or were conceived there, and three are located within CTech incubators, which complement CI’s Pre-Seed Fund by further supporting entrepreneurs,” Long said.

AlloStem Therapeutics LLC is an early-stage pharmaceutical company committed to helping cancer patients by the discovery and development of targeted therapies. The company is developing small molecule inhibitors targeting the RAS pathway, one that is important in the regulation, proliferation, differentiation, development and survival of cells. Mutations in this pathway have been implicated in deregulated cell proliferation and cancer progression. AlloStem believes that its candidate, a potent allosteric MEK kinase inhibitor, CIP-137401, may hold promise in the treatment of melanoma, colon and ovarian cancers – either as a single agent or in combination with other known or in development cancer treatments. CIP-137401 was originally identified and patented by Cheminpharma LLC, a medicinal chemistry focused pre-clinical drug discovery services company. CIP-137401 is currently undergoing pre-clinical testing and is expected to reach clinical trials in early 2012. The company is located at the University of Connecticut’s Technology Incubation Program in Farmington, a technology business incubator operated in partnership with CI's CTech incubator.

Alphachromics Inc., a spinout from the University of Connecticut launched by the UConn Research & Development Corporation, is developing a portfolio of conductive polymer technologies that can be used in a wide variety of products. This technology platform, which allows polymers to change colors using a minimal electrical charge, has applications in eyewear products such as goggles and helmets, energy-saving windows and custom fabrics.  The company's innovative, low-cost manufacturing process is the basis for its competitive advantage in these rapidly developing markets.