Five more companies are reaping the benefits from START-UP NY (SUNY Tax-free Areas to Revitalize and Transform Upstate NY), bringing an additional 123 jobs and investing $3.17 million into areas surrounding University at Buffalo campuses. Each of the companies will either relocate, expand or start-up with the help of the tax incentive program created by Governor Cuomo. The companies will all have working relationships with with UB faculty researchers and students (internships, scholarships and jobs), which is essentially the MO of START-Up NY.
“We are delighted to welcome these five new companies, and very pleased to be continuing UB’s leadership role as part of the Governor’s START-UP NY program,” said UB President Satish K. Tripathi. “This program is an innovative and very effective way of leveraging all the strengths that a major research university brings to our region. And it has substantial benefit to our academic enterprise — from new internship and entrepreneurship opportunities for our students; to more jobs that attract global talent to our region and create new professional avenues for our graduates; and new pathways for our faculty to lend their expertise to industrial research and development.”
The five newest companies to join START-UP NY via UB are:
HarkerBio (lead image) – a start-up company that provides an X-ray crystallography-based technology platform to rapidly and cost-effectively advance drug development. The company, which expects to create 10 jobs and invest $500,000, will collaborate with UB’s Center for Computational Research. It will open an office at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Mitigate Injury Management – The start-up will develop software and provide injury management consultation services to industries nationwide. The company will offer internships to UB students and work with UB’s Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology. It plans to invest $115,000 and employ 81 people at UB’s Gateway Building downtown.
Robb Surgical Devices – This start-up company has secured the rights to manufacture a novel laparoscopic surgical sponge. The company, which expects to employ 15 and invest $1.87 million, will operate from UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
You First Services – This existing company acquires and commercializes life sciences technologies. It will relocate to UB’s Baird Research Park in Amherst, expects to invest $110,000 and hire seven new employees, including UB dental school students.
ZeptoMetrix Corp. – This existing biotech company specializes in developing products for the global infectious disease diagnostic market. The company, which works with UB’s Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology, will move into the Innovation Center Annex on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. It expects to create 10 jobs and invest $575,000.
Incentives enjoyed by each of the companies include the ability to operate for ten years without having to pay business, corporate, income, sales or property taxes, or franchise fees. The five new companies bring about a cumulative total of 20 companies that have embraced the program.