Veramorph Materials landed a spot in a Delaware business accelerator backed by DuPont to develop its hydrogel-based oral drug delivery platform.
Veramorph and MCET Technologies (which is developing wearable sensor technology) won their spots in the Delaware Innovation Space via the DuPont FastPass competition. The companies get a year of free access to the accelerator, including turnkey wet-lab and office space, access high-end chemistry and biotech equipment, strategic business development, technical and fundraising programming tailored to each startup.
“The Delaware Innovation Space is excited to be combining our capabilities and expertise with DuPont, one of our foundational partners, to assist MCET and Veramorph in rapidly growing their startups,” CEO Bill Provine said in prepared remarks. “A FastPass competition is designed to lower the funding barrier and quickly establish deep connections with the Delaware Innovation Space and our partners, significantly reducing development cycle times and propelling science entrepreneurs forward.”
“DuPont is fortunate to be able to partner with the local scientific and business community through programs like FastPass,” added DuPont chief technology & sustainability officer Alexa Dembek. “Our goal is to help accelerate the success of these talented entrepreneurs by lending our insights and capabilities in partnership with the Delaware Innovation Space.”
“Veramorph will gain valuable insight into regulatory requirements for excipient manufacturing from DuPont experts in the nutrition & biosciences business. Veramorph also will be able to develop a differentiated consumer product in collaboration with DuPont by using their market-leading nutritional ingredients,” Veramorph CEO Paul Godfrin said in a press release. “As a result, Veramorph can also perform critical de-risking activities that will allow us to rapidly break into the pharmaceutical industry.
“Not many start-up competitions offer access to both R&D resources and business mentorship, which is a powerful combination of resources for early stage companies,” Godfrin said. “It is critical for early stage start-ups to validate both their value proposition(s) and the means of value creation (i.e., the business model) and doing so with the input of a potential partner and customer is invaluable.”
“Veramorph has put together a strong team and aligned their technology to a key need within the pharma market,” noted DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences technical fellow Robert Schmitt. “DuPont has deep experience commercializing novel polymer solutions in this market and we can provide our historical perspective to accelerate Veramorph’s product development cycle.”
