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Company gets $200K from Capital Fund
LANSING — Lansing’s AFID Therapeutics recently received a $200,000 award from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund.
Founded in 2003 by MSU biochemistry professor Rawle Hollingsworth, AFID Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical chemistry and drug discovery/development company. The company develops proprietary chemical compounds used to create new medicines targeting diseases like Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders, bacterial and viral infections, cancer, cardiovascular disorders and diabetes.
AFID Therapeutics recently launched an anti-viral campaign with new chemical compounds that can block the spread of influenza viruses, Hollingsworth said. The fund money will help to pay for steps needed to meet regulatory requirements, he said.
“We are going to take care of regulatory aspects of it and do some test formulations and make some product prototypes, and this will help,” he said.
The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund is a collaborative effort of Michigan's 12 SmartZones and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which was created to support high-tech start-up companies by providing them with access to early-stage capital.
AFID Therapeutics is just the second mid-Michigan company to receive money from the fund. The first was XG Sciences, Inc. Both companies were launched using technology licensed from Michigan State University.
Since the fund began making investments in early 2007, it has provided more than $5.4 million to 25 companies that are creating and retaining jobs in the state. In doing so, it has helped those companies attract additional investments of more than $8.5 million.
“Tools like the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund are crucial in helping us move cutting-edge technologies from the bench to the market more quickly,” said Matt Dugener, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (Leap, Inc.). Leap and the Lansing Regional SmartZone worked together to help AFID secure its funding.
“The fund’s investment in AFID is a testament to the tremendous wealth of technology and entrepreneurship we have here in the Greater Lansing region.”