PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Technology Institute awarded $155,558 to 18 Maine-based companies during the last three months of 2015, adding grants to companies in Presque Isle and Orono in its December round of awards.
MTI awarded Orono-based ceramic filtration company Cerahelix Inc. $15,000 through a business accelerator grant in December and awarded another $5,000 to Presque Isle-based Farmer Organics LLC through a grant for early stage companies or projects.
In November, the state-run business development fund awarded a $5,000 grant for early-stage businesses to Orono-based Revolution Research, which is developing a new type of insulation derived from wood fibers and organic polymers.
And in October, MTI awarded $20,000 in a business accelerator grant to Bar Harbor-based RockStep Solutions Inc., a spinoff of The Jackson Laboratory that has developed a cloud-based system for storing and managing biomedical research.
Both RockStep and Revolution Research recently received federal grants for the first phase of their research, through the National Science Foundation. Cerahelix has reached the second phase of that federal grant program, getting $1 million in 2013.
Other business accelerator grants awarded at the end of 2015 by MTI included: $20,000 to Kennebec River Biosciences in Richmond, $28,723 to Municipay in Scarborough and $15,000 to Bragdon Farm in Waterville.