MD startups partner for $3M energy deal

Newsletter for February 19, 2025

Did you hear Baltimore is getting its own Monopoly board? As someone who grew up having days-long games with my family, I'm very excited. The company is looking for suggestions on what should be included — and I'd like to hear them, too. Reply and let me know.

Let's get into today's newsletter: A local startup just landed a major contract with a UK wastewater company to help it produce biofuel, and the founders are looping in other Maryland firms to make the deal happen. Keep scrolling to learn more.

Also, experts at a recent Morgan State summit for students, entrepreneurs and investors shared their belief that AI could be used to make us more human. More on that below.

— Kaela, Technical.ly lead reporter in Baltimore and DC

As an independent news organization, Technical.ly has the trust of hard-to-reach tech and startup professionals and decisionmakers across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and beyond. We can send your message directly to more than 45,000 inboxes, with industry-leading 35%+ open rates and 4%+ click-through rates. Get details on newsletter "takeover" options here.

BrightWave, a Columbia company building photobioreactors to grow algae, is the central firm in a cross-ocean deal valued at nearly $3 million.

The startup is sending eight of its 40,000-liter reactors to Northumbrian Water Limited in northeast England for use at a wastewater treatment plan. Rather than the typical sludge, the algae cleaning process results in fuel for planes, said cofounder and CEO Ken Peretti.

“Sustainable aviation fuels is a worldwide problem, just like wastewater treatment is,” Peretti told me. “If you can connect the dots, having algae be used for sustainable aviation fuels that comes from wastewater treatment — oh my goodness.”

The founders are also sought out services and materials locally, including Bauen Innovations, a 3D-printing company out of Arbutus in Baltimore County; and tech commercialization firm/investor Early Charm's subsidiary Sanosona, which is leading the manufacturing process. Continue reading ...

For all the problems and concerns with today's artificial intelligence tools, some speakers at this month's HBCUniverse Summit in Baltimore think it might actually bring out our humanity.

The theme was prevalent at the second annual edition of the weekend-long event, which is organized by Venture for T.H.E.M., an organization that supports founders from historically Black colleges and universities.

At one point, tech consultant Shayla Treadwell pointed out that AI, along with shaping industries, forces us to reconsider what makes us uniquely human.

“Be curious,” Treadwell said. “Curiosity is the biggest thing you can do.” Continue reading...

• Maryland nurses are using AI to monitor contractions and fetal heart rates for all 9,000 births that happen annually in the UMMS system — sometimes from miles away. [Technical.ly]

• Ten restaurants received $10,000 grants from DoorDash’s Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund following the Key Bridge collapse nearly a year ago. [Baltimore Banner]

• Related: The Maryland Attorney General’s Office is requesting monitoring data from a software firm involved with Grace Ocean Private, the owner of the Dali, the container ship that triggered the collapse. [WYPR]

• Baltimore-based retail company Under Armor is releasing a new clothing line with German luxury car company Mansory. [Baltimore Biz Journal]

• More than 40 manufacturing firms received state funds as part of the Maryland Manufacturing 4.0 program, which the governor proposed increased funding for in the FY26 budget. [State of Maryland]

• The SECU MD Foundation is accepting applications for its scholarship program for University of Maryland system schools. [SECU MD]

• Correctional officers in some Maryland prisons will now wear body cameras as part of a pilot program to increase transparency. [WJZ]

• JPMorganChase hired Baltimore region military spouses at its Maryland virtual call center. [JPMorganChase]

• Baltimore-based neurotechnology company Longeviti Neuro Solutions is partnering with the New Orleans firm Clarius Mobile Health to help neurosurgeons monitor patients' recoveries with ultrasounds. [Clarius Mobile Health]