BioVeritas, FluxWorks and HPTech are new companies recently launched after working with the Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation, or BVEDC, to expand in the Bryan/College Station area. The BVEDC is a nonprofit that liaises with businesses seeking a single point of contact for local and state government officials while working to grow a business in Brazos County.
The chief executive officers of each discussed their ongoing business development, plans for growth and products.
A different kind of recycling
BioVeritas is a company that transforms food byproducts into mold-inhibiting material that can then be upcycled into any baked goods, says David Austgen, CEO of BioVeritas.
Ara Partners — a global private firm — bought BioVeritas two and a half years ago. The firm raised money through investors interested in helping companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, explains David.
Constantly advocating for funding is required to keep a new business alive and growing. To raise money, BioVeritas sells shares and takes out loans, David says.
“Today, we’ve raised about $65 million, and starting in January of 2024 … we will start [the] process to raise another $200 million,” David says.
BioVeritas will use the money to build its first commercial plant. The company currently has a pilot plant in Bryan to produce samples. David says that the commercial plant will sell the mold inhibitors used by food ingredient companies in bread and will even be sold directly to bakers.
“When [Ara Partners] bought the company, the company was only 15 people,” David says. Today, we’re 50 people. We will break ground on [our first] production facility in nine months and it will be operating in two and a half years.”
Mold inhibitors are cooked into baked goods to preserve and protect them from harmful bacteria. Other mold inhibitors on the market currently are produced using fossil fuels. BioVeritas utilizes natural processes that do not require the use of fossil fuels, explains David, making the production process better for the environment.
“One-third of all food in the world is wasted every year,” David notes.
David says that the wasted food would go into landfills, but BioVeritas takes what would otherwise be waste and buys it from companies to convert it. Then, BioVeritas uses a process called fermentation to make it into a mold inhibitor. Fermentation refers to taking glycerin and adding microorganisms that naturally convert it into organic acids, creating a cultured product that is healthier because of the good bacteria produced, he says.
One of the ways that BioVeritas tested the method was by putting mold that typically grows on bread in a Petri dish. Then, one dish would have the BioVeritas mold inhibitor, and the other would not.
“We would put one without a mold inhibitor and one with a mold inhibitor, and we would see what the impact was … you could see that the one with the mold inhibitor, the mold would not grow,” David says.
Geared for success
Imagine gears that do not touch and can withstand conditions where mechanical gears would fail.
FluxWorks is a new company creating magnetic gears that can go into uncharted territories such as outer space, the deep sea and even the human body.
Because these gears do not require oil for lubrication and instead use magnetic force, they are more efficient. The company has 14 full-time employees and can make around 10 magnetic gears a year, says Bryton Praslicka, FluxWorks’ CEO.
Bryton says his vision is for the company to produce gears in a lunar rover 12 months from now. Company culture, mission and vision are what Bryton emphasizes at FluxWorks, and he encourages others to focus there as well. The new workforce generation values culture and balance as much or more than salary, Bryton notes.
“We have had people from Michigan move to Texas to work at FluxWorks,” Bryton says.
Adapting tech for success
Developing software currently used in space, robotics, industrial and mechanical vehicles is the focus of HPTech. The company developed technology that allows the physical interlocking of vehicles to increase efficiency and decrease labor. This strategy is similar to platooning, which refers to a line of vehicles closely following the vehicle in front with no physical contact. Instead of a wireless connection between the line of vehicles, HPTech created a physical connection.
The physical connection is a mechanical arm that allows several vehicles to be linked without inhibiting their movement, which means the vehicles have free range and can move autonomously. This connection also ensures that vehicles minimize distance between one another while maximizing safety.
The leading automobile is the only one with an actual driver. The other vehicles following are driven by software that is currently being tested. The software guides the vehicle on how to steer, pull and stop with the help of the mechanical arm, which is a simpler method when compared to artificial intelligence, or AI. The reason AI is not as safe is due to the lack of a physical tether to the other automobiles, explains Michiel Ashley, CEO of HPTech.
Since the distance between each vehicle is minimized, the amount of gas used for each trip is decreased because of reduced wind turbulence.
It is also a beneficial method because the amount of labor is minimized. These two factors save trucking companies money.
Michiel says that Texas A&M Transportation Services provided HPTech with old buses to help the company develop.
It's too early to sell the software because further testing is needed, and HPTech is still deciding how they want to sell the system, Michiel says. The company will most likely sell and install the complete package to companies like off-road military and forestry industries.
Michiel notes that goals include gravitating more towards the commercial trucking industry while remaining in the defense territory. A detailed business plan and mentors are the keys to developing business owners.
“It doesn’t matter what your technology is if you can’t communicate it or if it doesn’t solve somebody’s problem, so you really need a customer to be saying, ‘I need this,’” Michiel says.
