The University of Massachusetts created six new startup companies within the past year, its best-ever annual performance, and set new records for patent applications and the number of faculty members disclosing inventions, President Caret said today.

In addition to the six new startups, the University of Massachusetts recorded 157 patent applications and 180 faculty invention disclosures for Fiscal Year 2014, which ended June 30. In all three categories, it was the University's best-ever yearly performance.

The University also was granted 54 patents for ideas that have the potential to be commercialized. UMass generated more than $31 million in licensing revenue in Fiscal Year 2014. Read more on http://otcv.umassp.edu  

The six companies spun out of UMass inventions this year were:   

• Voyager Therapeutics. "RNA Interference" by Phil Zamore, Guangping Gao, Neil Aronin and others at UMass Medical School. The company is developing gene therapy methods to treat several important neurological diseases including ALS, Parkinson and Huntington's Disease.   
• Felsuma. "Geckskin-adhesive Technology" by Professors Al Crosby and Duncan Irshick at UMass Amherst. Geckskin is a three-dimensional and transformational adhesive that can attach and release repeatedly from multiple surfaces with high bonding strength.  
• Aha! Productions/Innovation Accelerator. "Obscure Features Hypothesis" by Joseph McCaffrey from UMass Amherst. The firm's first product, Analogy finder, offers a software package that seeks out analogous solutions to problems by hunting through patent databases, research libraries and other sources.  
• Sonation. "Expert System for Musical Accompaniment" by Chris Raphael from UMass Amherst. The company is developing music software technology that transforms singing and playing instruments into a more interactive fun experience.
• TATT, LLC. "Use of siRNA to Preserve Organs for Transplant" by Timothy Kowalik and Marc Uknis from UMass Medical School. The technology relates to the use of siRNA to improve organs being used for transplantation by minimizing organ rejection, transplantation-mediated transmission of viral infection, and the triggering of apoptosis in transplanted tissue.  
• Agalimmune Ltd. "Cancer Immunotherapy" by Uri Galili from UMass Medical School. The company is developing innovative immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors.

Harvard spinout Alfred lands $2M in funding to expand in Boston, NYC

Alfred, the Harvard-born maker of an app that lets users hire a personal butler to do everyday chores like laundry and grocery shopping, has landed $2 million in seed funding and will expand both in Cambridge and in New York City.

The financing was led by the Boston office of Spark Capital and San Francisco-based angel firm SV Angel and San Francisco-based CrunchFund. The startup also won another $50,000 from Harvard Business School's Venture Competition in May. Read more

UltraCell, MTTC/MassCEC catalyst awardee, was identified as a Startup to Watch in the October edition of an investor industry newsletter. 

The concept of treating cardboard containers with liquid enzymes and fire retardants, then turning them into insulation, was developed in 2009 by a team of insulation industry experts and University of Maine researchers. Their initial work was funded in part by a $100,000 grant from the Maine Technology Institute. In 2010, the team founded Green Comfort Safe, Inc., to commercialize the process. After receiving a patent in 2011 (which is jointly owned by the University of Maine-Orono), Green Comfort Safe merged with US Dynamics and later recapitalized as ProCell Insulation. In 2013, the newly renamed UltraCell received a $40,000 grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, as well as a $100,000 research grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the EPA's Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program. Read more