Mainebiz

V O L . X X V N O. X I X S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 9 32 S TA R T U P S / E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P F O C U S production," he says. "at's a huge step. e UpStart Center is a stepping- stone facility." at stepping-stone, notes Bentley, is part of a continuum of resources in the Bangor-Orono region. e center is one component of UpStart Maine, a nonprofit that brings together all of the region's entrepreneurial programs, includ- ing the pitch competition Big Gig, the accelerators Top Gun and ScratchPad, coworking space, UMaine's Foster Center for Student Innovation, and the Bangor Innovation Center, where com- panies that outgrow UpStart can move into large manufacturing space. e incubator is primarily driven by companies with University of Maine connections. "We're attracting smart minds who do interesting things," says Kelly. "at helps spin off all kinds of activities." Environentix, for example, was founded by UMaine faculty mem- bers Robert Lad and Mauricio de Cunha. eir lead engineer holds a UMaine PhD. At Cerahelix, two of the three co-founders, Susan MacKay and Karl Bishop, met while they were fellow scientists doing postdoctoral research at UMaine. ey founded Cerahelix in 2011 to commercialize a unique filtration membrane made in part by using DNA. Now fully commercialized, Cerahelix moved production to the Bangor Innovation Center, raised $2 million in venture capital, and more than doubled their staff. R&D, sales and customer trials teams remain at UpStart. MacKay, a 2010 Mainebiz Women to Watch honoree, manages operations. But in the beginning, she had no expe- rience as an entrepreneur. e relation- ship with UpStart was essential to the company's growth. "For someone like me, who has a sci- ence background, you need someone to teach you about finance, about how to get your business set up," MacKay says. "I would ask questions. For example, I wanted to apply to an accelerator early on, so I got advice about what to look for in an accelerator." Early on, even basic assistance was useful, like choosing a logo and shooting promotional video. "We got some of our early videos shot by people at the University of Maine," she continues. "We connected with student interns. I got the coaching I needed." Proximity to UMaine is useful, she says. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F C E R A H E L I X I N C . Cerahelix Inc. develops ceramic picofiltration products used for high purity filtration. Last year the startup expanded into a separate manufacturing facility while main- taining R&D and its customer-trials team at the UpStart Center.

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