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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 13 A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 6 F O C U S B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E / I N S U R A N C E Wolfel, a board member of the Maine Angels group of investors, likens Corsair to a "super-angel" in agility terms and sees this as a "dot- com moment" for venture capital more broadly. "e financial returns will be made by being early, being contrarian and being willing to stand alone, whether that's in what you back or where you back it," he says. "Just like the last cycle, some of the most important companies will come from places and sectors others overlook." Building 'deep tech' ventures from scratch While venture capital funds early-stage startups, venture studios step in at a much earlier stage — assembling founding teams to build a business from scratch. at's the aim of Ateklo Inc., a Portland-based endeavor founded by Justin Hafner and Richard Corey. Hafner, a graduate of the University of Maine, is the founder and former CEO of digital health startup Kinotek, while Corey co-founded and leads UMaine's VEMI Lab in Orono. ey launched Ateklo in 2023 to turn frontier scientific researchers into entrepreneurs, providing initial capital and hands-on operational support for two spinouts so far. e first, Intangible Partners, uses artificial intelligence to help businesses in legacy industries as well as startups and private equity funds streamline administrative tasks and prospect for business leads, while EliVive Inc. is pioneering a wearable platform that will use human sweat to track changes in women's reproductive hormones with much more precision than blood tests. To lay the groundwork for EliVive, Ateklo connected Portland-based biomedical engineer Liza White with Martina Marrali, a biotechnology scien- tist in Cambridge, Mass., currently com- pleting her MBA at Babson College. e duo joined forces with Ateklo to start EliVive, with Marrali as CEO and White as chief technology officer. e example illustrates Ateklo's approach of acting as the "middle layer" between academia and industry to help create startups that address critical industry challenges. "We have a saying internally about how much more we believe in people over patents," says Hafner, a self-described deep-tech venture builder. "People are what really drive super-advanced technology and fron- tier research." C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » Clearstead Trust is a Maine State Chartered Trust Company serving wealthy families and leading institutions. We address every aspect of wealth management and investment consulting in personalized ways, helping you meet your current needs and ensuring long-term prosperity for your family, institutions, and community. thrive. Where legacies INFO@CLEARSTEAD.COM WWW.CLEARSTEAD.COM 14 York Street, Suite 301 Portland, ME 04101 Clearstead Trust is a Maine State Chartered Trust Company serving wealthy families and leading institutions. We address every aspect of wealth management and investment consulting *Services provided by Clearstead Advisors, LLC u "I believed Maine families deserved more from early education. FAME helped me make that a reality." Angela Garrison Founder ROSELYN NORTH ACADEMY 1-800-228-3734 • TTY: 207-626-2717 11-Time Winner, Best Places to Work in Maine (2015–25) FAMEmaine.com Your local commercial loan insurance partners with quick online approvals & personalized service