Purdue startup awarded $150K
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – A Purdue University-affiliated startup has received federal and state grants worth $150,000. JUA Technologies International says it will use the funding to further develop its solar-powered crop-drying devices.
The company was founded by husband-wife duo Klein Ileleji, a professor in agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue and Reiko Habuto Ileleji, a Purdue alumna.
Klein Ileleji said the money will support taking JUA Technologies’ Dehymeleon crop and multipurpose dryer from the initial research and development stage to advance research in its improved thermal collector and smart control system designs.
The grants money will also fund testing the company’s drying algorithms in hopes to bolster progress toward designing a product for manufacture and commercialization.
The funding is comprised of an $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a $50,000 match investment from Elevate Ventures, through the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.