Startups in Hartford and West Hartford will divvy up $44,000 in grants awarded last week by the state-backed entrepreneurial program CTNext.
Four companies received $10,000 Entrepreneur Innovation Awards. They included:
- Ray Lighting + Design Studios, Hartford, is designing and building a prototype LED module to retrofit into existing lightÂing fixtures in churches, synagogues and other large meeting spaces.
- Imperium Technologies, West Hartford, is developing a safe-driving electromechanical device to monitor and control the functioning of cell phones and other electronic devices.
- Send Help Back Home, Hamden, is building a web and mobile platform to enable users abroad to redeem products and services from a network of vendors.
- Ware, Darien, is designing and building a prototype for sensor-based biometric clothing.
In addition to the $10,000 grant, Send Help Back Home also received a $2,000 judge’s-favorite award, while South Glastonbury’s Fresh Farm Aquaponics — which is developing smart-agriculture technology — received $2,000 for being the crowd favorite.
CTNext has awarded nearly $350,000 in grants since early 2014.
