TechRanch graduates three new companies

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL Chronicle Staff Writer

Soybeans, nerves and textiles may seem to have nothing in common.

But at the TechRanch graduation ceremony Thursday evening, the non-related items were the stars of the show.

Three start-up companies -- Envirozyme, Nervonix and TEXBase -- were honored at the Montana State University Alumni Building by the local business incubator. The businesses have been "incubated" and are ready to work independently, although they will still maintain a connection to TechRanch.

"This is a night to celebrate," said John O'Donnell, TechRanch director. "If I were a college freshman up at MSU I would be so excited because the job opportunities four years from today are going to be much better than they were four years ago."

Some of those jobs might be found at TEXBase, a company that has developed software to manage information about new textiles. Founder Joe Walkuski said he plans to hire one or two people this spring.

"I have a habit of turning a hobby into a profession," Walkuski, a former Patagonia employee, said.

He took up computer programming as a hobby while at Patagonia, eventually designing a system to manage information regarding new and existing textiles. That hobby now has three employees and customers in five countries.

In a similar situation, a frustration in his line of work inspired Dr. Phil Cory, a local anesthesiologist, to start Nervonix. He needed a way to better locate nerves for regional anesthesia and has developed a medical device to make that process easier.

"Up until now, regional anesthesia has been an art," he said. "People who can't do it well find it frustrating."

The Nervonix device includes a series of electrodes that transmit an image of peripheral nerves to a computer screen. It can be used for management of chronic pain, will reduce recovery time from surgery and could ultimately reduce the mortality and morbidity rates associated with general anesthesia.

The company has patented the device, has hired a CEO and is looking for strategic partners to develop it for commercial use.

The third business, Envirozyme, took a different path to TechRanch graduation. Instead of aspiring entrepreneurs visiting the TechRanch for help, TechRanch employees actually acquired the Envirozyme idea from MSU research, developed it to a point and brought in experts to carry the idea forward.

Envirozyme makes plant-based fish food for commercial fish farming, or aquaculture.

"What we have is an approach to using plant protein to substitute for fish meal," said Steve Bryant, an Envirozyme partner.

Typically, farm-raised fish are fed fish meal -- which is made up of parts of ocean fish, including anchovies -- which is expensive and has the potential to cause health problems in humans who eat the farmed fish.

Instead, Envirozyme has found a way of "supercharging" soybeans to make them a protein-rich alternative to fish meal. Bryant and partner Clifford Bradley are working on a pilot program with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"The fish seem to be eating it," O'Donnell said, with a laugh. "Hopefully it won't change the texture and color of the meat."

In the four years since TechRanch opened, it has created 140 jobs by working with 27 clients and graduating seven of those companies, said board chair Dennis Dixon.

"That's what we're all about," Dixon said. "From the beginning that was our vision, to create as many high tech jobs as we can."

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