FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Tim Szczykutowicz, RadUnity; WEDC providing funding for housing projects

January 3, 2025

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Tim “Stick” Szczykutowicz, founder of RadUnity.

Szczykutowicz, a professor at UW-Madison, discusses issues with medical imaging that he wants to address through RadUnity. This Madison-based startup recently got FDA clearance for its technology, which aims to reduce inconsistency in medical imaging for radiologists by standardizing formatting and image processing.

He provides insights on what led him to launch the business and details the company’s approach for improving medical imaging.

“You’re going to have a much more uniform way that images are made and presented to radiologists who would eventually interpret them,” he said.

Szczykutowicz says the recent FDA clearance is “huge for the business,” emphasizing the importance of hitting such milestones for startups coming out of academia.

“What that meant for us was that we’re hopefully being seen as a real company, and not just an extension of my laboratory,” he said. “Yeah, we really want to get that patent, that solution into the hands of clinicians around the country.”

The podcast touches on other milestones for RadUnity and its path from the lab bench to market. Looking ahead, the company is seeking to raise a seed investment round of “a few million dollars” to hire dedicated leadership.

“I’m blessed to be in this awesome corridor between Milwaukee and Madison where we have all this imaging expertise from GE Healthcare to the smaller companies, the spin-offs of UW-Madison in this region,” he said, adding “that’s really my next big hurdle as founder … getting the right people on board.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— Three projects expanding housing options in Wisconsin are getting state funding from WEDC, the agency announced.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. recently spotlighted these projects, including one in downtown Shawano getting a $178,000 grant from the Community Development Investment program. Heather Pahl, co-owner of Martin Jewelers in Shawano, is converting a formerly vacant building into a mixed residential and commercial development, according to the agency’s release.

“Employees in Shawano can’t find housing and are living out of town and commuting in,” Pahl said in a statement. “In order to bring back that vibrancy downtown, second-story housing is critical.”

The announcement also highlighted a $30.8 million project in Eau Claire’s Cannery Development District that includes plans for 260 housing units and 20,000 square feet of commercial space. It’s getting a $250,000 grant from WEDC.

Aaron White, community development director for Eau Claire, notes the city’s vacancy rate for multi-family housing was 1.7% last year, “far below” the healthy range of 5-7%.

“The Cannery District hadn’t seen much investment in recent years, so seeing this development go forward has definitely been great for the community,” he said.

WEDC is also providing a $228,000 grant for a project converting a former hotel in Rhinelander into a 31-unit apartment building, meant for veterans, seniors with fixed income and seasonal workers, the release shows. The former Rodeway Inn is being renovated by developer Tim Jewell, and will also include office space once complete.

“This project will help economic growth big time,” Jewell said in the release. “If you don’t have a place to live, you can’t open up the business and can’t advance the community.”

See more project details in the release.

— COVID-19 activity in Wisconsin has jumped in recent weeks, though not as high as near the end of 2023.

The seven-day average of COVID-19 virus concentration in wastewater treatment centers nearly tripled over the 30-day period ending Dec. 23, the latest date for which figures are available from the Department of Health Services. That total rose from 30.2 million gene copies per person per day on Nov. 23 to 87.8 million at latest count.

But that remains far below the 201.1 million gene copies per person per day seen on Dec. 23, 2023, when the virus was much more prevalent in Wisconsin.

Still, more than half of the wastewater facilities conducting COVID-19 testing in the state had high or very high measurements of the virus, while less than a third had moderate levels and just three sites had low levels, according to the DHS website.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 hospitalizations remain relatively low. The agency’s site shows the seven-day average for hospitalized patients was 198 patients on Dec. 28, compared to 462 patients one year earlier.

— The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation participated in a recent $16 million Series A funding round for California tech company Qolab.

Qolab, based in Los Angeles, specializes in scalable quantum computing systems for various industries.

Nevada-based Octave Ventures led the round, which also saw participation from Development Bank of Japan Inc. and Phoenix Venture Partners, based in California. The funds will help expand Qolab’s team of quantum scientists and engineers, accelerate development cycles and scale its superconducting quantum processors.

“Qolab is well-positioned to leverage both domestic and international support in advancing its technology,” Qolab CEO Alan Ho said in a statement. “The combined backing from Octave Ventures and DBJ is a testament to Qolab’s role as a global innovator in quantum technology and aligns with Japan’s strategic goals in fostering cutting-edge advancements.”

See more at Madison Startups.

— Imbed Biosciences has named Terry Bromley its new CEO, the Middleton-based company announced recently.

Bromley has more than 30 years of experience in the medical device, regenerative medicine, and wound and skin markets. He will lead efforts to transform the future of soft tissue repair through advanced technologies focused on improving patient outcomes, according to the announcement.

“Terry brings a wealth of commercial leadership experience in the wound and skin care sector, delivering innovation and building high-performing teams,” said Imbed Biosciences Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Ankit Agarwal, who previously held the CEO position.

See more at Madison Startups.

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