Baltimore Money Moves: Towson U raised $102M through its RISE campaign

Towson University is celebrating the successful culmination of its $102 million RISE campaign, which spanned over eight years and seven key pillars: student success, faculty excellence, academic innovation, community impact, capital projects, campaign leadership and partners or donors. At the core of the RISE campaign was a fundamental goal to engage donors in providing essential financial support for initiatives at Towson University that often face a shortfall in funding from state allocations or tuition fees.

EDAC Labs nabs $3 million

EDAC Labs, a spin-out from Professor Chao Wang’s lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering, has secured $3 million in initial funding to expand its carbon removal tech work. The investment was led by the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment. Led by CEO James Laven and CTO Wang, EDAC Labs has developed an electrosynthesizer apparatus that a press release said generates acid and base with only half the energy required by traditional methods. Since its inception, the company has been committed to the development of negative-emission technologies. Moreover, the technology may prove beneficial for metal mining operations, facilitating the extraction of valuable metals while concurrently capturing carbon and achieving carbon-negative mining outcomes. The company also extends its electrochemistry solutions to projects related to direct ocean capture, ocean alkalinity enhancement and enhanced weathering in the hopes of letting developers reduce project expenses. With this fresh infusion of funds, EDAC Labs aims to advance its technology and showcase its capabilities by achieving a carbon dioxide capture rate of one ton per day by the conclusion of 2024.

“We’re extremely excited to receive this support from the Grantham Foundation, which validates our core belief that low-cost acid and base is a foundational technology that can hasten decarbonization via air capture and changes in core industrial processes,” Laven said in a written statement.”

CLLCTIVLY raises over $1 million for Black-led orgs

As part of Black Philanthropy Month, CLLCTIVGIVE, a campaign from CLLCTIVLY, raised a total of $1,125,707 during its fifth annual iteration. Rooted in the pursuit of collective impact from its inception, CLLCTIVGIVE has consistently garnered support from individual contributors, corporations, foundations and collaborative community partners. Noteworthy is the campaign’s inaugural year, which marked an initial achievement of $5,000. 

TEDCO investments

Columbia-based TEDCO recently invested $1 million into Cerebro Capital, situated on W. Madison Street in Baltimore, via the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Cerebro Capital operates a marketplace that facilitates quicker and more streamlined loan discovery and approval processes for commercial borrowers and lenders. In a press release sent to Technical.ly, Katherine Hill Ritchie, TEDCO’s senior director of Venture Funds, commended Cerebro Capital for its approach to helping businesses remain operational: “It’s exciting to see companies working to support other entrepreneurs and businesses in Maryland—together, we can create a better, more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

In another recent SSBCI investment, TEDCO put $500,000 into KaloCyte, a Baltimore-based company focused on refining bio-inspired artificial red blood cells to address life-threatening blood loss. This strategic investment was facilitated through TEDCO’s Venture Funds program.

Lastly, the state-created funder also invested $200,000 into Tuzmo, a Gaithersburg-based company behind a platform to link tourists with local artisans, via its Builder Fund.