As Third Coast Foundry officially opened in San Francisco on June 23, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign startups highlighted the strength of Illinois innovation on a national platform at the Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day. Established by eight Midwestern research universities, the innovation hub aims to accelerate the growth of research-driven startups by connecting them with investors, corporate partners and entrepreneurial networks while keeping their talent, jobs and economic impact rooted in the Midwest.
For the entrepreneurship ecosystem at the University of Illinois, the launch marks a new chapter in a decades-long effort to connect Illinois-founded companies with the capital and strategic resources they need to scale.
Photo Credit: Jack Simpson Photography
“The Midwest is going beyond participating in the future economy — we are helping to shape it,” said Rashid Bashir, Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. “Third Coast Foundry is a platform to translate Illinois’ wide range of research excellence into economic impact while creating pathways for students and faculty to engage with leading technology companies, investors and entrepreneurs. It will also activate the powerful alumni networks our universities have built in the Bay Area and beyond.”
Third Coast Foundry is being launched as a two-year pilot supported by Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, Purdue University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, University of Wisconsin–Madison and Washington University in St. Louis. The 3,500-square-foot workspace, which includes flexible co-working space, meeting rooms and a dedicated event floor, is designed as a shared front door for a consortium that collectively represents nearly $10 billion in annual research investment and more than 350,000 students.
“From breakthrough technologies to mission-driven startups, the University of Illinois community is turning ambitious ideas into solutions for some of society’s toughest problems,” said W. Brooke Elliott, Dean of Gies College of Business. “Third Coast Foundry helps accelerate that impact by connecting founders with Silicon Valley investors and experienced mentors, while elevating the visibility of innovative ventures emerging from the Midwest and across the country.” Since its soft opening in March, Third Coast Foundry has generated significant interest from founders, investors, alumni and other partners, welcoming more than 1,000 visitors and event attendees through more than 20 events and activations.
The Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day was a private, invite-only event showcasing 40 early-stage startups from Third Coast Foundry's partner universities to more than 200 attendees, including 150-plus investors representing more than $110 billion in capital. The event highlighted ventures working across advanced manufacturing, AI, robotics, quantum, semiconductors, energy, life sciences, diagnostics, materials, photonics and other deep tech sectors.
Photo Credit: Jack Simpson Photography
“Illinois was very well-represented here by our startups tackling pressing challenges across industries, from construction and manufacturing to health and computing,” said Gerald Wilson, Director of Entrepreneurship at Illinois. “Each of these companies reflects both groundbreaking discovery and the strength of Illinois’ campuswide entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
Five Illinois Startups at the Midwest Deep Tech Demo Day
Rapid Analytix Division (RAD) is tackling a quality control problem that has plagued the construction industry for decades. RAD is transforming construction material testing with five-minute real-time analytics that help producers reduce downtime, overdesign and material waste. Civil engineering graduate student Bayezid Baten leads a team developing what they call the "glucose meter for construction materials" — a portable, on-site testing solution for cementitious materials that returns results in five minutes. Current methods take up to 28 days. RAD's technology is 8,000 times faster and generates AI-ready data for the next generation of sustainable construction.
Archean Sciences is growing real human neurons on a chip — and using them to solve two of the most pressing challenges in science and technology simultaneously. For drug development, Archean's platform enables faster, more accurate testing for neurological conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, where traditional lab models fall short. For computing, biological neurons offer something silicon cannot: extraordinary energy efficiency. Archean's biological computing system runs AI workloads at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional chips, pointing toward a fundamentally different future for both medicine and machine intelligence.
Dark Matter Robotics, based at the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park, builds automation systems for labs and manufacturing environments that are too variable or cost-sensitive for traditional robotics. Where existing solutions are expensive and inflexible, Dark Matter delivers modular, rapidly deployable systems that reduce labor costs, increase throughput and require no changes to existing infrastructure — making automation accessible at a scale and speed that hasn't been possible before.
RapiCure Solutions has reimagined resin. The company's patented, self-propagating frontal polymerization technology produces rapid-curing composites that are 200 times faster and three times tougher than current alternatives — and work in rain, humidity and temperatures ranging from minus 10 to over 275 degrees Fahrenheit. RapiCure's flagship product, Medusa Tape, enables municipal and industrial operators to plug, seal, wrap or repair infrastructure in minutes, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in downtime.
Photo Credit: Jack Simpson Photography
Synergy Research Labs, located at the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park, is advancing high-power electronics. Its innovations focus on gallium oxide, a next-generation semiconductor material that could significantly enhance efficiency in diverse applications, including advanced computing and renewable energy systems.
To learn more about Third Coast Foundry and to access the innovation hub, click here.