ThruPore was launched in 2012 by Dr. Franchessa Sayler and Professor Martin Bakker after discovering a new application for their new invention. Another advisor and former DuPont process engineer suggested that the catalyst sector would greatly benefit from this innovation. The University’s Entrepreneurship Program Director, Dr. Dan Daly, encouraged the Team to apply for NSF’s I-Corps. Program.
The journey of technology development and refinement continued as the Co-Founders went on to win two National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, as well as two smaller grants for commercialization exploration. The research funding totalled $1.2 million from 2014 through 2017.