Maryland-based company seeks to harness the nature of algae
COLUMBIA, Md., (March 18, 2026) — TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a recent $200,000 Builder Fund investment in Phycin, Inc. TEDCO’s Pre-Seed Builder Fund is housed under TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds, a group of investment opportunities intentionally created to engage and invest in economically underserved founders and communities.
“Our algae-based platform was designed to revolutionize growth factor production,” said Jun Wang, CEO of Phycin, Inc. “With this investment, we look forward to continuing our development process.”
Phycin, Inc, located in Frederick, Md., is a company that developed an innovative method for producing growth factors in green algae. This innovation supports the growing demands found in several industries, including regenerative medicine, cultivated meat, cosmetics and more.
“Innovation comes in many forms—and Phycin is just one example of this,” said Jean-Luc Park, deputy chief investment officer & senior director of Social Impact Funds. “TEDCO’s commitment to Maryland’s technology and life sciences ecosystem remains, and we look forward to supporting innovators like this continue to prosper.”
Phycin has been a TEDCO portfolio company since 2015, when it was named one of the finalists for the Annual Maryland Incubator Company of the Year; this was followed by grant funding from TEDCO’s Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) in 2023, then an investment from the Social Impact Funds in 2024. The company has also taken advantage of TEDCO’s Network Advisors and Loaned Executives program.
“Marylanders in the life sciences community have an abundance of resources – from federal laboratories to academic institutions, to organizations like the MSCRF and TEDCO,” said TEDCO CEO Troy LeMaile-Stovall. “Afterall, the state was ranked as the third biopharma cluster and number one for emerging life science hub in the nation.”
For more information, visit our page at https://www.tedcomd.com/funding.