Sativa receives small business grant

Nine small businesses in Wisconsin will receive up to $800,000 to commercialize their innovations from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Advance program’s latest round of funding, including one from Wittenberg. Sativa Building Systems, Inc., of Wittenberg, which will receive up to $100,000, manufactures proprietary hempcrete block panels for safe and sustainable building construction. Benefits of Sativa’s sustainable, patented Z Panel structures include passive air filtration, resistance to mold, pests, rot and fire. The state matching grant program provides assistance to companies in the process of completing a project in the federal SBIR or Small Business Technology Transfer programs. This is the 24th round of SBIR Advance funding since the collaboration by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the Center for Technology Commercialization began in 2014. In the past decade, 183 awards totaling more than $15.5 million have been awarded. Those businesses reported obtaining $80 million in follow on funding since receiving the SBIR Advance grants.