‘Hardest deal is always the first one’ — Partnership adapts Motega Health tech for animal use
January 25, 2019 | Austin Barnes
A new licensing deal with Simini Technologies has unleashed disruptive potential for Lawrence-built Motega Health, the company announced Thursday.
“We are very pleased to be partnering with Simini and their team and are excited by the energy and creative thinking they are bringing to the commercial process in veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Blake Hawley, founder and CEO of Motega Health –– a biopharmaceutical and food tech company.
“The hardest deal is always the first one, just like getting that first investor. As we demonstrate traction, we show value. We increase our revenue and our long term value skyrockets –– something every investor wants,” Hawley said of the partnership, which marks the company’s first major pharmaceutical pairing –– a connection made possible through St. Louis’ Shear Kershman Laboratories, he added.
As part of the agreement, Motega Health will provide Simini Technologies –– a pharmaceutical company that licenses veterinary rights to human health drug candidates and then develops products for use in animals –– with a license that allows them to research, develop, and commercialize Motega Health’s novel therapies for animals, he said.
Simini Technologies will also assume any further research opportunities and commercial activities, Hawley further explained of the partnership.
“Long term investment allows us to dramatically accelerate our studies and market our products for licensing,” Hawley said of the opportunity to work with Simini Technologies during the early stage phase of Motega Health –– founded in 2018.
Read more about Motega Health in the news here.
“We have been able to demonstrate oral mucosal absorption with drugs and compounds previously thought impossible,” Hawley said in explanation of what drew the company’s together. “This is ground-breaking and has literally hundreds of applications.”
Disrupting the health space one innovation at a time, Motega Health is enabling drug companies to eliminate injections, pills, and tablets. A process that could align the company for exponential growth, Hawley said.
Such growth could include significant investments in the company from Kansas City investors, Hawley revealed.
“We just started our cap raise in November and have had some recent great meetings in KC, which have led to more meetings and warm introductions [with potential investors.]”
Between the company’s deal with Simini Technologies and the potential weight of a first round capital raise, Hawley is eager to see how Motega Health can evolve in the startup space, he said.
Featured Business

2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Demand more than the life you see scrolling Instagram, Ryan Harvey urges after scam inspires self-reflection
Kansas City motivational speaker Ryan Harvey thought his dreams had come true when a duo from Los Angeles offered him a job creating videos for their up-and-coming self-help company, he recalled. To the community thought leader’s shock, the two took the revenue from the company and disappeared — leaving Harvey to answer to upset clients…
Right fit, refined: Carlanda McKinney’s third venture in apparel measures up to its digital design
Online shopping is a staple for Carlanda McKinney, she noted, but the inaccuracy and variety of size guides leave both shoppers and retailers with major pain points. “On the shopper side, it is frustrating to order multiple sizes and not have anything fit your body the right way. … On the seller side, retailers are…
OpenCities sells: Denver govtech company acquires Australian startup with Kansas City HQ
An Australia-based govtech startup with a sizable Kansas City operation has sold. OpenCities — a hub-like platform that digitizes city forms and requests — was acquired by Denver-based Granicus, the companies announced Thursday, solidifying a deal that’s expected to better define what the future of civic engagement might looks like. Financial terms of the acquisition were not…
60 percent of Black residents on KC’s east side are renters: How one small biz hopes to reverse redlining’s hit to homeownership
An investment in The Greenline Initiative is, on its face, an investment in the future of Kansas City’s historic and re-emerging east side, said Ajia Morris. But there’s more to the effort than meets the eye, the effort’s co-founder explained, detailing ways she and her husband, Christopher, hope to uplift the metro’s Black community; a…
