METADATA
last updated: 2026-02-20 RT
file_name: _context-commentary_various-fl-proposals_WIP.md
category: various
subcategory: fl-proposals
words: 1070
tokens: 1571


CONTENT

## Context
This subcategory contains six proposal-related documents spanning FloodLAMP's funding and partnership efforts from 2020 to 2022:

- **RADx 2020 Submitted Proposal** (August 2020, ~$1M requested, not funded): An early-pandemic proposal for a mass screening program using extraction-free colorimetric LAMP with flexible pooling and distributed deployment.
- **RADx 2022 Solicitation** (October 2022): The NIH/NIBIB solicitation for high-performance COVID-19 rapid tests under which FloodLAMP applied.
- **RADx 2022 Submitted Proposal** (October 2022, $3M requested, not funded): A proposal for a next-generation LAMP-based platform with reagent-in-cap test devices, modular instruments, and integrated digital tools.
- **Balvi Proposal 1** (November 2022, $3M requested, not funded): A comprehensive plan for open-source platform publication, clinical studies, regulatory submissions, manufacturing, and governance.
- **Balvi Proposal 2** (December 2022, $300K requested, funded): A reduced-scope plan focusing on open-sourcing program materials, publishing pilot data, and clinical study groundwork.
- **Florida State EMS Proposal** (January 2022, ~$5.3M total for Phases 1-2, did not proceed): A phased plan for statewide deployment of FloodLAMP surveillance testing at EMS agencies.

These proposals document FloodLAMP's evolving strategy over the company's three-year operating period, from early pandemic mass-screening concepts through next-generation device development and open-source business models. They also serve as a record of the funding landscape and partnership dynamics facing a small pandemic diagnostics company during this period.

FloodLAMP Biotechnologies was incorporated in Delaware as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) in August 2020, having spun out from a 501(c)(3) STEM education nonprofit. A PBC is a for-profit C corporation with one additional legal feature: enhanced protections for the board of directors when making decisions that support the company's stated public benefit mission, even if those decisions are not in shareholder financial interest. This corporate structure is relevant to broader governance discussions, as several major technology and AI companies have are PBC's.

The company was primarily funded by investments - approximately $1.5M over the three years of operation (summer 2020 through 2023), with the majority ($1M) from founder, Randy True, and $500,000 from angels, all structured as convertible notes. FloodLAMP made ~$250K in revenue from selling systems, kits, and testing services to the pilot programs. Additionally, FloodLAMP received a $300K grant from the open source COVID relief fund BALVI in 2023.

During operations, major expenses included a primer order from LGC BioSearch Technologies of approximately $90,000 for 1.2 million reactions (of which roughly 100,000 were manufactured and approximately 20,000 shipped to customers), laboratory space at approximately $20,000 per month, staffing and salaries, and regulatory consulting. FloodLAMP performed the majority of its regulatory drafting work internally, drawing on examples from collaborators.

FloodLAMP filed patents (see the fl-patent subcategory) but committed to open source through its March 2021 FDA submissions, which included a blanket right of reference to primer validation data (see fl-fda-correspondence and open-euas subcategories under Regulatory). The primers used in FloodLAMP's tests, including the high-performing AS1E set developed in Connie Cepko's lab at Harvard, were subject to the university's standard IP ownership agreement. Harvard provided no-royalty licenses for an initial period, but extended negotiations with the licensing department were never completed. This experience is relevant to discussions about how university IP policies can affect the availability of critical reagents during a public health emergency.


## Commentary
#### RADx
*Work in progress. Detailed RADx commentary is being developed separately. See: data/floodlamp/various/external-programs-reports/RADx Program Overview - NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics.md*

FloodLAMP submitted two proposals to the NIH RADx program. The first was an August 2020 application for approximately $1M, submitted through the nonprofit Focus on Foundations before FloodLAMP's incorporation as a PBC. It proposed an immediately scalable mass screening program using extraction-free colorimetric LAMP with flexible pooling and distributed deployment. The second, submitted in October 2022 under the RADx Tech III solicitation for high-performance testing, requested $3M for a next-generation platform with reagent-in-cap test devices, modular heater/reader instruments, and integrated digital tools, building on lessons from 11 surveillance deployments. Neither was funded.

#### Florida State
The "Resilient Florida" proposal (January 2022) outlined a phased plan to deploy FloodLAMP's surveillance testing system at EMS departments across the state, starting with 10 sites in Phase 1 (~$966K) and expanding to 50 sites plus mobile capability in Phase 2 (~$4.36M). The proposal grew out of FloodLAMP's relationship with a medical director in South Florida who was instrumental in establishing the two largest pilot sites (Coral Springs and Davie) and was the primary connection point for most of FloodLAMP's EMS pilot deployments and business revenue (see the Pilots category for details on individual sites).

The state-level opportunity appeared highly promising. FloodLAMP's medical director communicated that the state EMS medical director was very interested in a statewide deployment, with messaging that framed the question as how to implement rather than whether to proceed. Within days of booking travel to meet with state leadership, the interest appeared to evaporate. The meeting never materialized. Governor DeSantis made COVID-related announcements during this same period, though the specific factors behind the reversal were not communicated to FloodLAMP.

This coincided with the early 2022 Omicron wave. The variant's rapid spread, combined with a growing consensus that it was less virulent than earlier strains, appeared to sharply reduce institutional urgency around COVID testing broadly. FloodLAMP experienced this shift acutely.

During the same trip, FloodLAMP explored expansion in South Florida, establishing a presence at an accelerator and innovation center at NOVA University. However, the declining trajectory of interest in COVID screening made expansion untenable. The Florida State proposal remains in the archive as a detailed record of how FloodLAMP envisioned scaling its model: turnkey equipment packages, locally trained technicians, weekly kit resupply, and a plug-and-play primer architecture designed to be repurposed for future pathogens.

#### Balvi
FloodLAMP learned about Balvi through the director of Abrome, a school in Austin, TX that was already operating FloodLAMP's COVID screening system with Balvi funding (~$30K). Balvi was a COVID-response funding initiative supported by approximately $100 million from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's 2021 pandemic relief donation.

Two proposals were submitted. The first (November 2022) requested approximately $3 million for a comprehensive plan covering open-source platform publication, clinical studies, regulatory submissions, manufacturing scale-up, and corporate governance work. Balvi indicated it could not support that level and asked FloodLAMP to consider a smaller amount. The second (December 2022) requested $300,000, focusing on open-sourcing program materials, publishing pilot data, and groundwork for clinical studies. This second grant was approved and is the funding under which the current archive and publication work is being completed.