Tech firm tapped for Start-Up NY tax-free zone at Stony Brook
Millennial Materials and Devices, which is joining the tax-free zone at Stony Brook University, is run by a trio with deep ties to the college. Credit: Heather Walsh
A manufacturer of coatings and films that could be used in touch-screen displays will become the 20th participant in a tax-free zone at Stony Brook University, officials said this week.
Millennial Materials and Devices Inc. has been accepted into Start-Up NY, a program of tax-free zones on college campuses for businesses that are expanding or are new to New York State. The program was the idea of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and has more than 170 participants, including 23 on Long Island.
The company has pledged to create eight jobs over the next five years and spend $1 million on equipment and other expenditures. It recently moved from Coram to the university’s Long Island High Technology Incubator.
Millennial was founded in 2014 by Balaji Sitharaman, Gaurav Lalwani and Sunny Patel, all of whom have deep ties to the university. Sitharaman teaches there, Lalwani worked there and Patel earned three degrees at Stony Brook.
Millennial has developed a manufacturing process for 2D and 3D coatings, films and porous materials that involves nanotechnology. It’s now working to commercialize the process.
Last year, Millennial won second place in Stony Brook’s Entrepreneurs Challenge, receiving a cash award of $10,000. The company also won $3,000 in Farmingdale State College’s Dare to Risk Entrepreneurship Student Business Plan Competition and advanced to a statewide business plan contest.
Under Start-Up NY, companies do not pay state and local taxes for up to 10 years, and their employees don’t have to pay state income taxes for as long as 10 years. Later this month the program will complete its second full year.
