Venture Capital : Innovation + Job News

The Braintree Business Development Center, in conjunction with the Center for Innovative Food Technology, recently sponsored a nanotechnology workshop at the Tuscarawas campus of Kent State University. The event highlighted the nanotechnology that creates antimicrobial qualities in surfaces found in large kitchens, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and the like.
 
Bob Cohen is the CEO of the Mansfield company, which supports small business startups, particularly those that bring cutting edge technology to the marketplace. “It’s like a continuum,” he explains. “Early on they need advice, next a source of funding, and ultimately when they have commercialized a product, they need markets.”
 
 “We put on a number of events for entrepreneurs, such as international training events, specific workshops, and in the case of the nanotechnology conference, to showcase products they’ve developed to potential customers.”
 
Foremost at the conference was Micropyretics Heaters International (MHI Inc.), a Cincinnati based manufacturer of innovative non-toxic heating materials and devices, all manufactured in Ohio and exported to over 25 countries.
 
Cohen explains, “This nanotechnology actually changes the qualities of the surface, making it resistance to microbes. The technology becomes standard equipment pretty quickly, because nobody wants to be left behind. And it already has an export market.”
 
Braintree has also recently awarded three entrepreneurs Tech Sprout development grants. Rapid Forms (construction forms) and Lapkey Board (ergonomic computers) are both located in Manstield, while RKN Inc. (hand sanitizers to prevent Hospital Acquired Infections) is located in Euclid.


Source: Bob Cohen
Writer: Catherine Podojil

When Jeremy Amos and Matt Benton were working together at a bank a few years back, they constantly heard from potential investors about how difficult the college admissions process was for their children. They found that finding the right college was often confusing, complicated and even expensive.
 
So, in 2011, Amos and Benton came up with Upclique -- a free forum to connect students with the information they need to find the college that fits their needs, and allowing colleges to attract quality students. “We offer students a very detailed search tool that helps them narrow down their number of potential schools to a list that is manageable,” says Amos. “Once they have narrowed their list we provide them with all the necessary info they will need regarding the school to make a quality decision.”  
 
Amos describes Upclique as the FaceBook of academia. “Our main goal was to create a site where students, parents, college counselors and college personnel come together,” says Amos. “They can come to our site not knowing a thing about what to do or where to go and we can immediately help them from this point."
 
Since its official launch at the end of February, Upclique has recruited 180 colleges, 35 high schools and 150 students and parents. “We’ve had really great growth,” says Amos.
 
Upclique’s revenue comes from third party sponsors in academics. They recently received an investment from Ancora Advisors in Beachwood, and they are endorsed by the National Catholic College Admission Association, which represents more than 200 colleges across the country.
 
Amos and Benton recently hired a CTO, who contracts with four outside developers.

 
Source: Jeremy Amos
Writer: Karin Connelly

The U.S. health-care industry is in great need of cost efficiencies and quality of care improvements, and a new company in Cincinnati is poised to help. 

In 2010, as a country, we spent more than $2.6 trillion on health care but still ranked lower than most countries in terms of quality of care. 

Also, new federal legislation will create incentives for hospitals and health-care facilities to meet quality standards and effectively punish those that don’t. 

CincyTech’s newest portfolio company, QI Healthcare, is helping hospitals meet and exceed these quality benchmarks. 

The company was created from technology developed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center by Dr. Frederick Ryckman, professor of surgery and senior vice president for Medical Operations at Cincinnati Children’s; Paul Yelton, senior application developer; and Candace Overly, project administrator, Perioperative Services. 

What Cincinnati Children’s developed is called the Surgical Outcomes Collection System (SOCS). It’s a software application for use in hospitals and health-care facilities that aggregates data from a hospital’s various systems, including its Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system, to conduct institution-wide analyses of cases where quality of care could be improved. 

“The real power of this software is in the ability to analyze every significant patient case,” says Ryckman. “Before SOCS we spent countless hours manually gathering data. SOCS improves the process through automation and enhanced analytics – and it frees up clinical resources to focus on quality improvement.”

Leading QI’s efforts is experienced entrepreneur and health-tech executive John Atkinson. Before being named CEO of QI, Atkinson held leadership roles at WebMD, Mede America and SourceMedical. He is also co-founder of a successful mobile startup, BuzzVoice, a streaming audio news service for smartphones.

CincyTech and Cincinnati Children’s Tomorrow Fund each invested $200,000. This round of funding will go toward sales, marketing and product development, which includes securing a handful of beta test sites for the SOCS software that has been in use at Cincinnati Children’s for more than a year. 

By Sarah Blazak for CincyTech

A crowd eager to learn about entrepreneurial opportunities in Northwest Ohio flooded Olscamp Hall at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) on March 7th for the TechConnect event organized by the nonprofit organization Rocket Ventures.
 
The crowd of 200-plus acolytes gathered to brainstorm, network and hear a keynote address by BGSU’s new president, Mary Ellen Mazey. Dr. Mazey was formerly Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Auburn University in Alabama, which houses the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship.
 
Dan Slifko, President and Director of Rocket Ventures, was enthused about the potential of TechConnect events to help business ventures come to life. “The whole idea is to connect minds, motivation, and money in the same room,” he says. “We want to help connect ideas with people who can help make them happen.”
 
Rocket Ventures, LLC is an entrepreneurial support organization and venture capital firm serving Northwest Ohio. Through events, funding and mentorship, the group brings together the necessary partners to help startups become successful. Specifically, the group provides pre-seed funding for tech-based companies.
 
TechConnect events take place quarterly and typically draw large crowds, suggesting the value of such networking opportunities as well as the growing entrepreneurial community that exists across the four corners of Ohio.
 
The TechConnect message will continue to spread across Northwest Ohio, with the next event scheduled for June in Findlay. Meanwhile, Rocket Ventures is doing its part to connect money, minds and motivation. The organization recently invested $300,000 in the startup InnerApps LLC, creator of the Identity Syncronizer platform for user security, password synchronization and access management.


Source: Dan Slifko
Writer: Mona Bronson-Fuqua

Edison Ventures, a New Jersey-based venture capital firm that specializes in helping innovative, established companies grow, has a new Ohio office up north that has made a mark in the Buckeye state by dropping its first $6.5 million Ohio investment into the Columbus-based software company Call Copy.

“We'd been tracking Call Copy since 2007 and were impressed by its growth and leadership,” says Michael Kopelman, partner at Edison Ventures, of the company’s growth from a simple software development company for call centers to a multi-purpose company that also provides in-house support for that software as well as the job process involved in using it. “There is a trend of many companies moving to Voice Over IP technologies, and they are more open to looking at other call center solutions.”

Call Copy develops innovative contact center software for dozens of industries from banking and healthcare to energy and insurance. This summer it was named to Inc. 500's list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., with three-year sales growth of 831 percent.

“They make products that are very intuitive in an industry where there is a lot of turnover,” says Kopelman, and “quick training is absolutely critical.”

Edison Ventures, founded in 1986, is firmly committed to making continued Midwest investments following its expansion in to D.C., New England and New York. It opened its newest office in Cleveland in February. Chris Sklarin, who helped found JumpStart in Cleveland, heads the Edison Midwest office.

“We think this is an undeserved market,” says Michael Kopelman, partner at Edison Ventures. “We've done 44 deals in Pennsylvania, and in its close neighbor Ohio we see a great opportunity.”

Edison invests in established companies that have proved successful, but are looking to scale their products or services across the United States or internationally. Since its founding, Edison has made 180 investments, that have resulted in 110 exits and is in its seventh fund, Kopelman says. Edison's generally invests in fast-growing companies doing $5 million to $20 million in revenue and will invest from $5 million to $10 million.

Founders Justin Spring and Danielle Walton had small businesses in mind when they developed BringShare. The Columbus-based start-up is an Internet-based tool geared toward meeting the online marketing needs of entrepreneurs, small businesses and marketers.

BringShare provides clients with an integrated platform from which they are able to see all of their online marketing data in a single dashboard. The overall goal of the service is to help users make informed marketing decisions that are more efficient and cost effective.

"BringShare does what other data aggregating services don't," says Spring. "It compiles all online marketing initiatives and presents the data in a way that is consistent and makes it simple to identify which efforts provide the best return on investment, which approaches need to be modified, and those initiatives that aren't paying off."

The site was built to be user-friendly. BringShare users can easily generate reports and evaluate which of their marketing efforts are generating growth, and which aren't.

"The amount of time marketers and small businesses spend gathering data from different channels, developing marketing reports and analyzing the results can add up to 20 to 40 hours of time each month. BringShare simplifies that process to a matter of minutes," Spring says. He estimates that BringShare's average monthly cost is less than one hour of a marketing professional's time.   

BringShare currently has five full-time employees. Each of these positions were created within the last year, and the company anticipates future hiring.
 
TechColumbus, which provides OhioThird Frontier support to emerging businesses, provided BringShare with a $50,000 TechGenesis development grant.  Additionally, TechColumbus provided BringShare with $250,000 in pre-seed funding and $150,000 from its Co-Investment Fund. Investors include the Ohio TechAngels.

Source: Justin Spring, BringShare
Writer: Kitty McConnell

When entrepreneurs go in search of capital, a common mantra is "go big or go home." One company, based in Santa Monica, Calif., and suburban Columbus, is helping them do just that -- find the funding to launch their businesses.

Go BIG Network, which has offices in Powell, is an online service that help connects people with ideas with that funding. Started in 2004 by Wil Schroter, a self-described "serial entrepreneur" with eight start-ups to his name that have generated over $2 billion annually, the service helps its clients navigate the fund-raising process, prepare pitches to prospective investors and even identify its own capital streams.

Its services run from a $59 monthly fee for access to its pool of thousands of those investors to $300 guided searches and consulting to reach the right angel investors, venture capitalists and private investors.

"We have a rolodex of investors that we've worked with and that we know, and we steer our clients to those investors that are the best fit," says Ilya Bodner, Go BIG's senior vice president of business development. "What we do exceptionally well, though, is help people prepare for that 'magic phone call.'"

According to Bodner, that is where most entrepreneurs fail, translating their ideas into a cohesive plan that attract the attention of those investors.

"Thinking you are prepared and actually being prepared are two different things. It leads to a lot of false hope, going into a pitch thinking you have everything lined up, then falling short," he explains.

The website also offers plenty of free information, explaining the investment process, pitfalls to avoid and other tips. It also offers a live chat for quick, one-on-one advice.

According to the company, to date more than 300,000 subscribers have used the service — both investors and those seeking funding -- to spur millions in economic growth.

"All we can say is that it works," says Bodner. "Our track record proves it."

Source: Ilya Bodner, Go BIG Network
Writer: Dave Malaska

Flyer Angels may sound like a World War II-era bomber squadron . . . It isn't.

It is the name of a venture investment group managed by a group of University of Dayton undergraduates and endowed by an alumnus.

The new program, launched with a $1-million gift from 1969 alumnus Ron McDaniel, has helped to make the school's entrepreneurship program one of the best in the country. As part of Flyer Angels, about 200 students receive hands-on experience in due diligence, in finding and securing sources of capital, and even decide which business plans to bankroll and which to walk away from.

In March, Flyer Angels made its first investment: Commuter Advertising, winner of the school's 2010 Business Plan Competition.  Commuter Advertising is a high-tech startup that sells ads on board public transportation. The company received $35,000 from the university, after students vetted its business plan. 

"So far we've made six investments, most of them through our collaboration with Ohio TechAngels," says Dean McFarlin, chairman of the university's management and marketing department. "We're looking at a number of companies for possible investment right now. Some of them are through our own sources, and others through our collaboration with OTA." 

McFarlin says all of the companies under consideration are technology-based.

"The main motivation for us is education. Making money and getting a great return is secondary. There are very few undergrad students in the country who can say they were doing private investing or angel-equity types of deals, and making decisions and doing due diligence as undergraduates."

Source: Dean McFarlin, University of Dayton
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Endosphere was formed in 2006 to meet an urgent need for a less invasive, safer and more physiologic treatment for the growing problem of obesity.

Today, the Columbus-based company is attracting plenty of investors based on the promise of its SatiSphere duodenal insert, which company Chairman Christopher Thorne describes as "a breakthrough technology offering a safer and more effective solution for appetite regulation and weight loss compared to the market's currently available alternatives."

Thorne says current treatments involve potentially harmful chemical medications, invasive surgical procedures, or dramatic lifestyle changes that are difficult to maintain.

"The SatiSphere device is a small, non-invasive, pre-formed memory wire that uses the body's natural physiology to regulate appetite and satiation mechanisms which slow digestion and deter excessive eating," he says. Unlike other devices, it is not attached to the body but stays in place by conforming to the natural shape of the duodenum.

The device is inserted endoscopically in a 15-minute outpatient procedure. SatiSphere slows the passage of food through the duodenum and enables stimulation of the neurons along the duodenal walls, causing them to release the body's natural appetite-suppressing hormones. This enables an earlier feeling of fullness and extends the feeling of satisfaction between meals, Thorne says.

He lists its advantages as "its safety profile, patient tolerability, affordability, ease of reversibility and repeatability, and method for achieving satiation."

EndoSphere Inc. completed a clinical trial in patients in 2008. All of the patients lost weight, with an average excess weight loss of 12 percent during the first month. The company has been approved for an expanded multi-center clinical trial in Europe.

Earlier this month, the company announced completion of an oversubscribed Series A financing round led by Broadline Capital. Investors also include Glengary LLC, Physician Investment Group LLC, Ohio TechAngels, North Coast Angel Fund and Queen City Angels.

The company, which also focuses on innovative treatments for type 2 diabetes, has added two new Ohio employees in the past six months and plans to further expand in 2011.

Source: Christopher Thorne, EndoSphere
Writer: Gene Monteith

Calling the last week of April the "best in the 10-year history of the investor group," Cincinnati-based Queen City Angels announced the successful exits of two portfolio companies.

In an April 25 news release, Queen City Angels (QCA) noted the sale of Blue Ash Therapeutics' technology to Forest Laboratories and Healthcare Waste Solutions' acquisition by Stericycle.

As an investor of both angel capital and Third Frontier funds, Queen City says "QCA received significant returns" on the transactions.

Last year, QCA and its affiliated QCA First Fund III invested in Blue Ash Therapeutics, along with CincyTech, several individual investors and an east coast investment fund. A little over a year later, Blue Ash has now sold its key technology, Azimilide anti-arrhythmia drug, to New York-based Forest Laboratories, providing QCA with a return of almost 10 times its investment. The news release says QCA was the largest local investor and contributed more than $380,000.

Healthcare Waste Solutions has a national presence in the medical waste disposal business with plants in more than 15 metropolitan areas, QCA says. Stericycle, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based company in the same industry, acquired Healthcare Waste for $237 million.

"We firmly believe that Cincinnati is a great place to invest, and this successful outcome further validates our efforts," says Tony Shipley, QCA's chairman, in the release. "Our group has been actively funding startup companies since 2000, and we continued to pursue deals through the recessions of 2001 and 2008 with the belief that the long-term prospects of Cincinnati startups are outstanding. The real credit for these successes goes to the hard working entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risks of creating start-up ventures.

Source: Queen City Angels

JumpStart Ventures has added yet another company to its investment portfolio, committing $250,000 to SPR Therapeutics of Beachwood.

The investment represents JumpStart Ventures' 76th investment in its 54th company.

SPR, a year-old spinoff of NDI Medical, LLC, is commercializing its proprietary neurostimulation therapy for pain relief, JumpStart says. The company's first product, the SMARTPATCH System, will serve the pain market using its Intramuscular Nerve Therapy. The external stimulator delivers an electrical signal to the SMARTPATCH electrode to stimulate the target nerve within the muscle, thereby exercising the muscle to treat the pain.

In the announcement, Michael Lang, the JumpStart Venture Partner working with the company, noted that "Neurostimulation is a growing market being driven primarily by technology advancements that enable improved clinical outcomes. This field is of considerable interest to medical device manufacturers and, since the leadership of SPR Therapeutics is well-versed in neurostimulation, the company is positioned to move quickly down the commercialization path."

SPR Therapeutics has received federal Small Business Innovation Research grants and a $100,000 grant from the Innovation Fund of Lorain County Community College.

Source: JumpStart Ventures

Thermalin Diabetes, a JumpStart Ventures portfolio company, recently closed $2.85 million in Series A investments, paving the way to the further development of short, medium and long lasting insulin analogs by Case Western Reserve Medical School Dr. Michael A. Weiss.

The announcement includes a second $250,000 investment from JumpStart, and exceeds Thermalin's original target by $1 million.

"Having this round closed is great," says Thermalin CEO Rick Berenson. "I'm very excited about the progress. I'm looking forward to being able to report further progress."

The company is now moving immediately into Series B, in which the hope is to raise another $8 million.

"With that we should be able to get through [the first] phases of studies."

The patents on existing insulins on the market are due to expire in 2013 and 2014, so the interest in Thermalin's developments is huge worldwide. Weiss' work centers around developing insulins that are more stable and effective on a more timely basis.

Thermalin has developed about 40 different analogs. The funding will allow the company to continue testing to determine which analogs to commercialize.

Insulin is a $14 billion a year market -- the largest volume drug market in the world. Insulin sales are expected to double in the U.S., triple in Europe and increase 12-fold elsewhere in the world as the disease reaches epidemic levels.

Thermalin employs six full time scientists at the Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. The investment allows for additional key hires, including a senior scientist.

Source: Rick Berenson, Termalin
Writer: Karin Connelly

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

AssureRx, a Mason-based personalized medicine company, has just closed on an $11 million Series B round of financing.

The company, founded in 2006, was formed to license and commercialize personalized medicine technology research from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Mayo Clinic.

Claremont Creek Ventures and Sequoia Capital led the round, which included existing investors Cincinnati Children's, Mayo Clinic and CincyTech. A new investor has joined as well, Allos Ventures.

AssureRx is developing next-generation medicines, recently bringing to market its first product GeneSightRx, a test that measures and analyzes genetic variants in psychiatric medicine - in other words, how individuals respond to the drugs they get. The test, administered through a cheek swab will help doctors determine the appropriate drug and dosage for each patient's individual needs, which could lessen side effects in patients.

The test is based on pharmacogenetics, or the study of how genetic makeup influences a person's reaction to drug treatments.

This financing will allow the AssureRx to expand sales and marketing for GeneSightRx, and fund other product development work.

"Our goal is to build the leading medical informatics company providing pharmacogenetic and other treatment decision support products to help physicians individualize the treatment of patients with neuropsychiatric and other disorders," said James S. Burns, president and CEO of AssureRx.

Sequoia Capital, is a Menlo Park, Calif., start-up venture capital fund for seed stage, early stage and growth companies. Claremont Creek Ventures is based in Oakland and invests in healthcare/ IT, energy conservation and security markets.

"AssureRx has enormous potential as an early leader in the transformation of neuropsychiatric treatment toward individualized patient treatment. GeneSightRx and future treatment decision support products hold the promise for faster, better patient outcomes and less costly care for psychiatric conditions such as clinical depression, anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia."

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: CincyTech

You can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

This story originally appeared in Soapbox.

In 2004, the newly created JumpStart -- which had begun accepting applications from entrepreneurs seeking assistance in getting their ideas to market -- found itself deluged with requests. The organization saw an urgent need to develop a kind of database of services critical to a startup's success, and a need to connect the various principals.

Enter Cleveland-based IdeaCrossing.

IdeaCrossing describes itself as "an online resource available to all individuals and organizations with an interest in supporting and promoting entrepreneurial activity." The site identifies the kinds of assistance (mentoring, investment capital, and various service providers) entrepreneurs need in order to succeed.

The service also serves the angel and venture capital communities by vetting new investment opportunities. Angel investors typically invest between $5,000 and $50,000, individually, according to Tiffan Clark, vice president of IdeaCrossing.

"There are no sites like ours�that try to be more of an online ecosystem for entrepreneurs nationwide," says Clark. "The whole idea behind IdeaCrossing is that the resources you need to help to develop your business idea may not necessarily exist in your backyard."

The resource offers increased exposure to disparate assets throughout the region such as universities, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, foundations, and various professional services. Users can tap into local, regional, and national resources.

Users create a "funding profile" that helps to identify the seed and venture capital they need. IdeaCrossing tracks the profile's performance and notifies the user (entrepreneur) when an investor has indicated an interest in their profile. Other profiles fill other needs. "If an entrepreneur is looking for a mentor they can go online and create a profile to find a mentor," says Clark. A kind of one-stop-shop for budding tycoons.

Best of all, the service is free.

Source: Tiffan Clark; Vice President, IdeaCrossing
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

A booster shot of venture capital will help OnShift Software flex its marketing muscle in 2011.

The Cleveland company announced this month it recently had secured $2.3 million, both from its Ohio investors -- Early Stage Partners, JumpStart Inc., North Coast Angel Fund, and Glengary LLC, -- and Draper Triangle Ventures, of Pittsburgh. Early Stage and Draper receive some of their investment dollars from the Ohio Capital Fund.

The money will be used for hiring across the board, but mostly for sales and marketing positions, CEO Mark Woodka says.

Response to OnShift's innovative staff management system has been so positive the company is convinced it needs to quickly increase the number of its representatives. OnShift had 26 customers in 2009. It will end 2010 with more than 200.

Likewise, the company began with three employees; this year it has 24 and next year, Woodka says, it will double that amount.

OnShift's system, whose key benefit is prevention of overtime costs, has been deployed mostly at long-term care facilities, such as skilled/assisted living nursing homes and retirement centers. Hospitals are a large potential source of expansion.

It's a "very green field" of a market, Woodka says, and "the need for what we do is going up over time."

Woodka credits early support from Ohio groups such as JumpStart for OnShift's fast rise.

Source: Mark Woodka, OnShift
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs