Richard Wagner must have seen great potential for growth when he launched his startup,
Prevedere Inc., in 2010. The name he chose translates from the Italian as “to foresee,” appropriate for a fledgling company that specializes in helping medium to large-scale businesses predict their economic climate.
Today, Prevedere’s patent-pending business forecasting software allows companies to analyze external economic data and market factors which could impact their operations. The application allows corporate strategists to compare industry-specific data, geographic factors and global trends with internal data, allowing for more informed decisions.
In March,
TechColumbus announced plans to invest $300,000 from its pre-seed fund in Prevedere. The organization's pre-seed, convertible debt-investments are made in the most promising incubation stage companies in the Central Ohio region. Those that are successful have the potential for future investment.
“Prevedere is an excellent addition to our investment portfolio,” says Tim Haynes, Interim President and CEO of TechColumbus. “Business intelligence and forecasting harness the power of today’s computing, and Prevedere provides software to easily and quickly make sense of time-sensitive and intensive data that influences critical decisions that impact success and bottom line results.”
“TechColumbus was the first resource I reached out to,” says Wagner. “The Pre-Seed funds are a great starting point to fund startup activity such as starting to hire our employees and marketing our products and services.”
In addition to the support of TechColumbus, Wagner says that he has benefited from working in proximity to the Central Ohio tech development community. He also cites the
Dublin Entrepreneurial Center and the
Technology Commercialization Office at the Ohio State University as resources. Finally, he credits Columbus angel investor Mike Figliuolo from thoughtLEADERS for introducing him to the OSU's monthly morning pitch event,
Wake Up Start Up.
Wagner says that Prevedere will apply TechColumbus’s $300,000 investment to marketing initiatives and to refining the implementation of the software application to meet the needs of larger businesses.
Source: Richard Wagner, Tim Haynes
Writer: Kitty McConnell