cleveland/northeast ohio : Innovation + Job News

A Shaker Heights accelerator has raised $250,000 in pre-seed funds that it will make available this year to 15 startups focused on software and "disruptive technologies."

Shaker LaunchHouse, formed as Goldstein Caldwell & Associates in 2008 to help technology entrepreneurs at the earliest stages move quickly from concept to first client, has made funds available to 12 companies to date, says Todd Goldstein, managing partner. Previous investments were raised by Goldstein and his partners; the most current funds were invested by a variety of private angels, he says.

The accelerator, which takes an equity stake in companies it assists, provides mentors, collaborative office space, educational programs and connections with investors during a process designed to validate an idea in 90 days and land a first client within 180. Investments typically range between $5,000 and $20,000 and average about $10,000, Goldstein says.

"We really formed because my partner (Dar Caldwell) and I, in our 20s, were starting our own business and felt there really were not good resources for entrepreneurs at the earliest stage to help them go from idea to validation, and to provide a community around them," Goldstein says.

While there is no requirement that portfolio companies remain in state, the long-term goal is to strengthen the entrepreneurial environment in Ohio, Goldstein says.

On April 7, LaunchHouse announced an investment in BestHomeHealthCare.com, a provider of web-based services to the extended care and home care industries. Previous portfolio companies include Sunflower Solutions, a Cleveland -based company that now provides low-tech solar power solutions in five developing countries.

Goldstein says his firm changed its name in late 2010 when it formed a partnership with Shaker Heights. Next month LaunchHouse will move into a building renovated by the city. Under a five-year lease agreement, the accelerator will have use of the 23,000-square foot facility rent- and tax-free for the first four years. In return, the city's community investment corporation will take equity in LaunchHouse.

Non-portfolio companies can pay a membership fee to take advantage of LaunchHouse office space, events and educational programs.

Source: Todd Goldstein, Shaker LaunchHouse
Writer: Gene Monteith

ABS Materials, StreamLink Software, and Thermedx may appear to have little in common. One is an advanced materials company. Another provides software to nonprofits. And the other is a biomedical firm.

Yet all three share one trait: They received early stage funds from the Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund.

Founded by the Lorain County Community College (LCCC) Foundation in 2007, the fund today serves a 21-county area in northeast Ohio and has provided $4.3 million to 60 companies in high-tech growth industries.

The fund is supported by the Ohio Third Frontier and partners that include Cleveland State University, the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), JumpStart, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM), Stark State College, The University of Akron, The University of Akron Research Foundation, Youngstown State University and the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Tracy Green, director of the LCCC Foundation, which administers the fund, says since 2007, companies assisted by the fund have attracted more than $41 million in follow-on investments and sales and helped to create 100 new jobs.

"The Innovation Fund really serves as the front door of funding for entrepreneurs," Green says. "We see a lot that are just surfacing out of the lab or out of an 'Ah-ha' type of idea. We're the first stop after credit cards, family, friends and second mortgages."

The Innovation Fund makes two types of awards: up to $25,000 to help validate a startup's technology; and up to $100,000 to validate a new company's business model.

One of the hallmarks of the fund is a requirement that recipients help educate a college student about entrepreneurship and running a business.

"Every award we make to a company, they have to agree to provide an educational opportunity or internship to a student," Green says. "So that student is able to walk shoulder to shoulder with an entrepreneur so they understand what it means and what it takes to be involved in a startup."

The Innovation Fund's successful model was recognized in February when the college and its foundation were named as one of 10 community colleges to be part of the American Association of Community College's Virtual Incubator Network. Lorain's role is to help replicate the Innovation Fund among community colleges nationwide as part of President Obama's Startup America Initiative.

Source: Tracy Green, Lorain County Community College Foundation
Writer: Gene Monteith

Dimple Dough may seem like a funny name for a company, but it really does make sense, according to Shawn Barrieau, Dimple Dough's CEO.

"In 2004, I moved to Cleveland from Seattle with my wife and kids for a new job. With the holidays approaching, we had to think about sending gifts and pictures of the kids to relatives," he recalls. "I thought about how cool it would be if you could put a picture on a gift card. I did some research and ended up forming a company in 2006 to offer software that enables retailers to put photos on gift cards to personalize the experience. In effect, we're putting smiles on cash. Hence the name Dimple Dough."

Dimple Dough has grown considerably since then -- from two to 22 employees.

Working with processing, printing and fulfillment, and ecommerce partners, Dimple Dough now offers a comprehensive cloud-computing card management platform to help retailers and banks manage every aspect of their gift card programs.

"We offer creative features and platforms, including customization, ecommerce, smart phones, corporate cards, eGifts and social media," Barrieau explains.

Clients include American Express, Nike and AMC Entertainment.

Dimple Dough recently tackled the brave new world of virtual gift cards.

"We have a top-tier retail customer that just moved its rewards program from plastic gift cards to electronic gift cards," Barrieau says. "We did all the strategy and implementation for them and will soon be delivering more than six million eGifts to their data base. By helping them go from plastic to virtual gift cards, we're saving them millions of dollars in printing and postage costs. It's also good for the environment."

Dimple Dough receives Ohio Technology Investment Tax Credit assistance through the Ohio Third Frontier initiative, Barrieau notes.

"That has definitely helped us grow."

Source: Shawn Barrieau, Dimple Dough
Writer: Lynne Meyer

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.

A Juventas Therapeutics spin-off is working to simplify therapies needed for wound repair, helping the patient and bringing down the cost of the treatment.

SironRX Therapeutics develops therapies under license from Juventas and The Cleveland Clinic. Its main product, clinically tested JVS-100, encodes Stromal cell-Derived Factor-1 (SDF-1), which is produced by the body in response to tissue injury. SDF-1 activates natural repair processes that prevent cell death and recruit stem cells to the damaged organ.

"In the process of developing the product for Juventas, we discovered the same product had an application in dermal healing . . . We spun that off into a different company in 2010," says Rahu Aras, CEO of Siron RX.

"There are a lot of companies out there, developing drugs based on extracting your cells and re-delivering them to damaged tissue. This process of isolating and re-delivering those cells is quite expensive and logistically challenging. What we're doing is delivering a drug to the organ that's damaged that gets your body to send its own stem cells so we no longer have to go through that extraction and re-delivery process," says Aras. FDA approval for the new treatment may not come for another four or five years.

SironRX will initiate a Phase II clinical trial this year to evaluate the efficacy and safety of JVS-100 in accelerating wound repair and preventing scarring. Clinical studies have shown that the drug is well tolerated and safe. The company is raising funds for a Phase II clinical trial in 2012.

The company has already raised $10.5 million in venture capital and grant funding, according to Aras. SironRX has only 1.5 FTEs  and Juventas 5, but both companies together could soon employ as many as 15 to 20, Aras says.

Juventas Therapeutics was formed in 2007.

Source: Rahu Aras; CEO, SironRX
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Access Mobility, Inc., has its roots in healthcare IT consulting. But today, the Cleveland-based firm is a strong player in mHealth (mobile health), having spun off from Exential.com in 2008 to focus its energy on mHealth software.

"We basically combined our healthcare technology experience with the mobile environment and came up with CellepathicRx," explains CEO Greg Muffler.

CellepathicRX software is a flexible, customizable platform designed to serve the mobile healthcare market. The company credits 10 years of technology, knowledge, and regulatory-compliance experience for its ability to enhance most healthcare-related mobile tasks.

"We focus on using mobile communication to get healthy and stay healthy. We start with mobilizing patient resources . . . We work with a lot of retail pharmacy chains for the mobilization of their brands and to provide more ubiquitous patient access, not only online but in the gap between online and in-store, which is important to a retail environment," says Muffler.

"Another focus is medication adherence, sometimes called medication compliance, using a mobile platform, for what we call 'improved patient outcomes.' To make sure people are taking their medications as prescribed," he explains.

"Lastly, we follow up with mobile health and wellness applications for continued, direct, and very intimate communication with patients via our secure, HIPAA-compliant mobile platform."

Muffler, a Cleveland native, declined to disclose figures but he is optimistic about the company's future. AMI has 11 full-time employees and four to six part-time or contract resources, and Muffler thinks a doubling of staff within the next 12 months is not out of the question. Initial funding was raised internally, with help from some angel investors. Now, the company is considering a second round, to include venture capital.

The startup reached what Muffler describes as "light revenue" in 2009, while 2010 was much more significant. "We will continue to report projections that are very aggressive over the next several years. The market opportunities are in line with the fast-growth software firms," says the ebullient CEO.

Source: Greg Muffler; CEO, Access Mobility Inc.
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

When it comes to sustainability, we are all lifelong students. Cleveland's higher education institutions are not excluded from this learning process. In fact, area colleges and universities spent a year reflecting upon on-campus sustainability initiatives and ways to improve current practices.

The Collegiate Sustainable Practices Consortium (CSPC) brought together six local colleges and universities to talk about best practices regarding energy, water, food, building and other areas of sustainability. Led by David Kruger, director of Baldwin-Wallace's Institute for Sustainable Business Practice (ISBP), the group included B-W, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, John Carroll and Oberlin.

Kruger noted in a summary of the consortium that "with its highly industrialized, manufacturing base, [our region] carries a long legacy of sustainability-related challenges: slowly declining employment in several economic sectors; a large environmental and carbon footprint from our manufacturing base; continued population decline in our urban core and in our region at large; and an aging infrastructure."

A recently released report shows what some local higher learning institutions have implemented regarding sustainability:

Baldwin Wallace's Ernthausen Residence Hall became the first residence hall in Ohio to have a geothermal heating and cooling system. . B-W has gone so far in its green initiatives to remove light bulbs from vending machine to conserve energy.

Cleveland State University has been investing in efficient lighting, solar power, mechanical upgrades and recycling programs. The school has been promoting student involvement in its sustainability efforts.

Cuyahoga Community College has six commissioned projects aiming aim for LEED Silver Certification. Tri-C has also developed its own customized green building standards for new construction and renovation projects.


Sources: B-W, CSU, Tri-C, Institute for Sustainable Business Practice
Writer: Diane DiPiero

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

Ohio's green building boom has been good to a Westlake company that has grown on the strength of its expertise in green building strategies.

Humanity's Loom, founded by Laura Steinbrink in 2008, attempts to fill the knowledge gaps between architects, engineers, construction managers and owners who are pursuing LEED-certified building projects, says Steinbrink, the company's president.

Steinbrink says the need for a green construction consulting company became apparent five years ago.

"I was at University Hospitals (in Cleveland) as they were launching their building campaign and it became clear to me that there was a breakdown in (helping) the owner articulate their sustainability goals into a project that made sense," she explains. "The architects and construction managers and owner's reps had a hard time hearing what the owner was saying -- and then rearticulating the value proposition of certain improvements or certain design elements they might make."

Humanity's Loom helps uncover the operational impacts of a building and how they affect project decisions. For example, nearly three-quarters of a building's long-term costs are in its operations. That's a key fact that can illustrate the value of green construction, help demonstrate a return on investment and help the owner operate a business sustainably over the long term, Steinbrink says.

As more green buildings are constructed in Ohio, Steinbrink's company has grown as well -- by 300 percent last year alone, she says.

While things like state mandates for LEED-certified school construction have helped, two other factors have contributed to growth, she says.

"Owners have wised up and realized LEED is not just a plaque on the wall, it's a tool they can use to evaluate the way they run their business. And the second thing is many architects have come to recognize they're good at designing buildings but this LEED process is very time intensive and they are better serving their clients designing rather than documenting LEED."

The company has three full-time employees but expects to add jobs as it grows.

Source: Laura Steinbrink, Humanity's Loom
Writer: Gene Monteith

Could Lakewood become a hotbed for entrepreneurial talent? If the new effort Startup Lakewood fulfills its mission, the city will in the near future be home to a fresh new crop of entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas.

Startup Lakewood is a new program formed collaboratively between the City of Lakewood, Lakewood's Chamber of Commerce, LakewoodAlive, and Pillars of Lakewood. The program consists of biweekly brainstorming meetings held in various cafes around Lakewood and led by Mike Belsito, a startup business developer. Startup Lakewood also invites entrepreneurial experts to share insights with would-be entrepreneurs.

The two-hour brainstorming sessions are free and open to all residents of Lakewood.

Startup Lakewood has initiated Startup U, a monthly program at Virginia Marti College of Art and Design to further enlighten Lakewood residents about the ins and outs of startups. The first session takes place April 5, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and looks at resources in Lakewood and Cleveland that are available to newbie entrepreneurs.


Source: Startup Lakewood
Writer: Diane DiPiero

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

While the verdict is still out on how powerful the Medical Mart and Convention Center will be to Cleveland's economic growth, the construction that's currently going on is definitely bringing jobs to the area. The Medical Mart reports that more than 200 construction workers are currently on site.

The numbers are impressive for small business enterprise (SBE) companies, with more than 25 SBE subcontractors hired for specific jobs thus far.

Job creation for the construction project is being coordinated by MMPI, the Medical Mart management company; Cuyahoga County; Minority Business Solutions; and Turner Construction Company. Together, these entities have hosted five SBE certification and outreach events, the last of which resulted in 175 interview opportunities for SBE contractors.

There is much work to be done for these employees. Demolition of various buildings is ongoing, with more than 100 trucks hauling away concrete to be recycled each day.


Source: Medical Mart and Convention Center
Writer: Diane DiPiero

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

A pizza-fueled team of 20-somethings has propelled a small Cleveland technology company to swift success in the competitive world of online restaurant takeout ordering.

Onosys was established in 2005 by three Case Western Reserve University students -- Stan Garber, Oleg Fridman and Alex Yakubovich -- when Rascal House Pizza, a local campus restaurant, asked them to develop an online ordering solution for the eatery.

Researching the restaurant industry, they found it woefully lacking in high-tech online ordering systems. Believing they had found an under-served niche, they developed their own system. Their goal, according to their website, was that it must be "user-friendly, flexible in its functionality, scalable, have a great user interface and be backed by committed and friendly customer support."

With the explosion of online ordering for everything from books to snow tires, their timing couldn't have been better. They networked and established a board, which lead to important guidance, as well as funding from a local angel investor. The company name, ONOSYS, stands for Online Ordering Systems.

Today, with more than 75 national chains as clients, Onosys is a major player in the restaurant online and mobile ordering industry. Clients include Panera Bread, Honeybaked Ham, Papa John's, Houlihan's, Beef O'Brady's and Frisch's Big Boy. "We're really big on pizza restaurants," Garber notes. "We have more pizza chains than any of the competition, and pizza is a regular part of our staff's diet."
 
He attributes the company's successful growth to three things. "We have an easy pricing model, charging a flat monthly rate per restaurant location rather than a percentage of each individual transaction," he explains. "Second, we're constantly investing in refining our technology. We also have youth. We're all in our 20s, and our age demographic does the most online restaurant ordering. That means we're our customers' clients, which gives us important insights."

Garber believes Onosys also has a competitive edge in data aggregation and social media.

"Restaurants don't collect a lot of data on their customers," he explains. "We capture a host of data, which our clients can access through our customer relations management tool. Our new big thing this year," he adds, "is being able to give our restaurants live ROI data on social media promotions they run."

Onosys currently has 12 employees and plans to hire more by year's end.

Source: Stan Garber, Onosys
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Kids love to jump on it. Adults pop it to relieve stress or boredom. "It" is bubble wrap, the plastic stuff with air-filled mini-pillows that's used in boxes and envelopes to cushion and protect the contents.

The folks at Automated Packaging Systems of Streetsboro knew that bubble wrap is popular for packaging. They also knew, however, that storing it is awkward and takes up a lot of space. So they decided to tackle those issues.

The result is the AirPouch FastWrap system, which the company introduced at Pack Expo in Chicago a few months ago.

Automated Packaging Systems' target markets for AirPouch FastWrap are manufacturing companies that ship their products in boxes, as well as mail-order fulfillment operations.

"While we're not the first company to introduce a bubble-wrap-on-demand system, ours is different in three important ways," Rempe says.

The system is unique with its combination of versatility to create cellular cushions or tubes with variable air pressure and a range of sizes, he explains.

"Variable air pressure can be helpful when fragile products require additional protection. The innovative honeycomb pattern on the wrap allows air to flow between individual cells. This provides uniform protection across the entire sheet, which makes it ideal for cross wrapping fragile products."

The system has EZ-Tear perforations every 10 inches on the wrapping and at every individual tube.

"This offers flexibility and speed in packaging," he notes. "It can also produce both cellular wrapping and tubes." Tubes are used for blocking and bracing in-box packaging.

The AirPouch FastWrap system is compact, measuring 20.5 inches long, 8.5 inches wide and14 inches high. It weighs just 35 pounds. "It's truly portable, doesn't require an air line and uses standard 120V electricity," Rempe says.

Source: Chris Rempe, Automated Packaging Systems
Writer: Lynne Meyer

Last October, Cleveland's ViewRay unveiled a research radiation therapy system to the medical device community. Now comes word that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted ViewRay clearance for its radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery software, a key element of the radiation therapy system.

This is a critical step toward FDA approval of the system, according to Gregory M. Ayers, M.D. and Ph.D., president and CEO of ViewRay. "It's exciting to see such progress with a product we believe will offer an advancement in radiation therapy," he says.

Combining MRI and radiotherapy delivery, the system provides a continuous MRI during radiation treatment. This helps doctors to see exactly where the radiation is going and to deliver precise treatment.

A recent $20 million Series C financing will help ViewRay in the final stages of development for commercial distribution. For now, the ViewRay system is only used in non-human settings.

A team of physicians and researchers leads the privately held medical device company. ViewRay is currently in growth mode and building its staff in quality assurance, software engineering, clinical science and sales.


Source: Gregory M. Ayers, ViewRay
Writer: Diane DiPiero

This story originally appeared in Fresh Water Cleveland.

Energy Focus Inc. began in California in 1985 as Fiberstars, a fiber optics firm specializing in architectural lighting such as that used to illuminate underwater spaces in spas and swimming pools.

Today, the company is headquartered in Solon, the Fiberstars brand is an Energy Focus division and the parent company is zeroed in on new LED products for both military and commercial applications.

The company moved to Ohio in 2006 because of a well-trained workforce and a bevy of northeast Ohio research and commercial entities related to lighting, says Julia Dolsen, the company's marketing manager.

"Then, in 2007, we changed the corporate name from Fiberstars to Energy Focus," Dolsen says. "And with that, we changed our core focus a little bit away from this architectural lighting division to really concentrate on R&D."

Much of the R&D in recent years has resulted in new lighting solutions for the military, she says. However, "a lot of the product we've developed for the military we've then been taking and commercializing."

That's what's happened with a new lighting fixture the company is developing with the help of a $1-million Ohio Third Frontier award, she says. Energy Focus, in collaboration with Replex Plastics, Ohio State University and Lighting Services, Inc., will use the money to develop a photovoltaic system for exterior building lights. The solar-powered wall pack being developed is designed to reduce the hefty costs that large buildings currently incur to illuminate exterior grounds, she says.

"Most of the wall packs out there use metal halide lamps," she says. "They use between 250 and 400 watts in energy consumption per fixture."

If a building like a Wal-Mart has 50 such fixtures around its outside, those lights could burn as much as 20,000 watts per day -- translating to hefty electric bills.

"So what we're proposing is that, with a solar-powered pack, you would save that money."

Besides Ohio, Energy Focus has offices in California and the U.K. It employs about 70 companywide, with about 30 in Ohio.

Source: Julia Dolsen, Energy Focus
Writer: Gene Monteith

The next time you find yourself getting a little hot under the collar, you might want to consider a cooling system from Akron-based manufacturer Polar Products, Inc.

From hospital operating rooms to the war-torn streets of Afghanistan and Iraq, Polar cooling systems help people perform better in warm environments by lowering body temperature, the company says. Body-cooling vests let surgeons and U.S. troops operate more effectively and in greater comfort. Polar's systems have even protected the sensitive electronics found in unmanned spy submarines while they were moving by ship in tropical climates.

But of the myriad of applications, William Graessle, president and owner, says his company derives the most satisfaction from improving the quality of life for those diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the vast majority of whom develop an intolerance to heat.

"We manufacture a number of body-cooling systems, vests, neck wraps, and other things that allow people with MS to get out and see a Little League Game, go to Disney World, or just go outside with their kids," says Graessle. "It's fun working with people you truly help."

Besides the body-cooling systems, Polar designs and manufactures hot and cold therapy products to relieve pain and discomfort. But the body-cooling systems -- which are also used by police, racecar drivers, and mascots -- are the most exciting part of the business, says Graessle.

Sales have increased an average of 20 percent annually for the last three years, and four jobs were added last year, bringing the number of employees to about 20. The company hopes to add three more positions this year.

Graessle says he was excited when he received an inquiry for body-cooling vests from a Finish general in the field. His excitement diminished somewhat when he learned the whole Finish contingent numbered only 80 troops . . . make that 80 "cool" troops.

Established in 1984, Polar Products, Inc. was acquired by Graessle in 2000.

Source: William Graessle, Polar Products
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney