Entrepreneurial Programs : Innovation + Job News

Platform Lab, a nonprofit information technology test and training facility in Columbus, had some big news to share last month. It appointed Silicon Valley veteran Ron Landthorn as Director and launched its new Data Center Solution Partner Program.

Landthorn has recently returned home to his native Columbus following a career in Silicon Valley working in international sales and business development for IT firms. He is a graduate of the Ohio State University with a degree in electrical engineering and has worked in engineering and management for businesses such as Procter & Gamble and AccuRay.

“My wife and I grew up here and it was always our intention to come back,” he says.  “I’m enthused about what’s happening in Ohio with technology development.”

Landthorn created the new program to help Platform Lab’s 200-plus clients gain better access to cloud backup solutions. The recently launched program is an important new collaboration with the Lab’s community of data protection suppliers that will help to protect data used and stored on the Internet.

“We’ve put together goals that can help us grow our respective business,” he says.

Platform Lab is the nation’s only state-funded IT test & training facility. It offers affordable access to IT infrastructure for testing, cloud computing, development and projects. “We give your company a competitive advantage by offering flexible, scalable services,” Platform Lab's website states. “Utilize Platform Lab solutions instead of investing in short-term hardware and software solutions that are difficult to manage and time-consuming.”

Columbus-based Veeam Software was selected as the program's first partner. Veeam has developed a large worldwide clientele and is considered one of the fastest growing and most innovative data protection suppliers in the world.

The Lab's Partner Program offers a win-win for business clients: first, it helps them to protect data, avoid costly mistakes and foster maximum productivity; second, it helps them to test such IT solutions to ensure they work optimally. 

Platform Lab is located within TechColumbus, a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate the development of Central Ohio’s innovation economy.


Source: Ron Landthorn
Writer: Val Prevish

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

Akron has become known as a hub for biomedical companies in recent years, and now a new fund is seeking to further cultivate growth in that sector. The $1.5M Akron BioInvestments Fund targets high-growth companies in orthopedics, wound healing, cardiovascular science, biomaterials, medical devices and other areas for investments.

“While a small part of the Fund supports product development, the main focus is on supporting companies that are 2-3 years away from generating revenues," explains Dr. Zev Gurion, Executive Director of the Akron BioMedical Corridor. "We want companies we invest in to repay the loan so that the Fund will not become depleted over time. That’s why the business potential of the company is considered, as well as economic development elements."

Companies that receive investments must maintain an Akron headquarters or plan to establish a local presence, with an emphasis placed on the Biomedical Corridor. The Fund gets most of its backing from private organizations such as Medical Mutual, First Energy, Cascade Capital and NEOMED. The City of Akron created the fund through its Akron Development Corporation.

The Fund is composed of two parts. The Rapid Commercialization Loan Fund provides low-interest loans to companies that are close to commercialization. The Product Development Fund supports biomedical startups by financing proof of concept, prototyping, market assessment and business-plan development.

Committees made up of representatives from the University of Akron, county and regional government, private businesses and regional organizations make recommendations to the Fund’s board. Cascade Capital acts as the Fund Manager.

Zurion says that the Fund has made two investments so far, a $25,000 grant and a loan for $200,000. The Fund received six qualified applications in the first partial round of applications which ended December 31.


Source: Dr. Zev Gurion
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Every year, the Columbus entrepreneurial community awaits the TechColumbus Innovation Awards gala with anticipation. The event is held in recognition of individuals, companies and technology teams in the 15-county Central Ohio region for achievements and contributions in technology leadership and innovation.

This month’s 2011 Innovation Awards program commemorated the Capitol City’s bicentennial. In celebration of “200 years of innovation in the Columbus region,” Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman joined Ohio State University President Gordon Gee and Les Wexner, Chairman and CEO of Limited Brands, in recognizing thirteen business leaders and two promising high school students.

The gala drew a record crowd of 1,100-plus attendees. Wexner led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to President Gee, whom he followed at the gala podium. During his speech, Wexner praised Central Ohio’s entrepreneurs and developers for emphasizing the importance of intellectual curiosity in their work.

TechColumbus CEO Tim Haynes attributes the event’s success to growing interest in TechColumbus’s mission as a startup business accelerator. “The idea that the innovation and tech ecosystem -- all of the companies that make up our tech economy -- are crucial to our individual and collective strength is really resonating," he says.

Innovation Award recipients are selected by a panel of independent judges from the entrepreneurial community. The 2011 winners included JP Morgan Chase’s Corporate Technology Team for Corporate Innovators of the Year, Owens Corning for Green Innovation; The Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging at The Ohio State University for Innovation in Nonprofit Service Delivery; Health Care DataWorks for Outstanding Startup Business; and OSU’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) for Outstanding Technology Team.

A complete roster of award winners is available on the TechColumbus website.


Source: Tim Haynes
Writer: Kitty McConnell

One year after TeraView opened its first U.S. office, the UK-based imaging company is finding its niche within Dayton's vibrant, high-tech business sector. Dayton was the logical locale for TeraView's U.S. office because the region is a center for aerospace engineering and the development of advanced sensor technologies.

TeraView’s Dayton office is housed within the the Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST), a facility established by the University of Dayton with a $28 million Third Frontier grant in 2008. The company develops technologies using Terahertz light for imaging and spectroscopy that have pharmaceutical, biomedical and military applications.
 
“We have had a long relationship with Dayton and with a number of the excellent Universities in the state,” says TeraView spokesperson Alessia Portieri. “There is a now a strong Terahertz network in the area. This was one of the key reasons why we selected Dayton to create our base.”
 
Over the past year, Teraview has conducted two Terahertz techonology training sessions through IDCAST, a facility that has over 30 companies and eight universities as its partners and is considered one of the most prominent advanced sensor research and development centers in the U.S.

“These have been well attended by people from across the U.S. and helped to raise the profile of Terahertz, Teraview and the capabilities of Ohio,” says Portieri. TeraView’s Dayton location supports Terahertz technology projects in surrounding states, including an ongoing project in Indiana.
 
TeraView has just raised $5.5 million of new investment, and more training events are in the works, including one aimed at the pharmaceutical industry. “We’ve just moved additional equipment into the facility and are starting to offer contract analytical services,” says Portieri. The company hopes to eventually see U.S. interest for TeraView applications rise to the level of its European demand.
 
As the Ohio-based operation shows progress in the US market, TeraView plans to add more jobs in the Dayton facility. Meanwhile, the company plans on subcontracting existing work to IDCAST teams.
 

Source: Alessia Portieri
Writer: Kitty McConnell

The effort to build a world-class biomedical industry in Northeast Ohio took another step forward last week, when JumpStart Inc. invested $250,000 in Milo Biotechnology, a new company formed to pursue promising treatments for muscle degeneration.

Columbia Station native Al Hawkins will serve as Milo's CEO. The former director of new ventures at Boston University, Hawkins returned to Northeast Ohio last year to serve as CEO in Residence at BioEnterprise, the Cleveland-based biotech incubation initiative, and to find emerging technologies worthy of investment. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivered follistatin protein developed and patented by researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus fit the bill. Follistatin can stimulate muscle growth, and early trials with mice and macaques suggest it could help patients suffering from muscular dystrophy and other conditions that weaken muscles, Hawkins says. According to JumpStart, a Phase I/II trial, funded by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, is enrolling patients.
 
Hawkins will retain his position with BioEnterprise until Milo has raised at least $1.5 million. Longterm, his job will be to keep raising funds for the six to seven years it could take to get follistatin all the way through the FDA-approval process, or to hire a new CEO and find another new technology on which to build a company in Cleveland.
 
Moving back to Northeast Ohio, he says, “is something I considered for a couple years. There are great opportunities here.”
 
 
Source: Al Hawkins
Writer: Frank Lewis

If you are one of dozens of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents heading to the Interactive portion of the huge South by Southwest festival in Austin next month, you’ll find a little bit of home when you get there.
 
Venture development group CincyTech has secured a #SxCincy Haus -- space in downtown Austin for members of the Cincinnati community to recharge themselves and their devices during the interactive portion of SxSW this year.
 
Four local digital pros will speak on panels. Krista Neher of Boot Camp Digital, Jeff Busdieker of Possible Worldwide, Marty Boyer of Possible Worldwide and Glenn Platt, professor of Interactive Studies at Miami University.
 
In addition, CincyTech, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association, in partnership with U.S. Bank in Cincinnati, is helping to sponsor a Startup Bus. Twenty-five to 30 software developers, Web designers and business development folks will ride the bus and work on startup company ideas, which they will pitch to judges in Austin. Find out more and register here: startupbus.com.

Cincinnati is one of only 12 cities across the country hosting the national Startup Bus program.
 
In Austin each day of Interactive, CincyTech will host a #SxCincy Chat featuring a different digital expert from Cincinnati beginning at 4 pm at the #SxCincy Haus. The chats will take place after panels end and before parties begin each day and give SxSW attendees a chance to unwind while networking with other Cincinnati professionals.
 
#SxCincy Haus will be open from 8 am until 8 pm from Friday, March 9, through Monday, March 12. Participants can hang out, get work done, snack and rest up.
 
Additionally, CincyTech will host a #SxCincy Haus Party from 8-11 pm, Saturday, March 10, featuring Cincinnati beer and chili, music from Cincinnati bands and the opportunity to mingle with Cincy’s consumer, brand and marketing experts.
 
On the morning of March 11, founder and CEO of Cincinnati startup Venturepax will lead a kayak and standup paddle board outing on Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. Anyone interested in getting some fresh air should meet at the #SxCincy Haus at 10 am Sunday, March 11.
 
“We’re promoting Cincinnati as a city that understands the future of consumer interactive,” says Carolyn Pione Micheli, communications director for CincyTech. "We have a large number of innovative thinkers at huge corporations, digital agencies and startup companies. SxSW is a great audience with whom to share our story.”


Source: Carolyn Pione Micheli
Writer: Sarah Blazak

Can monsters make kids do chores that parents can’t make them do?

Chris Bergman and Paul Armstrong think they can. Not by frightening kids into action, but rather by encouraging them to collect the cute, funny monsters that these entrepreneurs have created as part of their new mobile app, Choremonster.

The founders of the Cincinnati-based startup are both experienced web designers who were part of the 2011 graduating class at The Brandery, a startup accelerator based in Cincy that helped to launch a dozen new tech businesses in the past two years.

Choremonster is a web-based mobile app that lets parents and kids interact to make chores more enjoyable.  Kids are rewarded for completing tasks by earning real-life rewards from mom and dad. They can also collect cool, virtual monsters from Choremonster that they can play games with online or trade with friends.

Bergman describes the app as “allowance meets Pokemon” and says it’s targeted at kids age 6-12. “The monsters are instant gratification for kids. What kid doesn’t like monsters? It’s worked well in all of our test families.  Kids are really inspired.”

Choremonster recently received a $200,000 investment from CincyTech, a public- private partnership whose mission is to invest in high-growth startup technology companies in Southwest Ohio.  In addition, support from CincyTech has helped to attract angel investors, bringing the total seed-stage funding to $350,000.

“As of 2010, 51 percent of children between 4 and 12 years old had digital devices that could run the Choremonster app, and we know that number is growing,” says Mike Venerable, Managing Director of Digital, Software and Health Technology at CincyTech. “By incorporating a web-based service into its platform as well, Choremonster has a strong market on which it can capitalize.”

Bergman says that Choremonster will earn revenue through selling memberships to a premium version of the program. The company also plans to sell licensed products depicting the app’s monster characters, which include colorful names such as Frank Rumpnoodle and Phil Dustrumple. There are over 250 monsters kids can collect.

Public release of the app is the next step, says Bergman, although he declined to estimate exactly when that would take place.


Source: Chris Bergman
Writer: Val Prevish

LifeServe Innovations, which is developing a percutaneous tracheostomy introducer dilator, recently received $75,000 from the Lorain Innovation Fund. The device allows medical personnel to place a tracheotomy tube with greater ease and with fewer procedural complications than existing systems.
 
Co-founders Zach Bloom and Rick Arlow first came up with the idea as a class assignment while attending Lehigh University. “We were looking for problems to solve in emergency or critical care,” recalls Bloom. “We ultimately developed a safer and much more user-friendly approach.”
 
While they each went on to graduate school, they took their intellectual property and decided to bring their device to market. LifeServe Innovations was born in 2009. Bloom and Arlow chose Cleveland for its balance of medical and entrepreneurial support. “Cleveland is an entrepreneurial community and a medical community,” Bloom says.
 
The process of developing the dilator was one of trial and error. “It’s the nature of any startup -- the product you ultimately come up with is never the original,” says Bloom. “We kept designing products for surgical airways until we found something that met the need.”
 
LifeServe will use the grant money to manufacture and test their dilator. “We hope to have the product cleared for market by the end of second quarter,” says Bloom. While the company has volunteers helping them, Bloom hopes to hire two to three people in the near future. “As the growth begins to come and we see success in our investment, we want to bring income to Cleveland.”

 
Source: Zach Bloom
Writer: Karin Connelly

Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, service providers, educators and others will converge on the Hilton Garden Inn in Perrysburg next week for Venture Tech -- a series of events designed to support Ohio startups.

Sponsored by the Toledo-based Regional Growth Partnership (RGP), three events -- Venture Fair, Tech Connect, and Business Acceleration Tracks -- are all aimed at connecting entrepreneurs and those hoping to launch new business ideas with resources that can help them.

The Venture Fair on Wednesday will include a full day of exhibitor tables, networking opportunities, and panels, according to the RGP. Question-and-answer sessions with venture capitalists and successful CEO entrepreneurs, sessions focused on venture capital for biosciences and alternative energy and discussions on Ohio's capital ecosystem are included.

That evening, the RGP will host Tech Connect, which it describes as "a casual networking event which offers attendees the chance to meet the 'right people' to help launch their business idea. "

On Thursday, Venture Tech will offer what it calls Business Acceleration Tracks, designed to provide information about taking innovative high-tech business ideas to the next level. The half-day session is designed to "help attendees learn how to identify critical issues regarding their business plan and discover keys to planning, launching, and operating a high-growth business."

Tracks will focus on attracting capital through a strong business plan, business plan execution, bootstrapping strategies, government funding opportunities, venture capital and angel funding basics and how to develop relationships and present to such investors.

For more information and to register, go to www.rocketventures.org

Source: Regional Growth Partnership
Writer: Gene Monteith