Software : Innovation + Job News

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

LeanDog Software Studio has seen success as a software delivery firm and the team enjoys sharing their knowledge and mentoring others in the field. So the natural progression for the 55-person company was to expand into the world of fostering entrepreneurs in the tech field. The launch of LeanDog Labs does exactly that.
 
“Labs was really a part of our original vision of LeanDog,” says Nick Barendt, director of LeanDog Labs. “Very early on we were working with startups, but we were bootstrapped as a startup ourselves and cash poor. We really wanted to get back into working with Cleveland-based startups.”
 
LeanDog Labs teaches what they know to up-and-coming technology experts. They don’t invest in the companies; they are focused on being a technology partner. “We’re not looking to fund or provide office space. We’re there on the technology end to help entrepreneurs deliver their vision,” says Doc Norton, director of LeanDog Studio. “We’re looking to be a delivery partner in the startups.”
 
The company is in a position now to help out. LeanDog grew to 45 people from 18 people last year, and has hired 10 employees this year -- four of them just last week. Barendt and Norton see that growth as an opportunity to spread the expertise around.
 
“We're looking to work with entrepreneurs to help build their product vision,” says Barendt. “We have an absolutely amazing group of developers with incredibly diverse experiences, from mobile and web to financial and insurance to real time control and embedded systems, and we can make that collective experience available to our entrepreneurial partners.”

 
Source: Nick Barendt and Doc Norton
Writer: Karin Connelly
 

LineStream Technologies, a Cleveland developer of control software for automated products, secured series B financing by U.S. Venture Partners. USVP will team up with series A investor Early Stage Partners to move the company forward.
 
“The funding we just raised allows us to find more customers,” says Dave Neundorfer, LineStream president. "It is a huge boost for us. This funding will drastically accelerate growth for our company and meet customer demand.”
 
LineStream Technologies was formed in 2008 as a spinoff out of research done by Cleveland State University’s Zhiqiang Gao, director of the Center for Advanced Control Technology, and focuses on commercializing and simplifying control software.
 
LineStream products increase efficiency, are easy to implement and therefore improve the performance of automated systems in everything from washing machines to medical robotics. Last year LineStream licensed its software to Texas Instruments for use in a chip platform in motor and motion controls.
 
Neundorfer says the funding will not only help serve its growing customer base, it will also allow the company to attract the right talent. “With this funding we can build a team and hire technical talent,” he says. “We’re attracting technical talent who are self-starters, adaptable, work hard and are willing to align themselves around the common goal.”

 
Source: Dave Neundorfer
Writer: Karin Connelly

There's a reason why Ohio Supercomputer Center's new $4.1 million,  HP Intel Xeon, processor based system has been dubbed the Oakley Cluster. Like the legendary Ohio-born sharpshooter and social advocate Annie Oakley, it's fast as hell, doesn't miss a shot and is improving the lives of Ohioans.

Just ask Ashok Krishnamurthy, Executive Director of the OSC, a facility that is funded by the Ohio Board of Regents and has been in existence since 1987. "We have more than 2,000 academic users across the state, and they're discovering new materials and developing advanced energy applications," he says. "To be competitive, we must provide the highest performance system, and this represents a new level of capability."

OSC's new supercomputer can achieve 88 teraflops, which is tech speak for 88 trillion calculations per second. Yes, in case you're wondering, that's lightning fast.

OSC's new system will help to achieve its mission of assisting academic and business users. Large companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Rolls Royce use OSC as a "second level system when they have needs beyond what their systems can support," says Krishnamurthy. OSC helps small and midsize companies develop and test prototypes virtually rather than investing in actual models, while academics use the system to complete their cutting-edge research.

"We give them access to software and expertise," says Krishnamurthy. "Once they understand the value of what this can do, it changes how they do business."

As one example, Krishnamurthy cites an Ohio company that is developing an LED projector small enough to fit inside a phone. How do they convince various manufacturers that their device can handle the projector's heat without testing every single one? That's where OSC's computer modeling comes in.

"You can simulate how the heat is dissipated," he says. "It's an easy, low-cost way to show potential customers how your design can be incorporated into their products."

OSC has also helped to develop courses for students at community colleges and four-year colleges and universities, as well as professionals who are seeking continuing education. "OSC is in a fairly unique position," says Krishnamurthy. "It is the most consistently state-funded center of its kind in the country."


Source: Ashok Krishnamurthy
Writer: Lee Chilcote

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

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

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

Cincinnati-based Global Cloud is changing the way nonprofits raise money by harnessing the power of social networking to turn a $50 donation into $5,000.
 
DonorDrive, the software as a service tool that Global Cloud launched more than three years ago, has become a competitive product in the world of nonprofit development, where tapping into new sources of funding is a driving necessity during a slow economy, said Global Cloud founder Todd Levy.
 
“We saw that it was underserved and that we could compete,” said Levy. “We see a huge market potential.”
 
Levy said DonorDrive takes current donors and turns them into developers by allowing an individual volunteer to set up an event, such as a walk-a-thon, and create a DonorDrive page that describes the event and is easily forwarded to social networking contacts who can then give online. All the money collected goes directly to the nonprofit, reducing costs by eliminating mailings and promotional expenses.
 
“This makes it possible to hone in on (social) networks and take a $50 donation and turn it into $5,000,” he said. “A single donor becomes a network of donors.”
 
Global Cloud began as a website design company in 1997. Levy and co-founder Paul Ghiz had many nonprofit clients and eventually began filling requests for custom software applications for them. One of those software programs was for online donations.
 
They began testing DonorDrive in 2008 and have since rolled it out to hundreds of clients throughout the United States and Canada.
 
Levy said DonorDrive has been experiencing triple digit growth in sales over the past two years. DonorDrive will go from roughly 50 percent of Global Cloud’s business to at least 90 percent, he said, adding he plans to expand his staff of 24 by about 20 percent to accommodate the growth.

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.