TechJournal South introduces you to its 2008 Tech 50 list of innovative Southeastern technology and biotech companies. They are listed alphabetically. Today, the second 15, From DC’s Fortius One, to NC’s NeoNova.
For the first 15 see:
http://techjournalsouth.com/news/article.html?item_id=5321
FortiusOne, Washington, DC – www.fortiusone.com
Fortius One combines massive, complex data sets in visualizations that significantly enhance critical decision making. Fortius CEO and founder Sean Gorman says the basic idea behind the company is to be the next step toward where digital mapping technologies are going. “We want to create a network effect for these maps,” he says. That means people in the field, such as emergency workers, can upload data about a current situation, a flooded area, for instance, and “mash it up with our data.” The company raised a $5.4 million second round in 2007 with the stealthy, C.I.A. connected In-Q-Tel as one of its backers. “FortiusOne is leading the way to the next generation of web mapping, building on one of the hottest areas of the Web today,” said Troy M. Pearsall, In-Q-Tel’s Executive Vice President of Technology Transfer.
GridPoint, Washington, DC – www.gridpoint.com
GridPoint pioneered a smart grid platform that aligns the interests of electric utilities, consumers and the environment. During peak demand periods, the platform enables utilities to efficiently balance supply and demand by discharging stored power or reducing loads with minimal impact on customers (i.e., controlling temperature versus shutting down air conditioners). Utilities can also optimize existing baseload generation assets and relieve stress on transmission and distribution lines. GridPoint raised a total of $102 million in venture funding since its 2003 inception. It won numerous awards including, overall winner of the AlwaysOn GoingGreen 100 Top Private Companies 2007; the Red Herring 100 Global; and winner of the 2007 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Green Excellence.
Harmony Information Systems, Reston, VA – www.harmonyis.com
Harmony Information Systems sells software to the health and human services sector. The company raised a $28 million second round in late 2007. The company offers on-demand and on-premise software applicatons to public and private health and human services organizations.
Highwinds, Winter Park, FL – www.highwinds.com
Highwinds, founded in 2002, started as a software company, selling to cable companies and ISPs. The company decided that it should build out a network infrastructure to get into the content delivery business itself. It began buying and building infrastructure, including multiple, redundant 10 Gbps links, 21 points of presence in the U.S. and Europe, and its own network services and engineering team. Building out the network also led to technology innovations in network management, distributed file system technology and advanced content routing methods, the company says. Most of the content the company delivers over its network never touches the Internet. The company raised a $55 million round in March.
Ion Healthcare Corporation, Midlothian, VA -
Invision, Atlanta – www.invisoninc.com
Invision’s software-based solutions manage the sale of over $10 billion in annual television advertising inventory. Just as the airline reservations systems pricing algorithms are critical for airline profitability by maximizing revenue from available seat inventory, Invision helps its customers increase the revenue yield on available advertising inventory. Founded in 1993, the company develops licensed software to support ad processes for TV and radio stations. clients include BET, Bloomberg, Bravo, CNBC, E! Entertainment Television, Fox Sports Network, F/X, Galavision, G4/techTV, Gemstar/TV Guide, Hallmark, MGM, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, PAX, Sony Pictures Television, Speed Channel, Telemundo, Telefutura, Tribune, Univision, and The Weather Channel. Invision raised a $30 million first round in March.
Jacket Micro Devices, Atlanta, GA – www.jacketmicro.com
Jacket Micro Devices is an Atlanta-based supplier of integrated RF modules for wireless products. The company was founded in 2002 by researchers from Georgia Tech who developed a groundbreaking new method to package RF components. Unlike modules made with ceramic and other technologies, JMD’s products can be rapidly customized and have higher levels of integration, resulting in fewer external components and faster time to market. Key market drivers for JMD’s products include the growth in complexity of wireless technology driven by new standards, such as 802.11n and 802.16e, that require multiple transmit and receive paths and thus complex front ends. The market for wireless interfaces that use the 802.11n standard will exceed 200 million units a year by 2009.
Jobfox, Mclean, VA – www.jobfox.com
JobFox matches job seekers and employers in much the same way some dating sites match people and brings headhunter techniques to job seekers, helping them showcase their unique skills and experiences. Its matching technology focuses on 10 dimensions of a good job fit. The company allows job seekers to create their own free personally branded career space and notifies them via mobile phone, IM text messages, or otherwise when a potential employer looks at their resume. Users can upload work samples. The company raised a $20 million C round in January, and a $10 million B round in May 2006.
kajeet, Bethesda, MD – www.kajeet.com
Kajeet, a company formed when its three founder-fathers discussed how kids, cell phones, and parents could work best, found a solution that both their customers and investors like. The company has raised nearly $64 million in venture funding and $10 million in debt capital since 2003. The company launched its pay-as-you-go for kids with parental controls in 2007. It lets tweens, teens and parents configure their phones to fit their needs. The company has raised nearly $64 million venture backing and $10 million in debt capital since 2003.
Koolspan, Bethesda, MD – www.koolspan.com
KoolSpan’s TrustChip crypto engine is a self-contained authentication, encryption and key management platform. Proceeds of the financing will be used to fulfill global demand for TrustChip-based solutions including TrustChip Voice, which creates instant AES-encrypted links among off-the-shelf mobile phones. “The KoolSpan TrustChip platform is designed for the rapidly growing mobile-to-mobile and machine-to-machine markets,” says KoolSpan CEO Tony Fascenda. Koolspan raised a $7.1 million round in April.
Lab Escape, Asheville, NC www.labescape.com
Founded in 2003, Lab Escape sells its heat maps software to a dozen Fortune 500 companies and about two dozen other clients. Heat maps color and size code complex data to make it easy to grasp and interpret. the company has had three times revenue growth each year for the last three, The 10-employee company has not raised outside money thus far, but is looking for $1 million to $3 million in backing. EO and founder, Trevor Lohrbeer is a serial entrepreneur.
Metastorm, Baltimore, MD – www.metastorm.com
Metastorm sells software for Enterprise Architecture, Business Process Analysis & Modeling and Business Process Management. As an integrated product portfolio, Metastorm Enterprise allows organizations to improve business results by unifying strategy, analysis and execution, the company says. Metastorm. The company has created good industry buzz and made a number of significant acquisitions. Founded in 1996, the company raised a $30 million C round in August 2007.
Metastatix, Tucker, GA – www.metastatix.com
Metastatix is developing compounds that block a receptor implicated in inflammation—now known to foster many serious diseases. But its treatments may also fight late stage cancer and its deadly metastasis and a form of HIV infection as well. Metastatix technology, licensed from Atlanta’s Emory University, blocks the CXCR4 receptor, which plays a role in cancer, inflammation, and T-tropic HIV infections. Not only that, its treatments can be administered orally—a factor that makes a drug not only easier to take, but also easier to market. The company has raised $38.8 million.
Moli, West Palm Beach, FL – www.moli.com
Most of the social networking sites that made an initial impact on the Web world such as Facebook and My Space, aimed squarely at youth markets. Not so Moli. Moli is a social network with more than one difference from the others. Rather than pursue the youth market, Moli is designed to appeal to mature adults between 24 and 54. It restricts its membership to those 18 or older. It also focuses on small businesses of under 10 people. It has slightly more than 150,000 members as of March 2008. Moli, as part of Mainstream Holdings Inc., raised $29.6 million in funding in late January, including an investment from founder Christos M. Cotsakos, former chair and CEO of E*Trade and former CEO and COO of AC Nielsen, who provided $20 million.
Myxer, Deerfield Beach, FL – www.myxer.com
The company’s MyxerTones website offers tools for making and sharing mobile content. It says 2.5 million users download more than six million pieces of mobile content each month. The Myxer platform also offers partner API’s for easy integration with existing content websites interested in expanding their reach to the mobile market. Myxer raised a $6.5 million round in September 2007.
NeoNova Networks, Morrisville, NC – www.neonova.net
NeoNova is the leading Internet service provider serving the U.S. rural telephone and cable service providers. NeoNova provides Internet services, data hosting, email, spam and virus filtering, web design and storage, customer care and billing services to over 60 independent communication service providers. There’s plenty of room for growth in the rural broadband space. The PEW Internet survey showed that in 2007, only 31 percent of U.S. rural residences had broadband access. NeoNova’s services help rural communications providers close that gap. California-based Azure Capital Partners and Bridgescale Partners bought the company from Digitel Inc. in March for an undisclosed sum.
Southeast Venture Conference, February 29 – March 1, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, VA – Where Smart Money Meets Smart People.
www.seventure.org
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