Posts Tagged ‘Charleston’
Monday, May 9th, 2011
 SC Launch, an SCRA affiliate, today announced that three client companies will receive investments in undisclosed amounts for their continuing projects. Greenville-based Dannar, Columbia-based Senex Biotechnology and Charleston-based Madeira Therapeutics will each receive SC Launch funds after presentation to and subsequent approval by the SC Launch Board of Directors.
Based in Greenville, SC and developed by Gary Dannar, Dannar’s technology offers hybrid/battery-electric systems to reduce emissions in transportation vehicles. The Dannar – Mobile PowerStation (MPS) is a leading edge OEM of purpose built vehicles for the government roadside and “Right-of-Way” management market.
A company formed by recently-named USC Endowed Chair Dr. Igor Roninson and Dr. Lawrence Friedhoff, Senex Biotechnology develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of major diseases. Target technologies include the treatment of cancer, viral diseases and age-related diseases by targeting damage-inducible signal transduction pathways involved in cellular aging.
Located in Charleston, SC, Madeira Therapeutics was founded to develop new pharmaceutical products for unmet medical needs in the pediatric population. Currently the FDA does not run separate clinical trials for pediatric applications; doctors simply apply adult approved drugs at smaller doses for children. Madeira Therapeutics strives to ensure drug safety and efficiency for intended patients in the pediatric setting.
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Tags: Biotech, Charleston, clean energy, Columbia, Dannar, financing, Greenville, Maderia Therapeutics, SC, SC Launch, Senex Biotechnology
Posted in Biotech, Carolinas, Economic Development, Energy, Hardware, Money, South Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
 GREENVILLE, SC – Acumen IT says it plans ot hire more than ten new employees over the next 18 to 24 months.
Most of the full-time positions will be in the Greenville, SC area at Acumen IT’s Corporate Headquarters. However, some will be located in regional offices in Charlotte, Atlanta and Charleston.
As a direct request from many of Acumen IT’s clients, the company will also be expanding its Help Desk in order to provide live, native English-speaking representatives from 7am to 9pm daily. These expanded hours will provide more flexibility for assistance to early morning callers and east-coast companies with satellite offices throughout the United States and Canada.
Acumen IT is one of the largest technology companies in the Upstate and Carolinas, providing industry-leading IT Managed Services, Data Storage Solutions and Business Applications for companies of all sizes. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, the company is a Microsoft Partner with the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies. Acumen IT has also been named to the 2010 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club.
Acumen IT will be looking to hire positions in the following areas:
Help Desk Support
Inside Sales and Lead Generation
Customer Service Representative
IT Engineers
Dynamics GP Consultants.
For more information on Acumen IT or on these new positions, please visit our website at www.AcumenIT.com or contact David Pence at 864-271-9000
Tags: Acumen IT, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte, GA, Greenville, IT, jobs, NC, SC
Posted in Business Briefs, Carolinas, Georgia, IT, North Carolina, South Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
 CHARLESTON, SC – Here’s a funding story you won’t find hard to swallow. SC Launch, an affiliate of SCRA, has invested $200,000 in Chareston firm Terressentia, a company that has developed a technology to make high quality distilled spirits for retailers and private brand owners.
A group led by Earl D. Hewlette, a Columbia, SC native with an MBA and law degree from the University of South Carolina, founded Terressentia in 2007. Hewlette is president and CEO of the company.
“These funds will expand our sales and marketing efforts, enabling us to achieve more market recognition of the way our patented technology can dramatically improve the purity and flavor of distilled spirits at a very low relative cost,” Hewlette says.
“Utilizing sophisticated engineering technology, Terressentia’s innovative process enables an acceleration of traditional fermentation and filtering, which produces a very high quality product in real time,” said Dave McNamara, SC Launch executive director. “This company is applying its award-winning chemical engineering processes to support the hospitality industry in South Carolina as well as its national and international clients.”
The company is also involved in a College of Charleston chemistry research project. Students are working with different methods of chemical analysis, including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and solid phase microextraction to find and measure the traces of flavor-producing molecules found in the Terressentia vodka product.
We wonder if they need any taste testers for these projects?
Tags: Charleston, distilling process, financing, SC, SC Launch, SCRA, Terressentia
Posted in Carolinas, Money, South Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
 CHARLESTON, SC - Benefitfocus, a company selling Software as a Service solutions for health and voluntary benefits, has acquired BeliefNetworks Inc., which transforms real-time data – including consumer behavior, marketing campaign data and social networking conversations – into actionable knowledge for customers. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The agreement includes three patent applications and proprietary software code. The acquisition adds advanced data mining, semantic intelligence and machine learning to Benefitfocus’ existing Web-based platform.
Benefitfocus says BeliefNetworks’ unique content and analytic solutions will extend Benefitfocus’ current offerings to guide customers in making informed decisions about their benefit elections. In addition, BeliefNetworks’ technology will enable Benefitfocus to identify emerging trends and behaviors of interest to both consumers and insurers.
For example, consumers can opt to have the content of their individual health profile scanned in order to receive recommendations for benefit selection and suggest behavior changes to improve their personal health and wellness. All recommendations adhere to HIPAA regulations.
BeliefNetworks CTO, Ted Tanner, Jr., a veteran of several successful Silicon Valley startups who has also held architect positions at Apple and Microsoft, joins the Benefitfocus team as vice president of Core Systems. Lisa Maki, president of BeliefNetworks and formerly of Microsoft’s Incubation and Research Division, assumes the role of the director of Design Management. The rest of the BeliefNetworks team becomes part of the Benefitfocus Research and Development division.
“Semantic intelligence will redefine the healthcare industry by proactively connecting consumers, insurers and benefit plans to promote personalized coverage and support for healthy behaviors,” said Shawn Jenkins, Benefitfocus president and CEO. “We are fortunate to have obtained this technology from one of the leading companies in the field.”
Benefitfocus offers employers, health and voluntary carriers, brokers and consumers a single Web-based platform for benefit shopping, enrollment, management and industry-standard data exchange. I
Tags: Acquisitions, BeliefNetworks, Benefitfocus, Charleston, health benefits, Healthcare, Internet, Jr., Lisa Maki, SC, semantic intelligence, Shawn Jenkins, Ted Tanner
Posted in Acquisitions, Carolinas, Healthcare, Internet/New Media, IT, South Carolina | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
 Bill Mahoney, CEO, SCRA By Bill Mahoney, CEO, SCRA
Recently, after I had given an update on SCRA’s SC Launch program, I was approached by a colleague who stated, “Five years ago, I would never have thought so much progress could happen so quickly to build a knowledge economy in South Carolina.”
It was a very nice compliment, and one that meant a great deal considering the recent economic environment. But, SCRA had indeed set out to build a strong knowledge economy in South Carolina several years ago.
Almost exactly four years ago, SCRA started the SC launch program, to identify, develop and invest in promising knowledge economy startups. Prior to SC Launch, many technology discoveries from SC corporate, university and hospital research centers were sitting unused, or leaving the state for development elsewhere.
SC Launch seed funded 35 firms
SC Launch was created to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and infuse much needed resources into start-up technology companies commercializing indigenous research.
To date, the program has supported about 270 entities that are creating new jobs and bringing innovative products and services to the market. 149 of those entities have received both funding and support services.
Of that 149, 35 have received initial equity investment from SC Launch. Many of the SC launch client companies have secured additional funding from angel and venture capital sources. 35 SC launch client equity companies are moving from startup to revenues and margins on the strength of $71 million in private follow-on investment.
Innovation Centers incubating new companies
While SCRA has enjoyed early success from the SC Launch program, we realize that further development of the knowledge economy requires more planning and work. We must continue to provide a tuned ecosystem for emerging technology startups to grow and thrive. Providing world-class business, laboratory and advanced manufacturing facilities is a key component of knowledge economy development.
To fill this role SCRA, in conjunction with its university and civic partners in South Carolina, has introduced Innovation Centers located in Charleston, Columbia, and Anderson to complement our existing research parks. With the Charleston Innovation Center Grand Opening in December, 2009, a groundbreaking of the Columbia Innovation Center in February 2010, and announcement of the Anderson Innovation Center scheduled for availability in Spring 2011, we are already filling these centers with top-notch companies.
Four start-up companies, all created from technology formed at the Medical University of South Carolina, are already headquartered in the SCRA MUSC Charleston Innovation Center as of January.
Immunologix, Microbial Fuel Cell Technologies, Neurological Testing Services, and Vortex Biotechnology Corp. are the first tenants.
These companies embody the precise type of start-ups that each Center is designed to house. The Charleston Center consists of office and laboratory space to support biopharma, biomed, and biotech applied research and commercialization.
Slated to open its doors this June, the SCRA USC Columbia Innovation Center already has two tenant companies; Immedion, which will house a data center in the facility, and Direct Measurements. The Columbia Center is tailored to house high-tech companies emerging from both the University of South Carolina and the general marketplace, particularly those expanding to commercialization and light manufacturing stages.
The third Innovation Center will be located in Anderson, SC, within the Clemson Advanced Materials Center and next to the Clemson Advanced Materials Research Lab. This center will feature both LEED certification and limited access areas. .SCRA and Clemson look forward to opening this Center in the Spring of 2011.
At SCRA, we have a strongly executed a vision for building the knowledge economy in South Carolina. Investment resources and facilities are only part of this vision, but they are already bringing positive impacts to our state. There is a saying that, “To ensure your own future, you must create it.” SCRA continues to inspire new entrepreneurs, strengthen technology-based businesses, and create a better tomorrow for South Carolina.
SCRA
SC Launch
From time to time, TechJournal South runs guest blogs on topics of interest to our readers. If you have an idea for a guest blog topic, contact TJS Editor Allan Maurer: Allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: Charleston, Columbia, Innovation Centers, SC Launch, SCRA, South Carolina
Posted in Biotech, Carolinas, Economic Development, Healthcare, Internet/New Media, South Carolina | Comments Off
Monday, March 15th, 2010
 CHARLESTON, SC – Immunologix, a Charleston based biotechnology company that specializes in producing fully human antibody-based therapeutics through a novel in vitro system, received a $200,000 investment from SCRA’s SC Launch.
Immunologix has worldwide exclusive licensing rights to a technology developed in the laboratories of the Medical University of South Carolina that allows for the production and selection of human antibodies from cells recovered from discarded immune tissue.
The Immunologix system provides methods for producing human monoclonal antibodies against any target including bacterial and viral antigens, as well as tumor antigens, and human autoantigens. Immunologix’s technology allows for the conversion of naïve B-cells (from a tonsillectomy or whole blood collection) to fully mature human B-cells producing the human antibody of interest.
Immunologix says this process is far superior over traditional methods and offers low cost and reliability that exceed all other current products.
Dr. Ryan Fiorini, Immunologix COO, said he plans to utilize the investment to fully gear up his company’s laboratory and hire an additional lab technician.
Immunologix was named as a Top Ten finalist in the 2008 SE BIO Plan/Competition and was selected to present at the 2009 SEBIO meeting as a “Top Early-Stage” Company. The company was founded by Dr. Douglas Carnes, CEO, and Fiorini, COO.
It is one of the first four companies with offices in teh new SCRA MUSC Innovation Center.
“SCRA is very excited to invest in Immunologix through our SC Launch program,” said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. “The company reflects the growing biotech commercialization occurring in South Carolina. This commercialization is consistently utilizing world-class basic science coming out of our research universities.”
Tags: Biotech, Charleston, financing, Immonlogix, Pharma, SC Launch, South Carolina
Posted in Biotech, Carolinas, Money, Pharma, South Carolina | Comments Off
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