TechColumbus Announces $1.2 Million in New Funding to 12 Startups -Organization Recognized Nationally as Model for Venture Development Practices

TechColumbus announced that twelve promising technology startups received funding commitments totaling $1.2 million from TechColumbus in 2010.  TechColumbus is the Central Ohio organization chartered with accelerating the area’s startup tech sector.

These companies are in the seed and early-stages of development, a critical period when ideas and new companies risk failure because of a lack of funding to bridge the gap between the time when founder resources are exhausted and venture capitalists are willing to invest.  To meet the needs of young companies, TechColumbus now makes funding awards real-time throughout the year. 

Initiatives such as the TechColumbus TechStart program are designed to help these companies develop the fundamental capabilities needed to grow into sustainable, scalable companies that create jobs and revenue in the region. Of the 12 companies funded, nine were awarded TechGenesis grants of up to $50,000 each.  These grants allow entrepreneurs to further validate their concepts, investigate and secure intellectual property rights, build prototypes, and conduct other proof-of-concept activities. 

Five of the nine TechGenesis award recipients – Antho-Scyantific, Celartia, Continental Dry Works, EndoSphere and The Ohio State University (for the Level Belt Project) – are in the healthcare sector, further demonstrating the strength of this sector on the region’s economy.   Of the four additional TechGenesis recipients, two are in the IT sector (BringShare and Mobile Xpeditions) and two are in advanced materials (PH Matter and Syscom).   

Three companies received funding commitments of up to $250,000 each from the TechColumbus Pre-Seed Fund.  These convertible debt investments are milestone-based and allow recipients to complete the steps necessary to attract follow-on funding from angels and venture capitalists. Pre-Seed investments are made in companies that are deemed to have the potential to reach $30 million in revenue in three to seven years and address a market of at least $100 million.  Two of the companies receiving Pre-Seed funding are in the IT sector (BringShare and SoftSyl); the remaining investment was made in The Ohio State University spinoff, IRDiagnostyx.  

For six years, TechColumbus and its TechStart Program have been catalysts for tech-based economic development in Central Ohio.  TechColumbus was recently recognized as one of nine best practice programs nationally as selected by the Regional Innovation Acceleration Network (RIAN).  Chosen because of its unique model for tailoring services to entrepreneurial needs and to regional assets that include Central Ohio’s broad technology-rich industry and research base, TechColumbus has developed an approach that yields significant results in job creation and innovation-based startup company creation.  The Ohio Third Frontier and regional partners -- including OSU, OhioHealth, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Cities of Columbus, Dublin, and New Albany – provide state and local matching funds that support these investments and related services.

“With consistent and focused efforts over the past six years, it is encouraging to see the growing diversity of our regional tech economy,” commented Ted Ford, president and CEO of TechColumbus.  “We are also honored to have been selected by RIAN as a model for best practice.  This shows that the foresight of leaders who created this unique organization is paying off for the region – in gaining national recognition for Central Ohio and, most importantly, in creating jobs and a strong regional economy.”

The Ohio Third Frontier Program and other local governments, institutions and companies help fund the TechColumbus TechStart program.  To date, TechColumbus has invested $17.4 million into 103 technology startups which have generated product sales of $322 million and raised an additional $396 million of follow-on capital.  These companies have created over 1,300 jobs with an average salary of nearly $65,000 per year.

Fiscal Year 2011 - TechGenesis Grant Recipients received a combined total of $450,000 in commitments:

Antho-Scyantific, LLC  (Dublin, OH) -- Based on licensed intellectual property from The Ohio State University, Antho-Scyantific extracts and produces highly purified anthocyanins.  Anthocyanin is a naturally occurring class of compounds extractable from most fruits, vegetables, flora and seeds.  It is a potent antioxidant used in many types of ongoing medical research relating to disease prevention and treatment, particularly cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infection and other types of inflammatory conditions.  Their unique approach produces anthocyanin in the naturally occurring combinations and concentrations found in specific plants.  Antho-Scyantific employs a new laboratory technology capable of producing a pure form of most types of anthocyanins, many unavailable in the marketplace until now.  Antho-Scyantific will produce in higher volumes and at approximately one fifth the cost of current market prices. 

BringShare, LLC (Columbus, OH) -- BringShare has developed a browser-based marketing reporting tool that consolidates performance data from multiple online marketing initiatives into one place for quick and easy comparison and reporting. With a single log-in, marketers can see a dashboard that quickly shows which marketing initiative is driving the most traffic, sales and other key performance metrics. Then, with a few easy clicks, the marketer can see an overview of how their paid search, SEO, social media, email and Web sites are performing. It allows the average marketer to be significantly more effective by giving them a holistic view of their marketing program quickly and easily.

Celartia, Ltd. (Columbus, OH) -- Celartia has developed a cell culture system that makes it more efficient and less expensive for laboratories to culture cells than current market offerings.  The system was invented by Dr. Emilio-Barbera, an internationally known researcher and inventor in the areas of cell culture and cancer treatment.  Two complementary products comprise the system.  The proprietary Petaka G3™ bioreactor, now available in different models to fill the oxygen requirements of a wide variety of cells, solves the problem of reliably and cost effectively culturing living cells in a laboratory environment, without the necessity of expensive and problematic environmentally controlled atmospheres. The Petaka™ bioreactor allows cells to be maintained in a prolonged state of suspended growth, and allows for the easy and reliable shipping of cell cultures around the world. Currently under development, the Incorbit™ cell incubator is a micro gravity (non -gravity chamber) device which revolves at 60 rpm, causing the cells to always be in a state of “falling”.  Unlike traditional methods of growing cells on flasks or plates, this enhanced cell growth system creates 3-D cells which are similar to how cells grow in our bodies.

Continental Dry-Works, LLC  (Columbus, OH) – Continental Dry-Works has developed and will bring to market an innovative incontinence  device for males  to overcome leakage issues stemming from a variety of  medical, sorts-related or other causes such as surgery, injury or childhood incontinence. 

EndoSphere, Inc. (Columbus, OH) – EndoSphere Inc. is a medical technology company that develops and commercializes devices including the SatiSphere™ duodenal insert, an endoscopically implanted device that stimulates a feeling of satiety in the patient causing them to avoid overeating.   The SatiSphere treats one of the most critical healthcare issues in the world today: obesity and its co-morbidities.  EndoSphere holds 23 U.S. and international issued and pending patents. 
 
Picaro, LLC (dba MobileXpeditions) (Dublin, OH) – MobileXpeditions (MX) helps venues and brands extend their marketing and engagement on mobile devices.  MX’s platform can rapidly create content rich mobile applications for consumers or an enterprise and allows clients to focus on content and engagement. When used for visitors of a venue or destination, MX delivers location-based experiences such as multimedia tours, guides, scavenger hunt games, etc. on their customers’ smart phones and tablets.  These individual experiences increase brand engagement, support generating revenue, and complement existing marketing strategies.  For the enterprise, MX delivers content apps on tablet devices such as the Apple iPad to support sales, visualization, and training.  Designed for one-on-one or group delivery, the platform leverages existing collateral in a new and engaging format.

The Ohio State University – for the Level Belt Project (Columbus, OH) – Based on technology invented by employees of The Ohio State University Sports Medicine Center, the Level Belt device was created to help individuals develop core strength.   Core strength can be directly linked to the recovery and treatment of injuries affecting the trunk and upper and lower extremities. Enhancing a patient’s core strength benefits not just their recovery from an acute injury, but can reduce the risk of future injuries as well. Training of the core requires a clinician to provide continuous feedback to their patient during the exercise to assure the patient is using the proper muscle activation. The Level Belt device is the only available self-contained, hands-free device capable of providing consistent external feedback directly to the patient as he/she performs various strengthening exercises and movements. 

PH Matter, LLC (Columbus, OH) – The core competency of pH Matter, LLC includes development of high surface area nano-structured materials and scalable processes for production of these materials.  pH Matter is focused on developing materials based on nano-structured doped carbon.  Carbon is both electrically conductive and stable in high or low pH environments.  Further, doping carbon can impart unique properties that improve performance for electro-chemical reactions relevant for a number of advanced energy applications.  By controlling the nano-structure of the carbon in the manufacturing process, novel materials with optimal properties can be produced.  These materials outperform expensive electrodes based on precious metals, which are currently used in numerous applications.  The processes pH Matter is developing will enable large-scale production of inexpensive materials to replace these traditional electrodes. The company is focused on the commercialization of materials for emerging applications such as electrodes for energy storage and industrial electrolysis processes.

Syscom Advanced Materials, Inc. (Columbus, OH) – Syscom develops, manufactures and markets high performance conductive fibers. The initial product, AmberStrand® fiber, has experienced a large demand in aerospace applications based upon weight reduction and improved performance.  Leveraging this existing product platform, Syscom is now introducing Liberator™ Conductive Fiber, a metal clad conductive fiber capable of providing a lightweight, flexible & high strength alternative to solid metal wiring ranging in applications from textiles to transportation.”

Fiscal Year 2011 - Pre-Seed Fund Companies received a combined total of $750,000 in investments:

BringShare, LLC (Columbus, OH) – Receiving both TechGenesis and Pre-Seed funding, BringShare has developed a browser-based marketing reporting tool that consolidates performance data from multiple online marketing initiatives into one place for quick and easy comparison and reporting. With a single log-in, marketers can see a dashboard that quickly shows which marketing initiative is driving the most traffic, sales and other key performance metrics. Then, with a few easy clicks, the marketer can see an overview of how their paid search, SEO, social media, email and Web sites are performing. It allows the average marketer to be significantly more effective by giving them a holistic view of their marketing program quickly and easily.

IR Diagnostyx, Inc. (Columbus, OH)  – IR Diagnostyx is developing a minimally invasive, serum-based diagnostic test that significantly reduces the time and costs involved with  confirmatory diagnosis of medically challenging, functional diseases including Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS),Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The company will initially launch its diagnostic services for IC/PBS and subsequently offer its services for the other diseases.

SoftSyl Technologies, LLC (New Albany, OH) – SoftSyl Technologies is an innovative provider of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions for small- to medium-size call centers and businesses.  SoftSyl has developed AsterUVX, a VoiceXML platform designed to integrate with Asterisk and various other telephony platforms.  The power of AsterUVX drives open-source telephony software to an advanced level of functionality.  With this powerhouse, SoftSyl brings cost-effective, enterprise-grade IVR solutions to small-and medium-size call centers and businesses at just a fraction of the cost of other providers.