Venturi North American and other Local Tech Companies Featured in State Publication

hiVelocity, the state’s bi-monthly online magazine dedicated to the people and businesses that make up Ohio’s new economy, recently featured stories on three growing technology startups in Central Ohio.  These three companies, each involved in a different sector, represent the growing diversity and strength of the region’s innovation economy.

First, hiVelocity provided an update on the progress and future plans of electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, Venturi North America.  Venturi, a Monaco-based manufacturer of EVs, announced in January 2011 that, not only would it be introducing its performance EV, the America, to the US, it would be establishing its North American headquarters in Columbus. 

Since then, Venturi has been working through regulatory requirements for manufacturing cars in the US, which it expects to complete within the next year and preparing for production.  According to John Pohill, CEO of Venturi North America, the company will be hiring more staff and making plans to announce another vehicle at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.  Eventually Pohill says he anticipates Venturi North America will employ between 70-100 people in Central Ohio. 

Learn more about Venturi’s current and future plans. 

Turning its attentions to the advanced materials sector, hiVelocity also profiled phMatter, a startup that is developing carbon "doped" nanofibers for use in metal-air batteries, fuel cells, industrial electrolysis and other energy storage systems.   "Our core technology is fabrication of doped nanofibers for energy storage," says Paul Matter, Ph.D., president and founder. "This is something I worked on in grad school. I saw that a lot of other applications were arising, so I thought this would be a good basis for a company.” Read more.

hiVelocity also featured Westerville’s PercuVision, which has developed a camera-aided urinary catheterization system, known as DirectVision, to allow nurses and clinicians to visually detect obstructions and more easily (and less painfully) insert urinary catheters.   PercuVision has received support through the OhioHealth Research Institute and financial support from the Ohio Third Frontier in developing and commercializing DirectVison, which received FDA approval in August of 2009. Learn more about PercuCsion and the projected new jobs it plans to create.

To subscribe to hiVelocity, visit  http://www.hivelocitymedia.com/.