The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) board approved investments of $335,000 in three Pennsylvania companies. BFTP/NEP is a state-funded economic development organization that links early-stage companies and established manufacturers with experts, universities, funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.
BFTP/NEP plans to invest in the following companies:
Advanced-Tec Materials Corporation, Hazleton
Investment: $35,000
Provide strategic direction to this manufacturer of specialized industrial materials derived from coal-combustion by-products. Products incorporating these formulations include thermal insulation and fireproofing, environmentally-friendly “green" construction materials, shoe insoles, and various consumables in the automotive and cosmetic markets. Advanced-Tec will further develop its comprehensive business plan and its intellectual property strategy, and conduct material testing requisite for UL and other certifications.
Element ID, Inc., Bethlehem
Investment: $150,000
Test a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader prototype at several trial sites, and begin commercializing with a full-scale sales launch. Element ID’s readers utilize proprietary software that provides superior read rates and eliminates interference problems associated with other readers on the market. These RFID tag readers will be sold to material-handling companies worldwide.
Third Eye Diagnostics, Inc., Bethlehem
Investment: $150,000
Conduct prototype development and clinical studies leading to the commercialization of a medical device for non-invasively monitoring intracranial pressure. Intracranial pressure monitoring is a common tool for physicians treating patients with a severe head injury, intracranial hemorrhage, or swelling due to a stroke. This non-invasive technique substantially lowers patient risk and associated costs.
Contact:
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern
Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP)
Laura S. Eppler, Director of Marketing, 610-758-5237
leppler@nep.benfranklin.org
Friday, March 21, 2008
Retrevo, Inc., the matchmaking service between consumers and electronics that simplifies people’s relationship lifecycle with electronic products
What Company Is Offering:
Retrevo is the first matchmaking service for people and electronics that makes finding, buying and using electronics products simple and fun. Retrevo’s AI based service aggregates, classifies and summarizes relevant information on electronics products from both industry and social media sources including publishers, manufacturers, retailers, social networks, blogs, user reviews and even from inside Adobe PDF manuals. Consumers are presented with objective advice and answers in visually simple and actionable forms that give them the confidence and control throughout their entire electronics products relationship lifecycle.
How Much They Got From VCs:
Retrevo, Inc., the matchmaking service between consumers and electronics that simplifies people’s relationship lifecycle with electronic products, today announced it has secured $8 million in a second round of institutional funding. This round was led by Alloy Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and will be used for product development, partnership expansion and consumer marketing.
"The consumer electronics purchase process can be daunting to the average consumer not because of an absence of information and recommendations, but rather the overwhelming, unorganized, and often contradictory advice that exists in retail channels, on the Internet and via word-of-mouth," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates, an internationally recognized consumer technology research firm. "Retrevo's role in organizing and summarizing the key research, opinions and comparisons of consumer electronics products will grow in importance as consumers seek the best available information in making a purchasing decision."
About VCs:
1.
Alloy Ventures invests primarily in seed and early stage companies in information technology and the life sciences. The firm's total committed capital under management exceeds $1 billion, including $368 million committed to Alloy Ventures in 2005. The firm's partners have been founders and CEOs of successful start-ups, officers of large companies, and have decades of venture capital experience. The firm offers entrepreneurs the experience, connections and capital necessary to build lasting, market-leading companies.
2.
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global venture capital firm that has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 45 years. NVP focuses on investments in information technology including: software, services, enterprise and communications systems, semiconductor/components and Internet, media and consumer. The firm currently manages more than $2.5 billion in venture capital out of its office in Palo Alto, California. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.
More at:www.retrevo.com
Retrevo is the first matchmaking service for people and electronics that makes finding, buying and using electronics products simple and fun. Retrevo’s AI based service aggregates, classifies and summarizes relevant information on electronics products from both industry and social media sources including publishers, manufacturers, retailers, social networks, blogs, user reviews and even from inside Adobe PDF manuals. Consumers are presented with objective advice and answers in visually simple and actionable forms that give them the confidence and control throughout their entire electronics products relationship lifecycle.
How Much They Got From VCs:
Retrevo, Inc., the matchmaking service between consumers and electronics that simplifies people’s relationship lifecycle with electronic products, today announced it has secured $8 million in a second round of institutional funding. This round was led by Alloy Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and will be used for product development, partnership expansion and consumer marketing.
"The consumer electronics purchase process can be daunting to the average consumer not because of an absence of information and recommendations, but rather the overwhelming, unorganized, and often contradictory advice that exists in retail channels, on the Internet and via word-of-mouth," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates, an internationally recognized consumer technology research firm. "Retrevo's role in organizing and summarizing the key research, opinions and comparisons of consumer electronics products will grow in importance as consumers seek the best available information in making a purchasing decision."
About VCs:
1.
Alloy Ventures invests primarily in seed and early stage companies in information technology and the life sciences. The firm's total committed capital under management exceeds $1 billion, including $368 million committed to Alloy Ventures in 2005. The firm's partners have been founders and CEOs of successful start-ups, officers of large companies, and have decades of venture capital experience. The firm offers entrepreneurs the experience, connections and capital necessary to build lasting, market-leading companies.
2.
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global venture capital firm that has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 45 years. NVP focuses on investments in information technology including: software, services, enterprise and communications systems, semiconductor/components and Internet, media and consumer. The firm currently manages more than $2.5 billion in venture capital out of its office in Palo Alto, California. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.
More at:www.retrevo.com
Small World Labs, a leading provider of enterprise social media solutions and online community building expertise has received more than $1 million
What Company Is Offering:
Small World Labs is a proven enterprise social media solution provider, best known for its unique combination of technology and community building expertise that helps customers better understand, engage and serve their key constituents. Small World Labs takes a hands-on approach to community building, providing a robust social-networking architecture and best practices gained through years of experience, so that customers are best positioned to create a successful and vibrant community.
How Much They Got From VCs :
Small World Labs, a leading provider of enterprise social media solutions and online community building expertise, announced it has received more than $1 million toward a Series A funding round which it will closeout in the next 60 days. The funding will be used to further enhance Small World Labs' leadership in community management as well as augment its technology platform.
"By combining proven technology with community management expertise, Small World Labs provides a unique value to enterprises looking to implement an effective social media solution," said Jordan Rohan of Clearmeadow Partners, one of the participating investors in the Series A round. Previous to founding Clearmeadow Partners, Rohan served as Managing Director and Internet Analyst for RBC Capital Markets.
Small World Labs is a proven enterprise social media solution provider, best known for its unique combination of technology and community building expertise that helps customers better understand, engage and serve their key constituents. Small World Labs takes a hands-on approach to community building, providing a robust social-networking architecture and best practices gained through years of experience, so that customers are best positioned to create a successful and vibrant community.
How Much They Got From VCs :
Small World Labs, a leading provider of enterprise social media solutions and online community building expertise, announced it has received more than $1 million toward a Series A funding round which it will closeout in the next 60 days. The funding will be used to further enhance Small World Labs' leadership in community management as well as augment its technology platform.
"By combining proven technology with community management expertise, Small World Labs provides a unique value to enterprises looking to implement an effective social media solution," said Jordan Rohan of Clearmeadow Partners, one of the participating investors in the Series A round. Previous to founding Clearmeadow Partners, Rohan served as Managing Director and Internet Analyst for RBC Capital Markets.
mEgo was created with the mission to make managing and sharing your online selves a more coherent, fun and useful experience
What Company Says:
mEgo was created with the mission to make managing and sharing your online selves a more coherent, fun and useful experience.
We're very excited to bring this product to life, and your early participation and feedback will make a huge impact on the product as it develops.
mEgo is being developed for you so tell us what you want to see on it.
How It Works:
When you are creating your mEgo, you use the Looks editor to design the appearance of your mEgo. You can change your look as often as you want. You can also upload your own pictures, edit them with their Crop & Style photo editing tool and modify other background settings.
You then use the Feed and Content editors to further customize your mEgo with your own personal data.
For each pod, mEgo gives you the opportunity to add your own content-including text and personal links, as well as automatically updating feeds for photos, videos, play lists, wish lists and other services-all of the details you'd put on any social networking site, and more!
mEgo is being developed so that you will have extensive control over what you share and what you hide on various profiles. For now, you can set the privacy level for each content area by choosing whether to show or hide it.
More at:http://beta.mego.com/
mEgo was created with the mission to make managing and sharing your online selves a more coherent, fun and useful experience.
We're very excited to bring this product to life, and your early participation and feedback will make a huge impact on the product as it develops.
mEgo is being developed for you so tell us what you want to see on it.
How It Works:
When you are creating your mEgo, you use the Looks editor to design the appearance of your mEgo. You can change your look as often as you want. You can also upload your own pictures, edit them with their Crop & Style photo editing tool and modify other background settings.
You then use the Feed and Content editors to further customize your mEgo with your own personal data.
For each pod, mEgo gives you the opportunity to add your own content-including text and personal links, as well as automatically updating feeds for photos, videos, play lists, wish lists and other services-all of the details you'd put on any social networking site, and more!
mEgo is being developed so that you will have extensive control over what you share and what you hide on various profiles. For now, you can set the privacy level for each content area by choosing whether to show or hide it.
More at:http://beta.mego.com/
filmforay is a community of film makers and enthusiasts working together on an entirely new form of film production
What Company Is Offering:
filmforay is a community of film makers and enthusiasts working together on an entirely new form of film production. Collaboration is the key and they need an initial idea to start things off.filmforay is about collaboratively creating a Hollywood film from the ground up.
How It Works:
Stage 1 is all about dreaming up the big idea An-interview-with-Donny-Deutsch . Ever thought you had the next Star Wars rolling around in the back of your head? Maybe you're more into thrillers and you dreamed up a plot so creative and complex there's no way the studios would ever touch it. Or perhaps you have a great idea for a parody on recent events. filmforay is the place to share it. Who knows, it might just be you walking down the red carpet Academy-Awards on opening night.
More at:http://filmforay.com/
filmforay is a community of film makers and enthusiasts working together on an entirely new form of film production. Collaboration is the key and they need an initial idea to start things off.filmforay is about collaboratively creating a Hollywood film from the ground up.
How It Works:
Stage 1 is all about dreaming up the big idea An-interview-with-Donny-Deutsch . Ever thought you had the next Star Wars rolling around in the back of your head? Maybe you're more into thrillers and you dreamed up a plot so creative and complex there's no way the studios would ever touch it. Or perhaps you have a great idea for a parody on recent events. filmforay is the place to share it. Who knows, it might just be you walking down the red carpet Academy-Awards on opening night.
More at:http://filmforay.com/
LearnHub is a network of communities, each one built around a specific subject
What Company Is Offering:
LearnHub is a network of communities, each one built around a specific subject (ex. Algebra, History, Software Development). Search to find a community that fits your interest. You will find many communities offer a wealth of freely available information, created by expert teachers, and other students. The line between teacher and student is blurred, because a student in one subject, can be a teacher in another.
How It Works:
LearnHub is free to use. Sign up and build your profile, create lessons and tests, start a community, build and sell courses, even sell your tutoring time all for free. In time, we will introduce a small transaction fee for courses and tutoring sold through our marketplace. All early adopters (users who sign up before May 1) will not be charged any transaction fees in 2008.
Communities are a mixture of lessons (pages, videos, presentations, concept games), tests, discussions, debates and fun activities. You will also find a marketplace, where you can find courses and tutor offerings from expert teachers.
LearnHub not only helps you learn, but it helps you connect with other students and teachers. A comprehensive reputation system, authority, helps you find reputable teachers, who you can trust.
Cost
LearnHub is free to use. However, teachers may charge a fee for certain courses and for tutoring.
Unique Features:
LearnHub gives you the tools you need to effectively teach online.
* A comprehensive online presence create a profile, earn your authority, build your network.
* Powerful content authoring tools upload videos, author pages using a simple editor, upload your powerpoint presentations.
* Easy Testing create a test and track users' progress.
* Course creation combine lessons, tests, and activities into a restricted access course, complete with e-commerce integration.
* Live tutoring live video, voice, whiteboard and document sharing.
* Fun activities to make learning fun and engaging; challenging concept attainment, competitive debates and addictive trivia keep students coming back for more.
More at:http://learnhub.com/
LearnHub is a network of communities, each one built around a specific subject (ex. Algebra, History, Software Development). Search to find a community that fits your interest. You will find many communities offer a wealth of freely available information, created by expert teachers, and other students. The line between teacher and student is blurred, because a student in one subject, can be a teacher in another.
How It Works:
LearnHub is free to use. Sign up and build your profile, create lessons and tests, start a community, build and sell courses, even sell your tutoring time all for free. In time, we will introduce a small transaction fee for courses and tutoring sold through our marketplace. All early adopters (users who sign up before May 1) will not be charged any transaction fees in 2008.
Communities are a mixture of lessons (pages, videos, presentations, concept games), tests, discussions, debates and fun activities. You will also find a marketplace, where you can find courses and tutor offerings from expert teachers.
LearnHub not only helps you learn, but it helps you connect with other students and teachers. A comprehensive reputation system, authority, helps you find reputable teachers, who you can trust.
Cost
LearnHub is free to use. However, teachers may charge a fee for certain courses and for tutoring.
Unique Features:
LearnHub gives you the tools you need to effectively teach online.
* A comprehensive online presence create a profile, earn your authority, build your network.
* Powerful content authoring tools upload videos, author pages using a simple editor, upload your powerpoint presentations.
* Easy Testing create a test and track users' progress.
* Course creation combine lessons, tests, and activities into a restricted access course, complete with e-commerce integration.
* Live tutoring live video, voice, whiteboard and document sharing.
* Fun activities to make learning fun and engaging; challenging concept attainment, competitive debates and addictive trivia keep students coming back for more.
More at:http://learnhub.com/
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