Posts Tagged ‘edioma’

Wireless Seed Stage Forum Key Connector for First-Class Startups and Informed Investors

Friday, December 10th, 2010

wssf_logo-squareAustin, TX (PRWEB) December 7, 2010 – Nineteen leading wireless startups gathered in Austin Dec. 1st to flex their innovative muscles for more than 40 venture capitalists and angel investors at the fourth annual Wireless Seed Stage Forum. The Austin Technology Incubator’s Wireless Incubator, in partnership with the Central Texas Angel Network, hosted the Forum at Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts.

In WSSF’s first three years, nearly 50 percent of participating startups have gone on to receive funding. Looking to continue its position as the premier stage for wireless startups to connect with investors, WSSF selected five of the 19 participating companies to give a 10-minute pitch and field five minutes of questions on their venture.

Joining the likes of Calxeda, Tabbed Out, Edioma, Spacetime Studios and GameSalad, who have each closed series-A funding from leading venture capital firms, the following five presented to the Forum crowd.

  • Famigo – (Winner of WSSF 2010 Best Pitch) The mobile social gaming platform for families.
  • SocialSmack – Socially-filtered consumer ratings and reviews platform powered by game technology, and a unique engagement model for brands to join the conversation. 
  • Waldo Health – Developing disruptive technology for use in home-based care and management of chronic illness.
  • Nitero – Provides the next generation of multi-gigabit Wi-Fi in an industry-leading, low-power and low-cost package.
  • Audiotoniq – Builds more affordable, easier to use and easier to acquire hearing aids and complementary smartphone applications so everyone with hearing loss can have a better life.

As in years past, participating companies represented various sectors of the wireless industry, including biomedical, mobile gaming, location-based advertising, wireless infrastructure, wireless hardware and others. “In addition to our five stellar pitches, the fourteen demo companies to round out the floor at this year’s summit represented the full breadth of Austin’s compelling wireless startup scene,” said Bart Bohn, director of ATI-Wireless Incubator and host of WSSF.

Below are the remaining 14 companies who demonstrated at this year’s Forum.

8th Evolution
Anatasol
Argia
BestBuzz
GetYa Learn On
Hurricane Party
Innovate Wireless Health
justtext.me
LifeProof Cases
MogoTXT
SMSRGENCY
SurfaceInk
Wellala
Wibole

More than renewing its vow to showcase sheer entrepreneurial talent and the future leaders of the wireless industry, this year’s Forum also played host to a refined class of investors, better positioned to give more than just money.

“From the beginning, it’s been a goal of ours to help investors deepen their understanding of and engagement in the wireless space,” said Bohn. “As evidenced by the insightful Q&A sessions and in-depth one-on-one engagement at the demo tables throughout the afternoon, our work has paid off. Many of our participating entrepreneurs told us this was the best pitching event they’d been to, precisely because the large number of high quality investors.”

The Forum is the ATI-Wireless Incubator’s second event in two weeks this fall, coming just in the wake of the eighth annual Texas Wireless Summit. The Nov. 16th keynote- and panel-driven Summit put under one Austin roof some of the wireless industry’s most compelling thought leaders and hottest startups.

About the Austin Technology Incubator

The Austin Technology Incubator is a nonprofit unit of The University of Texas at Austin that harnesses business, government and academic resources to provide strategic counsel, operational guidance and infrastructure support to its member companies to help them transition from early stage ventures to successful technology businesses. Since its founding in 1989, ATI has worked with more than 200 companies, helping them raise close to $750 million in investor capital. ATI is a key program of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. For more information, visit http://www.ati.utexas.edu.

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Fourth Annual Wireless Seed Stage Forum to Connect Startups and Investors

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

wssf_logo-squareThe fourth annual Wireless Seed Stage Forum looks to continue its position as the premier stage for wireless startups to pitch to leading venture capitalists, angels and strategic investors. The Austin Technology Incubator’s Wireless Incubator, in partnership with the Central Texas Angel Network, is proud to host this year’s Forum, December 1, 2010, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas.

The Forum will match promising early stage wireless and mobile startups with vetted angel, venture capital, corporate and public investors. The WSSF is seeking early stage companies in the wireless industry or leveraging wireless technologies in other markets.

In the Forum’s first three years, nearly 50 percent of participating companies have gone on to receive funding, representing various sectors of the wireless industry. Companies have successfully presented from several sectors, including biomedical, smart grid, healthcare, mobile gaming, location-based advertising, wireless infrastructure, wireless hardware and others.

Recently, five WSSF alumni announced significant funding events

  • Edioma, a company that brings web-based language instruction to mobile devices, closed a $650,000 VC series-A funding round this summer, led by Cottonwood Technology Fund and Austin-based Daylight Partners (class of 2007).
  • Calxeda, the ARM-based, low power server company and ATI-graduate, announced a $48 million investment led by Battery Ventures, which included Flybridge Capital Partners, Highland Capital Partners, and three strategic investors (class of 2008).
  • GameSalad, maker of the do-it-yourself iPhone game development platform and an ATI-member company, closed a DFJ Mercury led $1.2 million VC Series-A round this summer (class of 2008).
  • Tabbed Out, maker of the web-based application that lets you pay your tab from your smart phone, closed a $750,000 seed round in late 2009 and recently announced a $2M Series A from NEA (class of 2009).
  • Spacetime Studios, the 3D mobile MMO gaming company – and winner of the “Best Pitch” at the 2009 WSSF, recently announced an undisclosed amount of Series-A funds from Insight Ventures.

The Wireless Seed Stage Forum is specifically seeking to fill the funding gap between $100,000 and $2 million in required funding. If you are a start-up that is currently raising a seed round, or is preparing for a Series A round in the next 6 – 12 months, and has the below items, you could be a strong candidate:

  • Has a pre-production or demonstrable product
  • Seeks less than $2 million in a first round of external funding
  • Is recently established (less than 2 years old) and has a small headcount (less than 10 full time employees)

For more information, please visit http://seedstageforum.com.

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MobileMonday Austin and AppCircus converge at Texas Wireless Summit

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

tws_logo_squareTen of Austin’s hottest wireless startups will occupy the AT&T Conference Center lobby Tuesday afternoon for an exclusive demonstration of their technology and to interact with leading researchers, investors and other wireless industry players.

The eighth annual Texas Wireless Summit, a product of the ATI-Wireless Incubator and UT’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group, is partnering with MobileMonday Austin and AppCircus this year to present the first annual MoMo Austin Showcase. Below is a brief blurb on each of the ten confirmed participants.

  • edioma – Already through its VC series-A round, this developer offers mobile language instruction products that help clients break down the English/Spanish barrier to communicate more effectively with customers, employees and partners.
  • SocialSmack – A web and mobile reviews platform that brings together consumers and brands in a real-time social stream of “props,” “drops” and comments. SocialSmack has completed an angel funding round.
  • Famigo Games – Having ascended the ranks to become an ATI-member company and gone through Austin’s Capital Factory’s inaugural class, this developer offers a set of tools and services to help mobile-game developers build games for families.
  • Hurricane Party – A mobile application that helps friends find and create spontaneous get-togethers and helps local businesses gain new customers. Hurricane Party is a graduate of Capital Factory.
  • QRANK – The first application of location-based mobile marketing platform developer Ricochet Labs, QRANK is a social trivia game that helps brands, campaigns and venues attract customers and improve customer loyalty. QRANK has closed an angel funding round.
  • TabbedOut – This mobile application enables users to securely and conveniently open, review and pay tabs at bars and restaurants directly from their smart phone. TabbedOut has closed its VC series-A funding round.
  • MapMyFitness – A social athletic community that enables fitness enthusiasts to track the details of their physical activity with free tools, mobile apps and services to help users stay motivated to meet fitness goals. MapMyFitness has closed a VC series-A funding round.
  • GetYa Learn On – A mobile learning platform developer attempting to apply proven pedagogical techniques to touch-screen devices.
  • SocialMuse – A mobile application developer that gives users a platform at the intersection of music, social networking and location. In addition to closing an angel round, its MixZing app has 1.5 million downloads on Android.
  • Callvine – A smart-phone application that gives you the fastest and easiest path available to call or text a group while on the go. Callvine is through its VC series-A round of funding.
  • TwitC – A small-business social commerce marketplace that allows Facebook, Twitter and other social media users to aggregated, share market and sell digital and tangible goods and services.
  • Media Sourcery – A developer that mobilizes enterprise, custom and data warehouse applications, its solutions enable secure delivery and tracking of confidential data, seamlessly integrated with back-end system.
  • GameSalad – This ATI-member company develops game creation technologies enabled by the social web, providing tools and processes ideal for the creation of sophisticated games and interactive media. GameSalad closed a $1 million VC series-A round, led by DFJ Mercury.

The Showcase, brought to you by Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, will be during the afternoon coffee break of the Texas Wireless Summit and open to TWS attendees only, offering an exclusive chance to learn about cutting-edge innovations from the developers producing them.

AppCircus is a unique global traveling showcase of innovative apps. The MoMo Austin Showcase is its Austin stop for 2010.

Registration for TWS is open through Tuesday, but space is limited, so click here to register today.

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