Posts Tagged ‘Laura Beck’

ihiji, a Provider of Cloud-Based NMaaS Platforms for Remote Monitoring and Support of IP-Enabled Devices, Joins the Austin Technology Incubator

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit unit of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin, welcomes ihiji to its IT portfolio as a full member company. ihiji, (ī hē΄jē), is a provider of cloud-based Network Management as a Service (NMaaS) platforms for remote monitoring and support of IP-enabled devices, and has been a part of ATI’s Landing Pad Program since 2010.  

The Landing Pad Program supports early stage technology companies by leveraging ATI’s network and community insight to accelerate that company’s acculturation into the Austin business ecosystem. ihiji founders, Stuart Rench, President; Michael Maniscalco, Vice President of Technology; and, David Rench, Vice President of Finance, started a residential design-build home automation company with the idea that home electronic systems could be simplified using better engineering and application of technology. In 2010, after building a successful integration firm in West Palm Beach, Florida, they sold their company to focus solely on ihiji invision, a cutting-edge network management solution, and moved to Austin to be part of ATI. In 2011, the company hired Seth Rubenstein as Director of Sales and Business Development. In 2012, ihiji completed development of a more scalable, flexible and secure architecture and decided to apply the platform into other bigger markets, such as IT markets focused on IT Value Added Resellers (VAR) and corporate IT departments who manage a large number of branch locations. Ready to go on the fundraising circuit, ihiji decided the timing was right to move into full membership at ATI to take advantage of its additional benefits, such as deeper engagement with ATI directors and further access to ATI’s established network of peers, mentors, businesses, and investors.

“Not only is Texas a great state for businesses, but Austin is on the rise, has a wonderful tech community and is also very livable. The structure of ATI was a good fit for our company and the Landing Pad Program helped us easily relocate from out of state and not miss a beat,” said Stuart Rench, President of ihiji; adding that “ATI staff has been great. They’re there when you need them for ideas, thoughts, reviews and introductions. We’re also able to take advantage of multiple directors depending on our challenge, which is nice because they each have their own perspectives and areas of expertise.”

ihiji’s new NMaaS platform is based on the same cloud-based architecture as its award-winning remote monitoring and support solution, ihiji invision, and lowers its clients’ capital and operating expenditures, increases productivity, and improves profit margins by minimizing equipment and network outages.

“ihiji is a classic example of a services business successfully morphing into a scalable product company providing enterprise software solutions. ihiji fits perfectly into the sweet spot of Austin’s tech ecosystem and ATI’s IT portfolio. In working with the ihiji team as they transitioned from the Landing Pad Program to a full member company, the team continually impresses with their vision and discipline as they have shifted gears and moved into the next phase of their growth strategy,” said Kyle Cox, ATI IT/Wireless Director.

ihiji’s NMaaS platform is in private beta, and the company is seeking participants from the Small to Medium Businesses (SMB) and/or IT Value Added Resellers (VAR) channels. To learn visit http://itbeta.ihiji.com/, email itbeta@ihiji.com, or call 512.538.0520 ext. 2003.

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

 

 

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Austin Technology Incubator Celebrates the Statewide Launch of Aunt Bertha, an Online Resource for Assistance Programs

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit unit of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), congratulates IT portfolio company, Aunt Bertha, on its official Texas statewide launch today.  Aunt Bertha is like that family member or neighbor who knows it all and just wants to help:  it is an online resource for people in need to connect to those who can help.  Aunt Bertha aggregates up all federal, state, county, city, neighborhood, charity social works and assistance programs.  Using information it learns about programs, and what it learns from users, Aunt Bertha intelligently matches people with services that are designed specifically for their situation.

Aunt Bertha, which joined ATI last month, launched first in Austin in June 2011, and has been researching and inputting data for cross-Texas since, going live with a Texas-state-wide resource today.  Plans are to expand to Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas next, with intentions to cover the entire continental United States before the end of 2012.

Aunt Bertha is designed to be an easy-to-use website for those in need, or for family and friends trying to help those in need.  All assistance program information is in one place, but Aunt Bertha also sorts through and helps guide toward the programs a person qualifies for, how to apply and what help they might receive.  Imagine the barriers of intense “seek and find” missions, and then working through complex filings of dozens of applications.  Those in need do not need to have to work so hard just to get help.

“At ATI, over the course of our two dozen years helping incubate and grow a variety of technology companies, we’ve helped a lot of people make a lot of money,” said Robert Reeves, Director, ATI IT Portfolio.  “I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to be part of helping Aunt Bertha help those in our country most in need. This one has a special place in our hearts.”

“What we do is pretty obvious and should have been solved long ago,” said Aunt Bertha founder Erine Gray.  “But we found this is actually a big undertaking – finding all the right information, coordinating with over-stretched agencies and putting all the information together in a user friendly experience that actually lets people get the help they need.  We are really proud we’ve figured this out for the Austin area, and now for all of Texas, and can’t wait to bring the value of Aunt Bertha to the rest of the US.”

 Aunt Bertha picks up where Uncle Sam leaves off by making it easy to find food, health, housing and education programs.  There are literally thousands of assistance agencies in the US, all typically working with their own challenges of small budgets, limited resources, and volunteer staff.  The economic climate has resulted in more need, putting additional strain on already taxed organizations.  There is no standard for agencies, and websites are often complex and unintuitive.  And reviewing and approving (or not) applications is a time intensive and expensive process.  Aunt Bertha helps the agencies do their work: find, engage with and help those in need, and even help processing applications.

 For people in need, the process of even finding the right agency to help, let alone working through an application process, is very intimidating.  Aunt Bertha delivers free, understandable information to those in need – including websites, contact information and locations, guidance on how to apply for programs.  Users can search anonymously and can get reliable estimates of benefits based on factors such as number of family members, location/zip code, etc.

Aunt Bertha was started by Erine Gray who brings the rare combination of technology and web skills with government experience, having been a City of Austin project manager, as well as working on software projects for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Now, there are 3,000 Texas-state-wide education, housing, employment and health programs, and food pantries on Aunt Bertha.  Aunt Bertha is a Certified B Corporation, a for-profit business that meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

 

 

 

 

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Wheel InnovationZ Joins the Austin Technology Incubator to Create an All-Encompassing Unified Application Store

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit unit of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), today welcomes Wheel InnovationZ to its IT portfolio. Still in stealth, Wheel InnovationZ will soon reveal more about its focus on building a unified application store to better reflect the transformation from desktop to device happening in end user computing.

“We believe users no longer have to be bogged down by bloated, complex, insecure and costly operating systems, nor should they even care about the operating system like we did not so long ago,” said Srini Gurrapu, founder & CEO, Wheel InnovationZ, Inc. “Rather, with the advent of new devices, it is all about accessing and using the right apps and right data on the user’s preferred devices. Our vision at Wheel InnovationZ is to simplify – and unify – this new device-plus-application-stores world.”

Wheel InnovationZ was built to address two growing trends in IT: cloud computing and consumerization, as related to end user computing. The company is working to deliver a secure and unified experience for “Apps + Data on Any Device.” This Unified Application Store – for Android, iOS, SaaS, legacy Windows, etc. – will help enterprises and service providers reduce TCO and improve both security and productivity. Wheel InnovationZ will break down the siloed Application Stores rapidly being built right now, as well as for legacy apps where there is no store experience, to deliver a common store, and a common management platform to help enterprises manage whichever “flavor of the day” app their employees want, or what the business needs.

Gurrapu’s focus of the past eight years has been evolving end user computing, especially virtualization and cloud computing, reflected in several previous companies successfully built in the Bay Area. He was previously at Neoteris, acquired by Juniper, working on the industry’s #1 SSL VPN appliance that allowed end users to access any enterprise application securely using a web browser – “Anytime, Anywhere Access.” After that, Gurrapu delivered a cloud-based PC, SuperPC.com, to remove desktop challenges like back up, security and access. After which he partnered with virtualization leaders to pioneer news ways to deliver a managed and secure Windows PC such as Mokafive, RingCube and Virtual Bridges. Srini also led several industry-leading solutions at BlueCoat, Microsoft and Bell Labs. Wheel InnovationZ is the next frontier, and ATI – and all of Austin – benefits from Gurrapu building this company here.

“ATI is a great resource for new entrepreneurs, but also for us more experienced entrepreneurs, especially when new to Austin,” added Gurrapu. “ATI gives me access to a wide network of investment resources, successful entrepreneurs and industry professional, as well as all the immense value of the University of Texas. It is an honor to be an IT portfolio company of ATI, especially when looking at its history, and the successes of those companies who graduated from it.”

Full press release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/2/prweb9233460.htm

Contact:
Laura Beck for ATI
laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com
512-786-1098

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Austin Technology Incubator Recognizes Gary S. Farmer, Heritage Title and Exchange, with the Prestigious Laura J. Kilcrease Civic Entrepreneurship Award

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Last night, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), also bestowed on Gary Farmer the Laura J. Kilcrease Civic Entrepreneurship Award.  As 21 stellar Austin technology companies were recognized for their participation in, and graduation from, ATI, Farmer was also recognized for his amazing contribution to the Austin community.  Farmer joins esteemed past winners of the award, which began in 1998, including Michael Dell, Luci Baines Johnson, Dr. Neal Kocurek, William G. Bock, Pike Powers, Lee Walker, and Governor Rick Perry.

“Gary completely exemplifies this Civic Entrepreneurship Award,” said Laura Kilcrease, ATI’s founding Director and Managing Director at Triton Ventures.  “I’ve got to believe he has somehow found the secret of the 25 hour day because this man balances a beautiful family life, successful business career, and literally more charity and civic commitments than you could begin to list.  Gary is an Austin treasure and we are so proud to recognize his countless contributions to our Austin community.”

Initiated in 1989 by Dr. George Kozmetsky and founded by Laura Kilcrease, over more than two decades, ATI has worked with over 200 start-up companies, helping them raise close to $1 Billion in capital.  Kilcrease, who made time in her own busy career, to dedicate to growing other companies through ATI, has had a lasting impact on Austin.  Her involvement in the Austin community – business and beyond – began in earnest in 1989 with the start of ATI, but continues today through her own personal leadership, as well as the award which bears her name.

Gary Farmer is an ideal recipient of the Laura J. Kilcrease Civic Entrepreneurship Award as he epitomizes the meaning of this award for being both a successful entrepreneur by building and growing his own businesses in Heritage Exchange Corporation and Heritage Title Company; along with his outstanding civic entrepreneurship work with Opportunity Austin.  But more than that, Farmer too has found time to dedicate to others, in a variety of civic and charitable endeavors.

Farmer is currently active on the following boards:

·         The University of Texas Chancellor’s Council

·         The UT Development Board

·         The Director’s Council for UT’s Department of Theatre and Dance

·         The Greater Austin Economic Development Corporation

·         The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

·         The Real Estate Council of Austin

·         The Greater Austin Crime Commission

·         The Colorado River Foundation

·         The Trust for Public Land

·         The American Heart Association

·         Boy Scouts of America

·         Capitol Area Council

·         Children’s Medical Center Foundation, and

·         The National Multi Housing Council.

Farmer is also the Immediate Past Chair of Greater Austin Economic Development Corporation and Opportunity Austin (1.0 and 2.0), among other former chairman roles. Farmer has also chaired five Capital Campaigns, which have raised approximately $55,000,000 for community endeavors.  Additionally, Farmer has served on three Mayoral Task Forces dealing with the economy, the environment and healthcare.  In 2009, Boy Scouts of America honored Farmer with its Distinguished Citizen Award and in 2006, the Greater Austin Chamber named Farmer its “Austinite of the Year.”  In 2005, the Austin Business Journal honored Farmer with the W. Neal Kocurek Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award and in 1998; Farmer received the Sam Walton Business Leader Award by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.  Last but certainly not least, Farmer and his wife are UT graduates now enjoying all three daughters at UT as well.

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Six Clean Energy Companies: Atonometrics, Dorsan Biofuels, Firefly LED Lighting, Ideal Power Converters, OpenAlgae and RRE Solar

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies.  Of those 21, six companies were part of ATI’s Clean Energy portfolio, including Atonometrics, Dorsan Biofuels, Firefly LED Lighting, Ideal Power Converters, OpenAlgae and RRE Solar.  These companies have collectively achieved remarkable business successes and have created hundreds of jobs for Texans.

Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology, Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience sectors. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise and market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including six remarkable companies in clean energy.

Founded in 2001, the ATI Clean Energy Incubator (CEI) is one of the longest-established clean energy incubators in the United States and has a privileged position since UT does more energy research than any other university in the world. Through a strong partnership with the local electric company, Austin Energy, CEI has historically focused on electricity-related startups and is continuing the leadership role as a founding participant in the Pecan Street Project, which is running a $30 million smart grid/smart premises demonstration project in Austin. Currently, CEI is working successfully across the clean energy and clean tech spectrum with companies in the important spaces of water, energy management & efficiency, transportation, and green building technologies.

CEI has always invested in building the clean energy/clean tech ecosystem in Central Texas.  With Austin Energy, CEI hosts the annual Clean Energy Venture Summit, the premier clean energy investment conference in Texas.  The team also partners with the CleanTX Foundation to host CleanTX Forums and Solar Energy Entrepreneur Networking (SEEN) events in Austin. CEI is supported by the City of Austin, the Texas State Energy Conservation Office and the US Department of Energy. The six Clean Energy graduates include:

Atonometrics is a leading supplier of test and measurement technology for the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry.  The company has a worldwide presence with customers in Europe, Asia and North America.  Germany’s leading PV national laboratory, Fraunhofer, has adopted Atonometrics’ products in their PV lab.

Dorsan Biofuels was an early-stage biotech company with a proprietary technology for creating fungal biocatalysts capable of producing advanced biofuels and chemicals from agricultural, municipal and industrial waste materials.  Dorsan Biofuels raised enough angel money and SBIR funding from the US DOD to perform the research required to secure the IP and successfully completed a sale of those assets to Novozymes A/S, a large multinational producer of high-value chemicals, in December 2011. Dr. Kay Hammer returned to ATI as CEO of Dorsan Biofuels after also being the co-founder, along with Robin Curle, of one of the very first portfolio companies for ATI 20+ years ago. In 1991, Hammer co-founded Evolutionary Technologies International (ETI) – the first spin-out from MCC – to commercialize the results of a 3-year research project to build an enterprise solution to data integration management.

Firefly LED Lighting, founded in 2009, provides patented Firefly LED lighting to numerous commercial properties and residences with long life and high efficiency, using only 10% of the electricity versus incandescent lamps. With up to 60,500 hours of light output, Firefly LED lamps are the brightest, most energy efficient LED lights on the market. Made here in the USA in Texas, Firefly lighting is in large hotels, government buildings, restaurants, commercial properties and universities. Notably, the Texas-based, revenue generating company received a $3 million ETF grant and is bringing manufacturing jobs to the state.

Ideal Power Converters (IPC) makes electric power converters critical to clean energy installations, especially commercial-scale solar. Its PV inverter, as one example, reduces the weight and size of conventional inverters by 90%, disrupting this multi-billion dollar market. Recognized by the State of Texas with a $1 million ETF investment, and $2.5 million from the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, production of these lightweight systems will also create thousands of clean tech jobs in Central Texas.

OpenAlgae enables low-cost recovery of oils from algae – a solution that requires novel technologies and disciplines ranging from biology to engineering, physics to water management. Algae processing requires a series of difficult separations. The difficulties lie not in the separations, but in doing each separation in a cost-effective, scalable way. OpenAlgae efficiently and cost-effectively concentrates algae from water and recovers oils from algae without using solvents or drying. Founded in 2008, OpenAlgae is owned by the Board of Regents of The University of Texas at Austin and Organic Fuels Holdings, Inc., Houston, Texas.

RRE Austin Solar develops large-scale solar farms and plans to become a 500MW+ solar developer within 5 years. It is developing the largest solar energy farm in Texas, the Pflugerville Solar Farm, where it will produce 60 MW. RRE wants to provide renewable energy through solar PV and become a change agent of clean energy perception.

“It is amazing to be part of ATI during a phase of explosive growth of clean energy and technology companies here in Central Texas.  It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with these six early-stage clean energy companies and assist in getting them to the point of where they are today,” said Mitch Jacobson, Clean Energy Co-Director. “We are very proud of these six companies who are helping to solidify Austin’s and ATI’s leadership in the clean energy and clean tech industry. We look forward to watching their continued success and helping more companies prosper in this very exciting industry.”

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Seven Wireless Companies Including Axelo, Famigo, GameSalad, Nitero, RFMicron, Unwired Nation and Wimax.com

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies.  Of those 21, seven companies were part of ATI’s Wireless portfolio, including Axelo, Famigo, GameSalad, Nitero, RFMicron, Unwired Nation and Wimax.com.  These companies have collectively achieved impressive business successes, such as garnering $20 million in funding and collaborating on an international scale.

Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology, Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience sectors. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise and market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including seven amazing companies in wireless.

ATI, in partnership with UT’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and the City of Austin, launched its Wireless program in 2006, ahead of the smart phone/iPhone/Android explosion. Now, as the world approaches 50 billion connected devices, ATI continues to build on the wireless expertise in Austin with its current companies and these seven successful graduates. ATI-Wireless and WNCG also co-host the Texas Wireless Summit and works with the Central Texas Angel Network to host the Wireless Seed-Stage Forum annually. In addition, ATI-Wireless has a special relationship with the Wi-Fi Alliance, the international wireless standards and certification organization, which moved to Austin in part due to support from ATI and was housed at ATI until it outgrew its facilities in 2010.  ATI-Wireless also works closely with MobileMondayAustin, the second oldest chapter in North America of the global MobileMonday network.  The seven Wireless graduates include:

Axelo is developing breakthrough hardware and firmware solutions for 3D motion-sensing products. Axelo, Inc. patented the first 3D motion-based PC controller, which led to a successful solution for spatial disorientation and motion sickness. Currently, Axelo is embedding its technology into sports headwear to provide a preventable solution for contact sports traumatic brain injuries. ‘Letters of Intent’ have been procured from two leading manufacturers of sports equipment.

Famigo makes mobile technology work for families. Famigo creates a better mobile experience for parents and kids by providing them will the tools to discover, manage and enjoy content & apps on smartphones and tablets. Famigo simplifies app discovery through our reviews and recommendations on Famigo.com and makes Android devices kid-safe with our free app, Famigo Sandbox. Famigo’s proprietary technology captures and crowdsources user behavior to provide the best reviews and recommendations available. Famigo’s products have received praise from outlets like Forbes.com, WSJ Online, Killer Startups, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Vator News, VentureBeat, Austin Chronicle, and Famigo Sandbox was rated CNET’s 2011 Best App of the Year for Parents.

GameSalad is an online community that empowers everyone to express and share their ideas through games. GameSalad provides a platform used by creators to rapidly design, publish and distribute original games that have been played by millions of people worldwide. It is currently the number one platform for iOS development and boasts 300,000 developers. 30,000 games have been built with the GameSalad Creator since its 2007 founding. Now at 60 employees and growing, all this was accomplished with just a little over $7 million funding since inception.

Nitero, a fabless semiconductor company with a design center in Melbourne, Australia and headquarters in Austin, Texas, has developed a standards-based, next-generation 60GHz Wi-Fi solution for smartphone, tablet, Ultrabook™ and gaming platforms, bringing multi-gigabit-per-second video and data transfer with extreme low power and latency. Nitero is a great success story demonstrating the power of collaboration between experienced Austin entrepreneurs and top Australian universities and research institutions, such as the University of Melbourne and National ICT Australia. In 2011, Nitero raised an additional $1.6 million after receiving a $1.4 million grant from Commercialisation Australia.

RFMicron is the first in the wireless tracking industry to offer a complementary hardware and software package, consisting of RFVlink, a web-based software platform and RFMicron’s own passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, configured with RFMicron’s proprietary Chameleon technology; allowing any reader to read RFMicron tags from 30 feet on any material, and anywhere in the world. RFMicron joined ATI in 2007, and in 2010 garnered $1.5 million in funding and added three directors to its board. RFMicron was named one of the Most Promising IT and Web Companies at the 8th Annual Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship IT and Web Venture Forum in Houston in 2010.

Unwired Nation has evolved ahead of the wireless space since its founding in 2004. Today, Unwired’s platform helps B2B web application companies with unique customer branding requirements transition to native apps across all major mobile platforms. Unwired Nation’s ability to rapidly deploy mobile apps leveraging customer’s existing web applications and customer relationships has attracted companies like VoiceTech and Q2ebanking, leaders in pharmacy and financial services, respectively. It also attracted $6.5 million in funding, which closed at the end of 2011.

WiMax.com provides equipment, resources and tools that enable operators to deploy high-speed 4G wireless broadband networks. The company is technology agnostic and works with most fixed broadband wireless technologies. The company also provides news, analysis, expert opinions and case studies on the industry at www.wimax.com.

“These seven wireless companies continue the incredible legacy of wireless technology innovation in Austin and demonstrate that ATI-Wireless retains a prominent role in the next wave of technologies – whether hardware or software,” said Kyle Cox, Wireless Director.  “ATI-Wireless has a great partnership with UT from its relationship with WNCG to its support of several courses and events for students.  ATI-Wireless has also helped the Austin community to become a prominent source of innovation while the wireless industry has rapidly evolved in the last several years.”

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Two Bioscience Companies: Savara Pharmaceuticals and Terapio

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies.  Of those 21, two companies were part of ATI’s Bioscience portfolio: Savara Pharmaceuticals and Terapio. Both have had a tremendous impact on the growing bioscience community in Austin, hiring dozens of workers and raising millions of dollars in funding.

Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology, Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience sectors. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise, market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including two remarkable companies in bioscience.

Founded in 2008 in partnership with the City of Austin, ATI-Bioscience works closely with other members of the Central Texas and statewide life science ecosystem, including BioAustin, Central Texas Life Science entrepreneurs, the University of Texas faculty and students and regional hospital and healthcare groups.  ATI-Bioscience recently completed a study, supported by the regional community and the Economic Development Administration, to quantitate the need of wet-laboratory space to support life sciences companies in Central Texas.  ATI-Bioscience has also partnered with UT’s College of Pharmacy to create an on-campus wet lab facility, UTech Dorm Room, which can be accessed by early-stage life sciences companies in Austin.  The ATI-Bioscience hosts symBIOsis, a quarterly educational series, co-sponsored with the Rice Alliance, to bring the entrepreneurial, commercial and academic life sciences communities together. The two Bioscience graduates are:

Savara Pharmaceuticals is developing the first inhaled antibiotic for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients targeting the highly contagious “super bug” Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is dramatically increasing worldwide.  Savara’s Aerovanc has recently completed its first clinical with encouraging results.

Terapio is a biopharmaceutical company developing the RLIP76 protein as a medical countermeasure for radiation exposure and chemical threats to civilian, military and first responder populations. The RLIP76 protein works though the oxidative stress pathway and protects as both a prophylactic and post-exposure treatment. Terapio tapped the unique talents and network at ATI to help secure Texas ETF, federal grant and venture capital funding totaling over $7M in less than two years.

“We are extremely excited and pleased about our first bioscience graduate companies,” said Cindy WalkerPeach, PhD, Bioscience Director. “Terapio and Savara are exceptional healthcare-focused companies that will not only have a positive impact on patient care but will favorably impact regional economic growth as well.”

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Six IT Companies Including Agile Planet, Calxeda, itzbig, Notice Technologies, Qcue and Spredfast

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies.  Of those 21, six companies were part of ATI’s Information Technology portfolio, including Agile Planet, Calxeda, itzbig, Notice Technologies, Qcue and Spredfast.  These companies have collectively achieved impressive business successes over their years, as varied as $48 million in funding to closing customers such as AARP and the San Francisco Giants to acquisition by its industry’s leader.

Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology (IT), Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise and market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including six remarkable companies in IT, ATI’s broadest category, and the core of what the incubator has focused on since inception in 1989.  The graduating, and current, ATI IT companies are proving that Austin’s legacy in semiconductors, hardware and enterprise software is evolving and keeping relevant in this Web- and social-oriented world. The six IT graduates include:

Agile Planet, a developer of intelligent robotics software for industrial automation, has launched its products in partnership with the world’s leading automation vendors, Yaskawa and Rockwell Automation, and has commercialized robotic technology developed at University of Texas.

Calxeda, with its industry-disrupting ultra-low power processors powering servers and data centers, closed an impressive $48 million funding August 2010, and launch its first product with global impact via a partnership with Hewlett Packard November 2011.

Itzbig took a 180 degree shift to the Monster.com era of job searching with its approach to job matching – recruiting tools for job boards and major employers – ultimately getting acquired by JobTarget, the largest third-party operator of niche job boards in the world.

Notice Technologies is tackling the new wild west of social media, helping its customers analyze and create value from tools like Facebook and Twitter, and its new social data mining technologies are currently being introduced.

Qcue’s dynamic pricing software helps sports teams, venues and promoters set better prices up-front and adjust based on real-time shifts in the market.  Qcue clients represent 85 percent of all dynamically priced tickets and include teams such as the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and the Utah Jazz.

Spredfast built a social media management system for brands and agencies such as AARP, Bayer, HomeAway and Nokia.  Its social business software is gaining such traction that the company closed a $12 million round of funding just a few months ago.

“The companies graduating from our IT portfolio are mind-blowingly impressive, all in different ways,” said Robert Reeves, director, ATI IT Portfolio.  “These companies are particularly special to me because I was where they are tonight at ATI’s last graduation with Phurnace Software.  The entire ATI process – from selection to cultivation to graduation – is a rare experience only a few companies share, and we welcome tonight’s IT graduates to our alumni network.”

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Unwired Nation Closes 2011 With Huge Momentum: $6.5 Million Funding, Executive Additions, Office and Employee Growth

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

As 2011 winded down, Austin Technology Incubator Alum Unwired Nation, the Mobile-Apps-As-A-Service company, recaped its biggest year yet, with momentum across all business fronts: customers, partners, solutions, leadership, staff and funding. Highlighted by a $6.5 million round of funding, Unwired Nation’s milestones also include a move into new, expanded office space, four key additions to its executive team, and establishing strong relationships with customers in many different industries, standouts being pharmacy industry leaders VoiceTech and VoicePort, and financial services innovator, Q2ebanking.

The $6.5 million funding will enable Unwired Nation to capitalize on – and expand – partnership opportunities with established web software companies. The funding will also help fuel additional growth, with Unwired Nation projecting rapid expansion in in 2012, following a 30% growth in both space and headcount in 2011.

The capital infusion and credibility reinforcement of key investors (many of whom are active in driving the company forward) have helped the company attract four key additions to its executive team:

  •     Unwired Nation COO, Jay Holtz, former VC with Enhanced Capital partners
  •     Unwired Nation Senior Sales Executive, Steve Hencinski, formerly VP Strategic Sales, Cedar Point Communications
  •     Unwired Nation Director of Sales Engineering, Frank Geck, formerly with Nuance (the company behind Apple’s Siri Virtual Assistant technology)
  •     Will Bridges, founder of Clippy and co-owner of Austin-based Lamberts BBQ, joining to assist with business development

“The market has risen to meet Unwired Nation over this past year, and the company has all the right resources in place now to dramatically scale the work they are doing to help companies extend their successful web applications and products to native mobile apps,” said Dale Quisenberry, co-founder of Austin-based Crossroads Systems and lead investor in Unwired Nation’s financing. Prior Angel investments of Quisenberry’s include NovaCentrix.

“2011 was the year of building the core value and business case of our unique approach, and about key customer takedowns in valuable industries like financial software and pharmacy,” said Eric Smith, Unwired Nation CEO and co-founder. “2012 will be another great year for us as we continue to focus on execution. We are supporting every relevant mobile platform in the market, from the iPhone and iOS to Android and Windows Phone and beyond to tablets. We see mobile as the new web and we are here to help our customers take full advantage of the opportunity to generate substantial new mobile revenue from their existing business, quickly, easily, affordably. Our platform allows our customers to remain focused on their existing web business, not on mobile development, integration or distribution – that’s our job!”

About Unwired Nation:
Based in Austin, TX and founded in 2006, Unwired Nation enables you to create, deliver and manage a limitless number of individually branded native mobile application instances as a super affordable, simple service. The company provides an integrated cross-platform competitive advantage: secure, direct-to-device application deployment on multiple mobile platforms. Unlike traditional outsourced app development, which utilizes costly “start from scratch practices,” Unwired Nation leverages existing application design for timely, cost efficient mobile management. Unwired Nation is a graduate of the Austin Technology Incubator. For more information: http://www.unwirednation.com

View the full press release at:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9070991.htm

For more information contact:

Laura Beck
Unwired Nation
(512) 786-1098
Email

See the full list of Unwired Nation news hits at:

http://ati.utexas.edu/about/news/articles

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Calxeda Launches the EnergyCore™ Processor

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Calxeda Launches the EnergyCore™ Processor; Delivers 10 Times the Performance for the Same Power

Calxeda’s Technology to Power HP’s First Extreme Low-Energy Server Development Platform

Austin, TX, November 1, 2011 – Calxeda today unveiled its ARM-based “EnergyCore” Server-on-a-Chip, which consumes as little as 1.5 watts, the industry’s first server processor to achieve this milestone.  Following HP’s announcement to incorporate Calxeda technology in its first-generation of extreme low energy server development platforms, Calxeda is launching EnergyCore at simultaneous events in Palo Alto, CA and Austin, TX.  The news and product details, as well as Calxeda partner reaction and perspective, and replays of today’s webcast, can be found at www.calxeda.com.

Calxeda is Re-defining the Server

Calxeda’s EnergyCore architecture is based on a new model for scale-out computing that is:

  • Efficient– Delivers a 10x increase in performance density to maximize ROI on limited space and power.
  • Scalable – Integrated fabric switch on every chip lowers cost of interconnecting thousands of servers.
  • Smart – An Embedded Management Engine delivers zero-touch, always-optimized power management that eliminates manual intervention and guesswork.

View the full press release HERE.

Media Contact:

Laura Beck

512-786-1098

press@calxeda.com

About Calxeda

Founded in January 2008, Calxeda brings new performance density to the data center on a very attractive power foot print by leveraging ultra-low power processors as used on mobile phones as a foundation for its revolutionary technology.  Calxeda will make it possible for data center managers to increase the density of their computer resources while significantly reducing the need for power, space and cooling.  Calxeda is funded by a unique syndicate comprising industry leading venture capital firms and semiconductor innovators, including ARM, Advanced Technology Investment Company, Battery Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Highland Capital Partners.  See www.calxeda.com for more information.

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