Flywheel Ventures Chairman Receives Top Engineering and Technology Education Honors
Albuquerque, NM (February 17, 2009) - Flywheel Ventures announced that Dr. Tom Byers, Chairman of Flywheel Ventures’ Strategic Advisory Board and LP Advisory Committee, was honored today as one of two winners of the Bernard M. Gordon Prize, one of the highest honors presented by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for his work developing unique entrepreneurial-themed curricula for scientists and engineers. Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that typically makes the first institutional investments in innovations based in information technology and the physical sciences with origins in the Mountain West region of the United States. Flywheel has offices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and San Francisco.
The Bernard M. Gordon Prize, issued annually, recognizes innovation in engineering and technology education—“for pioneering, continually developing, and tirelessly disseminating technology entrepreneurship education resources for engineering students and educators around the world.”
Dr. Byers and co-winner Dr. Tina Seelig were recognized for their work with the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) at Stanford University. Flywheel founder and General Partner Trevor Loy assisted Dr. Byers in the early stages of STVP’s development. STVP is an education center that provides students across the university with entrepreneurial skills needed to use innovations to solve major world problems, with an emphasis on the environment, human health, and information technology.
As Chairman of Flywheel’s Strategic Advisory Board and LP Advisory Committee, Dr. Byers provides Flywheel and its portfolio company entrepreneurs with critical insight and leadership regarding global market opportunities, trends, and challenges for innovation-based companies.
Loy said about the awarding of the Gordon Prize to Dr. Byers, “Entrepreneurship is so much more than just creating businesses – it is a way of thinking, managing and leading that plays a critical role in turning innovation into solutions to the world’s key global challenges and opportunities. Tom is a true pioneer in evangelizing, developing and training these skills worldwide, and richly deserves this prestigious recognition. Today’s award is proof of the growing recognition of entrepreneurship skills as key to a 21st-century engineering education. Flywheel is honored to have Tom’s involvement and congratulates him on this great honor.”
Based in the School of Engineering at Stanford University, STVP now hosts 25 different courses on entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership, and reaches nearly 2,000 students each academic year. One particularly noteworthy effort is the Roundtable on Entrepreneurship Education (REE) conference series, which facilitates a global dialogue with other educators about best practices in technology entrepreneurship education. The conferences are now held annually on four continents. STVP also developed the Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner Web site, which is a free collection of video clips and podcasts for viewers around the world who wish to learn more about entrepreneurship and innovation.
In consideration of his award, Dr. Byers said,"Tina Seelig and I are deeply humbled by this recognition by the NAE. It has been a true team effort from the beginning. We are now more motivated than ever to seek solutions to the grand challenges of our time by stimulating both entrepreneurship and innovative technologies.”
Tom is co-author of a popular textbook called Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise published by McGraw-Hill. Tom also has a range of business experience including executive vice president of Symantec. For his efforts at Stanford, Tom holds two endowed chairs and received its Gores Award for excellence in teaching (the university’s highest award).
For more information on STVP please visit http://stvp.stanford.edu and for more information about Flywheel Ventures please visit http://www.flywheelventures.com.
Dixon Doll of DCM Elected Chairman of NVCA Board of Directors, Six New Directors Also Named to NVCA
Santa Clara, CA (May 7, 2008) – The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has named
Dixon R. Doll, co-founder and general partner of Menlo Park-based DCM, as its 2008-2009
chairman. Dr. Doll’s chairmanship was announced today at the 2008 NVCA Annual Meeting at
the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, CA.
He succeeds Ted Schlein, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who has completed his oneyear
tenure as NVCA chairman. Mr. Schlein’s leadership was instrumental during the past year
when public policy issues critical to the health of the venture capital industry, such as the carried
interest tax rate, were actively debated on Capitol Hill. Dr. Doll is looking forward to assuming
this important role.
“As the NVCA celebrates its 35th anniversary, we remain dedicated to our core mission – to
support and encourage policies which serve America’s entrepreneurs and innovators,” said Dixon
Doll, co-founder and general partner, DCM, and chairman of the NVCA Board of Directors. “In
the next year we will continue to focus on high impact areas such as clean technology policy,
patent reform, tax policy and regulations which support a healthy capital market system and
overall U.S. competitiveness,” Doll added.
“Dixon is a seasoned investor with vast experience in the global venture capital arena. His
perspective will add great value to the association and the constituents and audiences we serve,”
said Mark Heesen, president, National Venture Capital Association. “His vision, combined with
the expertise of our incoming board members, promises to move the venture capital industry
forward in a meaningful way,” Heesen added.
The six new NVCA Board Members are: James Fleming, Columbia Capital; Stephen Holmes,
InterWest Partners; Deepak Kamra, Canaan Partners; Jack Lasersohn, The Vertical Group;
Trevor Loy, Flywheel Ventures; and Ray Rothrock, Venrock Associates. Each will serve a four
year term.
Retiring from the NVCA Board of Directors after successfully completing their respective four
year terms are Peter Barris, New Enterprise Associates; Michael Cronin, Weston Presidio; Rob
Ketterson, Fidelity Ventures; Joanna Rees, VSP Capital; Ted Schlein, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers; and Chad Waite, OVP Ventures.
About Dixon Doll
Dixon Doll joined the NVCA Board of Directors in 2005 and served as the 2007 annual meeting
chair. A telecom and Internet venture capital pioneer, Dr. Doll co-founded DCM, an early stage
technology venture capital firm which currently has more than $1.6 billion under management,
with offices in Beijing, China and Menlo Park, California. DCM has backed such well known
entrepreneurial companies as About.com, Clearwire(NASDAQ:CLWR),
51job(NASDAQ:JOBS), Foundry Networks(NASDAQ:FDRY), Internap(NASDAQ:INAP),
Neutral Tandem(NASDAQ:TNDM), Sling Media and VanceInfo(NYSE:VIT). The firm has
become widely recognized as one of the top Silicon Valley venture funds actively investing in
China and Japan. In the mid-1980’s, Dixon co-founded the venture capital industry’s first fund
focused exclusively on telecom.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Dr. Doll founded and ran an internationally recognized
strategic consulting firm focused on telecommunications and computer networking. From 1972 to
1980, he also served as a faculty member of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York
City, and then served on the IBM Networking Systems Organization’s External Advisory Board
from 1983 to 1991.
Dr. Doll received his B.S.E.E. degree (cum laude) from Kansas State University as well as M.S.
and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a
National Science Foundation scholar. He serves on numerous non-profit boards including the
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (where he is Chairman), the Stanford Institute for Economic
Policy Research (SIEPR), the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and the San Francisco Symphony.
###
The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) represents approximately 480 venture capital
and private equity firms. NVCA’s mission is to foster greater understanding of the importance of
venture capital to the U.S. economy, and support entrepreneurial activity and
innovation. According to a 2007 Global Insight study, venture-backed companies accounted for
10.4 million jobs and $2.3 trillion in revenue in the United States in 2006. The NVCA represents
the public policy interests of the venture capital community, strives to maintain high professional
standards, provides reliable industry data, sponsors professional development, and facilitates
interaction among its members. For more information about the NVCA, please visit
www.nvca.org.
Flywheel Ventures Announces Addition of Three Team Members
SANTA FE, NM (February 7, 2008) – Flywheel Ventures today announced three new additions to their venture capital firm. Lawrence Chavez joins the team as an Associate, Cassie Marez joins as the Operations Manager and Yasine Mogharreban joins as the Communication Manager.
“We are thrilled to have these three talented people on the growing Flywheel team. They allow us to strengthen our focus on helping entrepreneurs to grow globally-competitive businesses from innovations in information technology and the physical sciences” said Trevor Loy, managing partner of Flywheel Ventures. “Their skills and talents round out the overall company and we look forward to their contributions to the firm.”
As an Associate, Lawrence Chavez is responsible for managing Flywheel’s New Mexico “Gap” Fund, which provides seed funding of up to $100,000 to entrepreneurs at the most nascent stages of building their ventures. In addition, he supports the Flywheel partners on sourcing, screening and structuring new investment opportunities; conducting due diligence and market research for prospective and current investments; and providing financial and operational assistance to existing portfolio companies in Flywheel’s larger funds. Lawrence joined Flywheel full-time in late 2007 after serving as a “Flywheel Fellow,” a unique summer program designed to expose talented mid-career executives and MBA students to the technology venture capital business.
Prior to Flywheel, Lawrence was an active angel investor and entrepreneur in a variety of successful New Mexico companies. He was a Founder and Principal of Infinity Business Development, a start-up consulting firm, and a Founder/CEO of Infinity Music, Inc. which he built and sold in 2006. Prior to that he spent six years as Purchasing/Operations Manager for Our Secret Ltd., a growth consumer products company where he oversaw production, manufacturing and global supply chain logistics. Lawrence is an active member of the New Mexico Angels investment group and serves on its Screening Committee. He holds a Masters in Marketing from Texas A&M University and a Bachelors of Accountancy from New Mexico State University.
Cassie Marez joined Flywheel Ventures in late 2007 as the Operations Manager responsible for the Firm’s day-to-day operations.
Prior to joining Flywheel, Cassie worked for two venture capital-backed start-up biotechnology companies, Exagen Diagnostics and TCI Medical, where she was responsible for investor relations, database management, office management and quality systems. She has a Bachelors degree in Biology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology and is a member of VCOMA (Venture Capital Office Managers Association).
Yasine Mogharreban joined Flywheel in early 2008 and manages the firm’s public relations, communications, marketing and events. She has particular strengths in message development and fundraising. She most recently served as a Deputy National Finance Director for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s Presidential campaign, where she was responsible for planning and implementing national fundraising events across the country. She was also the Special Assistant to Communication for Governor Bill Richardson where she served as a spokesperson for the Governor and First Lady, researched and composed talking points on a variety of state and local issues, and helped manage all communications related to state business.
Yasine has a Masters in Political Communication from the University of New Mexico and a Bachelors degree in Communication from Truman State University.
ABOUT FLYWHEEL VENTURES
Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that empowers entrepreneurs to build globally-competitive businesses based on innovations in information technology and the physical sciences. Flywheel typically makes the first institutional investments in companies with origins in the Mountain West region of the United States. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs and market opportunities with Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience, and industry relationships to accelerate innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel is based in Santa Fe and also has offices in Albuquerque and San Francisco. For more information on Flywheel, please visit www.flywheelventures.com.
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Groople Has Been Named One of Colorado’s Most Innovative Technology Companies
Groople to be honored at the CSIA DEMOgala 2007
Denver, CO (October 5, 2007) Groople is proud to be honored as one of only 40 companies from across Colorado to represent the state’s most innovative technology at the CSIA DEMOgala 2007 on October 11, 2007.
Groople has developed online technology that makes the process of planning, coordinating and booking group travel efficient and easy. “Planning and booking a group trip is quite different than planning and booking an individual trip, which is why we created and built our company, Groople.com.” says Mike Stacy, CEO. “At Groople we give our customers the power to easily create and customize their own group page, which they can use to communicate and collaborate with members of their group during the planning process of their trip as well as after their trip. We also give our customers the ability to share their trip with the public and to search actual group trips that others have taken. What better informational source is there when you’re the one coordinating and planning that perfect group trip than looking at what other people have done for, say, their own family reunion or girlfriend getaway?”
When it comes time to book a trip, Groople customers not only have 60,000-plus hotels at their disposal, but they are also presented the results in a way that’s meaningful to their specific type of group. Also, customers are provided with negotiated group rates from the leading hotel brands in the world and, in some cases, these rates are exclusive to Groople. In addition to hotels, Groople customers can take advantage of group car bookings through an exclusive relationship with Avis/Budget. Customers can also make air reservations for their groups.
About Groople
Groople (www.groople.com) is a combination of the words GROups and peOPLE – GROOPLE…we understand groups and we provide the best planning and booking tools for any group! Headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, Groople was launched in 2004. For more than two years Groople, the leading group travel Website, has worked with thousands of people from a wide variety of groups and has come to understand that planning, searching and booking group travel arrangements should be a fun part of group travel. At Groople, we’re working around the clock to negotiate the best rates for flights, hotels, cars and cruises and find the best locations to fit your group’s needs. We provide booking capability on more than 60,000 hotels located on four continents, twenty-five islands and one mountain top. Through our social networking environment we allow travelers to collaborate and compare travel options before any decisions are made. After reserving a block of rooms, group members are welcome to pay for their rooms individually online or in one payment made by the group leader.
Groople allows groups to shop online with confidence through our low price guarantee. We search far and wide to provide free rooms, upgrades and other special amenities wherever your group qualifies.
Groople…Group Travel Made Easy
About CSIA
CSIA is Colorado’s Technology Association. With more than 700 technology companies involved, CSIA is the premiere IT association in the state. Our mission is to foster innovation and a positive growth environment enabling the Colorado technology industry to compete on a global basis. We provide professional development, advocacy, industry reports, peer-to-peer connections, best practices and business opportunities for a wide-spectrum of technology companies. CSIA’s activities are funded solely by members and sponsors, and any company is invited to join the organization. For full details, including a list of all DEMOgala Innovation Showcase companies and information about tickets, please visit CSIA’s website at www.csiaonline.com
New Aravo Sustain™ Enables Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Solution Provides Supply Chain Visibility, Compliance and Reporting for Global Enterprises
San Francisco, CA, September 11, 2007 — Aravo Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of on demand Supplier Information Management (SIM) software and services, today announced the commercial release of Aravo Sustain, a new module for the Aravo SIM™ platform. Aravo SIM provides enterprises with a proven framework for enabling and managing supplier information within leading ERP and eProcurement applications such as Oracle, SAP and Ariba. Aravo Sustain enables global buying organizations to proactively obtain, analyze and manage crucial sustainability data, such as supplier and factory regulatory compliance, toxic substances monitoring, carbon footprinting and labor practices.
High profile product recalls and increased attention from regulators, financial analysts, media and the public have driven sustainability to the top of the corporate agenda, with virtually every industry now facing mounting pressure to improve their business practices. Given these clear trends, sustainability has become a key ingredient for ensuring an enterprise’s ongoing continuity and profitability. Aravo Sustain addresses this need and offers global enterprises a proven platform to address corporate sustainability by providing a framework to plan, implement and manage best-in-class sustainable supply chain programs.
Aravo Sustain is an easy-to-use, on demand platform that can be deployed in days rather than months, with near-zero impact on existing IT infrastructure. The software provides enterprises with a Web-based platform to obtain, analyze and manage data for sustainable supply chain initiatives, transforming compliance and regulatory data from a cumbersome liability to a strategic asset. Aravo Sustain provides actionable workflow and process management capabilities for companies implementing their first environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, as well as for market leaders looking for a more scalable and flexible platform.
Aravo Sustain delivers features and functionality to meet the needs of enterprises implementing a wide variety of sustainable supply chain programs, including supplier and factory audits, carbon footprinting, toxic substances monitoring and reporting, green procurement, codes of conduct, RoHS and REACH and security audits. Key benefits include the mitigation of risk and liability posed by environmental issues and labor practices, minimizing total cost of sustainability program management, maintaining business continuity and uninterrupted access to markets, protecting corporate brand and reputation and driving adherence to compliance and process standards throughout the supply chain.
“Companies are now setting up supplier guidelines that include social and environmental requirements and supplier codes of conduct,” said Mickey North Rizza, research director at AMR Research. “Preferred suppliers have traditionally been viewed as those with the best performance, total cost and quality. In leading-edge companies, CSR is now part of the preferred supplier equation ensuring social and environmental compliance as well. Aravo Sustain was built to address the burgeoning market evolving around CSR data management, and their solution is leading-edge.”
“Through deploying Aravo Sustain, enterprises will now be able to measure the impact of their whole ecosystem and adjust accordingly,” said Tim Albinson, Aravo’s CEO. “Sustainability not only makes sense in terms of environmental conservation, it also makes good business sense. Aravo Sustain was developed to serve both the needs of businesses as well as the planet, and our team takes great satisfaction in serving both of these needs simultaneously.”
About Aravo Solutions
Aravo helps companies quickly and accurately on-ramp and manage supplier master data, enabling them to create error-free transactions, provide actionable decision support and turn supplier information into a valuable asset that can be leveraged throughout the organization. Aravo SIM™ is an on-demand enablement platform providing enterprises with a proven framework for enabling and managing supplier information within leading ERP and e-procurement applications such as Oracle, SAP and Ariba. Aravo is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For information, visit Aravo’s Web site at www.aravo.com.
Public Relations Contact:
Chris Greenfield
Aravo Solutions
415-292-0840, extension 206
cgreenfield@aravo.com
Micromanipulator Introduces new Motorized Probing Station
Carson City, NV, July 13, 2007 – The Micromanipulator Company is pleased to introduce the new P300J motorized - joystick controlled probing station.
“The P300J represents the next generation of our 300 mm manual / motorized probe stations.” said Mike Jackson, Director of Sales and Marketing. “The station features a completely new controller and also major redesigns of the system hardware to enhance stability and reliability.”
With motorized drives for inter-active manual control of the probe station stage, theta, platen, and microscope, the P300J provides unique precision and control with the ease of a manual system . Control is provided by a system Joystick or Micromanipulator’s exclusive MicroTouchTM controls. Motorized drive allows for convenient placement of the station stage and microscope controls, negating the requirement to reach across the station’s large platen and 300 mm stage drive. In addition, the P300J features a carefully selected dynamic high / low speed range which provides the ability for high resolution precise positioning as well as quick scans across a 300 mm wafer.
Micromanipulator’s robust RMC-7 motorized control system drives the P300J. It features an X-Y-Theta control mode for wafer alignment, a Z lockout setting to avoid accidental platen Z movements during X-Y moves, and a full X-Y-Z-Theta lock out mode to avoid movement due to inadvertent bumps during testing.
The P300J’s open design allows for ease of complex setups. The station features a massive base, stage support and enhanced 4-point platen drive for stability and precision. A massive microscope bridge provides 100 x 100 x 200mm (X-Y-Z) high resolution travel range to support multi-site probe cards. The station is femto-amp level low current and high / low temperature (-55 to +300 deg C) ready. It can be ordered with plumbing options to support all popular hot / cold thermal chucks. The P300J supports all standard 200 and 300 mm probing accessories.
The 9020 is ideal for probing of 200 to 300mm semiconductor wafers as well as flat-panel substrates for Failure Analysis, Wafer Level Reliability, and Device and Process Characterization and Modeling. It supports DC passive and active probes, RF and Microwave probes and manipulators, standard and multi-site probe cards and manipulator mounted Multi-site cards (like Celadon’s Versa-Tile™ cards) mounted on Micromanipulator’s WAVE (WLR and Microwave) manipulator system.
About Micromanipulator:
The Micromanipulator Company is a leading provider of high-performance analytical probing equipment; programmable, semi-automatic and manual probe stations and accessories for the Semiconductor, Flat Panel, MEMs, Biotech and Printed Circuit Board industries. Pioneering the technology of Analytical Probing, Micromanipulator has been providing innovative solutions since 1956. For more information, visit our website at: http://www.micromanipulator.com.
4Blox Secures Funding to Fuel Development of ISCSI Acceleration Software
Company Adds Key Industry Leaders to Board of Directors and Advisory Board
SAN JOSE, Calif. – September 11, 2007 – 4Blox™ Inc., dedicated to improving iSCSI SAN
performance, today announced that it has secured a round of private equity funding led by
Flywheel Ventures and appointed new board of directors and advisory members. The company
will use the funding to drive sales and marketing efforts and to further product development.
To drive the company’s momentum in the market, it appointed industry veteran George Symons
to its board of directors and Mickey McIntire to its advisory board.
“Our investment in 4Blox represents our belief in the growth of iSCSI as a transformational
storage technology,” said Scott Caruso, general partner with Flywheel Ventures. “4Blox has
developed a unique software-based approach to performance that sets it apart from current
hardware-based iSCSI offload and acceleration products.”
4Blox is a start-up venture that develops software products that lower the host CPU
communications overhead associated with iSCSI-based storage area networks. The most
important hardware resource for efficiently handling increased load in iSCSI processing is CPU
capacity. iSCSI-based SANs experience severe system performance degradation when used on
virtualized servers, with large numbers of users or with bandwidth intensive applications – like
backup and video. The core product from 4Blox is a set of software components used to expand
CPU processing capacity in iSCSI SANs.
“We are seeing wide and growing adoption of iSCSI as a cost effective storage networking
technology that works with standard Ethernet,” said Brian Garrett an industry analyst with the
Enterprise Strategy Group. “Combined with the explosive growth of server virtualization and
growing interest in 10 GigE, ESG believes that 4Blox’s unique approached to iSCSI CPU
optimization is poised for a great ride on a rising wave of networked storage adoption.”
New Leadership Team
Board members Scott Caruso and 4Blox CEO Dan Munro will be joined by industry veteran and
current Yosemite Technologies CEO George Symons. Yosemite Technologies provides small-tomedium
size businesses with applications designed to simplify the way they protect and manage
their data. Mr. Symons joined Yosemite from EMC, where he served as CTO for Information
Management, responsible for defining EMC’s product and technical strategy.
The company also named former String Bean Software CEO, Mickey McIntire to its advisory
board. String Bean Software was the developer of WinTarget, a software-only iSCSI target
acquired by Microsoft Corporation in March 2006.
About 4Blox
4Blox, Inc., is the first software company dedicated to improving iSCSI SAN performance. The
company’s family of software-based accelerators reduce the host CPU processing overhead
associated with iSCSI. As a result, businesses enable higher connection loads and the ability to
take advantage of higher network line speeds like 10GbE. For more information on 4Blox please
visit www.4Blox.com.
About Flywheel Ventures
Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that makes investments of first institutional capital in
the Mountain West. Flywheel targets companies based on innovations in information technology
and the physical sciences. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs and market opportunities with
Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience, and industry relationships to accelerate
innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel is based in Santa Fe and also has offices in
Albuquerque and San Francisco. For more information on Flywheel, please visit
www.flywheelventures.com.
Contact: Donna Michaels
Loughlin/Michaels Group
408-393-5575
email: donna@lmgpr.com
VC investment in NM running at record pace this year
The latest survey of venture capital activity in New Mexico shows investment in the first half of this year jumped nearly 500 percent compared to 2006.
Trackvia Introduces Online Database Application for Managing Business Critical Data
On-Demand Access Gives Organizations Flexibility to Manage Data and Collaborate Any Time, Anywhere
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trackvia, provider of an innovative online database application, today announced the launch of its web-based database platform to help organizations better track and collaborate on their business critical data. Trackvia’s application offers on-demand, online access any time, anywhere. It is an ideal solution for small- and medium-sized businesses as well as project teams of larger organizations who are looking for an online application to better manage their data.
“We founded Trackvia with the vision of offering businesses a one-stop shop for storing and managing data online,” said Matt McAdams, co-founder and chief technology officer of Trackvia. “Too many small businesses were struggling to use spreadsheets or desktop databases to manage their information, and then using several different services to do specific tasks, such as mass emails, mail merge, Web site forms, online backup, etc. As a result, their information was becoming fragmented across all of these different vendors. With Trackvia, all of these services and more are provided in one application, demonstrating the product’s flexibility in meeting the business needs of a variety of organizations.”
Millions of organizations today use traditional spreadsheet software or white boards to collect and manage their data, which can be very limiting and time-consuming. Trackvia provides an easy and flexible online database application that gives organizations greater control, visibility and accuracy of their data through features such as the ability to manage mailing lists, clients and contacts; organize assets, inventory, locations or partners; sort and filter information; create custom reports, share data in real-time and set up different levels of permission-based access.
“Trackvia has enabled us to not only more easily manage our data, but improve our overall business,” said Jon Baldwin, President of Circulation Service America, Inc. “It has replaced our old reporting process, which took days to compile and was subject to lots of room for data errors. Now, with Trackvia, we can offer real-time database access to our more than 1000 publishers to track the deliveries of their publications in 150 cities.”
Trackvia is a full-feature solution that combines the ability to automatically gather, manage and use information to communicate among key constituencies. It combines the power of a database with diverse web-based features in one solution. Key features include:
* Quick Search: Find exactly what you’re looking for, using plain language searches.
* Formatted & Filtered Views: Build filtered, customized, formatted views. Filter by one or more status criteria, and/or by time, i.e. show all deals closed this week.
* Report Distribution: Automated, scheduled report distribution via email.
* Multi-User Access: Share and edit information with multiple users simultaneously.
* Permission-Based Access: Set appropriate view/edit/add/delete permissions to ensure users see and change only appropriate records and fields.
* Web site Forms: Self-service Web site forms that create database records.
* Display on a Web site: Publish a real-time database view to your own Web site.
* Thumbnail Image Preview: Display database views that include thumbnail previews of images.
* Distribute Data: Send records or views to one or more people via email, with one click.
* Mass Personalized Email Campaigns: Send mass emails to contacts in your database, with automatic history of emails sent.
* Automated Email Collection: Receive emails into a database, creating records.
* Map View: Display and edit views, and individual records, in Google™ Maps.
* Mail Merge: Personalize your form letters and labels by merging database fields.
* Excel Import/Export: Bring information in from Excel and send information out to Excel.
Trackvia is available on a monthly subscription basis at $9.95 per month per user. Advanced features are available for an additional fee. To sign up for a free trial of Trackvia, visit www.trackvia.com.
About Trackvia
Trackvia provides organizations with an easy and flexible way to manage data and improve their business. Trackvia provides an online database application that gives organizations greater flexibility, visibility and control over their data through features such as the ability to manage mailing lists, clients and contacts; organize assets, inventory, locations or partners; sort and filter information; create custom reports, share data in real-time and set up different levels of permission-based access. Trackvia is funded by Flywheel Ventures and other private investors. For more information, please visit www.trackvia.com.
Groople Partners With Eastern College Athletic Conference
Groople (www.groople.com), the leading online group travel planning and booking site, has been named the official hotel booking agency for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), the largest college athletics conference representing 320 institutions. This partnership will provide several advantages for the ECAC including the ability for each tournament to have their own web page on Groople’s newest social networking feature, GroopVine. Other advantages allow travelers the ability to book hotel, air and car arrangements for all tournaments and games for the teams, officials and fans.
“Groople’s ability to handle hotel room bookings for all of our 98 championship teams while offering a booking solution to the ECAC membership that is both cost-effective and user-friendly is most important to us,” says Rudy Keeling, Commissioner of the ECAC. “With long standing relationships within the industry, Groople is in the best position to handle the hotel booking needs of the ECAC, our membership, and everyone else associated with the conference.”
Teams can realize significant savings in both time and money through this new partnership. “Our division II and III institutions that are very budget conscious, especially when it comes to team travel, will see the greatest impact. Also, booking hotel rooms through Groople for all ECAC championships will make traveling to ECAC events for participants and fans much easier,” says Keeling.
“This partnership has the potential to change the sports travel industry by leveraging the large volume of travelers to games with secure price-points not available to individual travelers,” says Mike Stacy, CEO of Groople. “By providing the ECAC with more than the traditional travel services, and offering both online and offline agent support, we can meet the needs of the organization.”
About Groople:
Groople (www.groople.com) is a combination of the words GROups and peOPLE – GROOPLE…we understand groups and we provide the best planning and booking tools for any group! Headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, Groople was launched in 2004. For more than two years Groople, the leading group travel Website, has worked with thousands of people from a wide variety of groups and has come to understand that planning, searching and booking group travel arrangements should be a fun part of group travel. At Groople, we’re working around the clock to negotiate the best rates for flights, hotels, cars and cruises and find the best locations to fit your group’s needs. We provide booking capability on more than 60,000 hotels located on four continents, twenty-five islands and one mountain top. Through our social networking environment we allow travelers to collaborate and compare travel options before any decisions are made. After reserving a block of rooms, group members are welcome to pay for their rooms individually online or in one payment made by the group leader.
Groople allows groups to shop online with confidence through our low price guarantee. We search far and wide to provide free rooms, upgrades and other special amenities wherever your group qualifies.
Groople…Group Travel Made Easy
About the ECAC®
The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference with 320 Divisions I, II, and III colleges and universities from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Illinois. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors 98 championships in 37 men’s and women’s sports, assigns more than 5,200 officials in 15 sports, administers 10 affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues and recognizes more than 4,000 student-athletes in 21 sports through the public relations arm of the conference. The ECAC serves as the primary conference for select members in the sports of men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, men’s gymnastics, wrestling, fencing and rowing.
Aravo Investors Supply $10M In Series C
Enterprise Software San Francisco
Aravo Investors Supply $10M In Series C
By Staff Reporters 8/2/2007
Aravo Solutions Inc. plans to open more regional sales and delivery offices and launch new products after closing a $10 million venture capital round.
All prior lead investors returned in the Series C round, including Charles Schwab Family/Big Sky Partners, Art Samberg of Pequot Capital and Tony Mayer formerly of JP Morgan Capital. The company to date has raised $22 million.
Retired Goldman Sachs Chairman Stephen Friedman, LundKenner Managing Partner Soren Kenner and private equity executives were the new investors in the round. Other shareholders in the company include Chess Ventures, Wilson Sonsini Ventures and Angels Forum/Halo Fund LLC, according to Aravo’s Web site.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Aravo produces Supplier Information Management software and services. Among its clients: Oracle, Novartis and the states of Florida and North Carolina.
Avaro spokesman Chris Greenfield said the company does not discuss revenue, earnings, valuation or cash burn rate figures.
Lingotek Receives $1.6 Million In Second Round Of Funding
Canopy Ventures and Flywheel Ventures fund Lingotek’s drive to become leader in language translation technology
PROVO, Utah—March 1, 2007—Lingotek, provider of meaning-based translation solutions, today announced it has secured $1.6 million in Series A-2 financing. Lingotek has developed a Web 2.0 service called the Language Search Engine™ to dramatically improve the translation process.
The A-2 round was led by Canopy Ventures, of Lindon, Utah contributing $1 million. Previous investors including Flywheel Ventures also participated in the A-2 round. This financing follows a $1 million Series A-1 round of funding in 2006. Lingotek will use the funding to expand its sales and marketing efforts and further increase its presence in the language translation market.
One of every five business throughout the world must bridge the language barrier. Lingotek provides online language information technology that cuts costs in half, doubles the output of human translators and improves the quality of the translations.
“The world is becoming a smaller place where businesses and governments have a stronger need to achieve pin-point accuracy of language translation,” said Brandon Tidwell, managing director of Canopy Ventures. “Lingotek’s offerings are having a tremendous impact in world markets and are changing the way organizations manage their translation needs. We look forward to working with Lingotek’s management to bring compelling solutions to this very promising market.”
Lingotek’s CEO Tim Hunt said, “We are very pleased that Canopy Ventures has led this round of financing. We are fortunate to have such supportive venture capital investors to help our company move to the next level and into new markets. Lingotek’s technology is an essential element in producing stellar translation services for governments and businesses.”
Lingotek’s customers are quickly recognizing that traditional methods for translation are outmoded and outdated to meet the increasing demands of global communication. Language professionals today need a fast, easy and inexpensive method to access relevant multilingual knowledge. Lingotek’s Language Search Engine satisfies language professionals’ demands for translation knowledge.
Don Emerson, director of the southeast division of CACI International Inc, which provides IT and network solutions for defense, intelligence and e-government said, “Our partnership with Lingotek allows us to offer our customers significantly enhanced distributed language translation capability.”
About Lingotek
Lingotek is a software development company who has created the first Language Search Engine. The Language Search Engine searches translated content for human translators like an Internet search engine searches the Internet. It helps translators find the same words with the same meaning in the same context in any language in the world. Their software runs in a web browser and helps human translators translate faster, better and cheaper. More information may be found at http://www.lingotek.com.
About Canopy Ventures
Canopy Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm targeting information technology companies in the western United States. Its primary areas of focus include enterprise software, IP video technologies, networking and communications, security software, WI-FI broadcasting, IT hosting and software as a service. Its offices are in Lindon, Utah. More information may be found at http://www.canopy.com.
About Flywheel Ventures
Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that makes investments of first institutional capital in the Mountain West. Flywheel targets companies based on innovations in information technology and the physical sciences. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs and market opportunities with Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience, and industry relationships to accelerate innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel is based in Santa Fe and also has offices in Albuquerque and San Francisco. For more information on Flywheel, please visit http://www.flywheelventures.com.
We Are Pleased To Announce That We Have Hired Daniel L. Follett As CFO For InteliSum.
Dan comes to us from American Express where he held the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and also Vice President of Finance positions at their various banking institutions. In his early career he spent time with Deloitte & Touche in Salt Lake City and Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Phoenix, AZ.
We are fortunate to find Dan at a time in his career when he’s ready for some ‘thrills’ which we’re certain we can provide. We’re very excited to have Dan with us to help in our forward growth.
MIOX Corporation Set To Expand With Investment From Sand Hill Road Venture Captial Firm
January 22, 2007
Sierra Ventures leads Series B round for MIOX Corp., a technology company focused on solving one of the world’s most pressing issues – clean, safe water
Albuquerque, NM – January 22, 2007 – MIOX Corporation announced today that it has raised $14.5 million in capital to accelerate its growth into emerging markets. MIOX currently sells products to purify water for public water treatment systems. It has also successfully developed products and technology for a variety of other applications, including personalized handheld water purification, industrial water, marine, military, and pool and spa applications. MIOX products are cost effective, safe, and a more environmentally sound alternative to the dangerous and harsh chemicals typically used to treat water for these applications.
“Customers have pulled MIOX technology into a number of new applications and exciting opportunities,” said Carlos Perea, president and CEO of MIOX Corporation. “With the financial backing of our investors, we can now properly address and develop these fast growing markets. Moreover, we can continue to grow our international markets where there is a rapidly growing demand to treat water in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner.”
The round was led by Sierra Ventures with participation from Nick Pritzker via Tao Capital and New Mexico Community Capital. Also participating were the major existing investors including Flywheel Ventures. Sierra Ventures is a top tier venture capital firm with investments in the United States, China, Canada, and India. Sierra is known for its operational expertise and ability to work with entrepreneurs and management teams to build companies into large, profitable businesses.
“Sierra invests in world-changing ideas. We’ve been interested in making an investment in the Clean Tech space for some time,” said Jeff Loomans, a partner at Sierra. “One reason Water Technology is attractive is that water is one of the largest markets in the world with a significant growth rate. It wasn’t until we found MIOX that we found a company that meets our investment criteria.”
“We are excited about the new investment in MIOX,” said Trevor Loy, managing partner at Flywheel. “MIOX is an excellent example of a company applying technology to address a major market opportunity and, at the same time, address a major social and environmental issue. Today, one of five people in the world still do not have access to safe, clean water, resulting in major costs to society. MIOX is a distributed architecture and will allow end users to treat their water at the point of use. This is a cost-effective approach that many parts of the developing world are embracing.”
About MIOX Corporation
MIOX applies patented technology to manufacture products that can provide clean, safe water, anywhere at any time. The technology was originally developed under military and federal contracts with the goal of replacing traditional water treatment chemicals. For over a decade MIOX products have been used by hundreds of municipalities across the United States to treat water to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) standards. MIOX eliminates the need to store and transport dangerous chemicals such as chlorine gas, which is considered by the Department of Homeland Security to be one of the most significant threats to community safety. MIOX is currently being sold in over 40 countries and can be used in a variety of water treatment applications. More information is available at http://www.miox.com.
About Sierra Ventures
Sierra Ventures, founded in 1982, is a privately held venture capital firm focused on investments across all areas of the Information Technology sector from semiconductors to enterprise software. Sierra Ventures has managed nine venture capital partnerships and currently has more than $1.5 billion of capital under management. Some of the firm’s investments include 360Commerce (acquired by Oracle), Active Software (acquired by WebMethods), AmeriGroup (AGP), Centex (acquired by WorldCom), ConvergeNet (acquired by Dell), FatBrain (acquired by Barnes & Noble), Frontbridge (acquired by Microsoft), Healtheon (merged with WebMD), Interact Commerce (acquired by Sage), Intuit (INTU), Micromuse (acquired by IBM), OnAssignment (ASGN), OnLink (acquired by Siebel), Quinta (acquired by Seagate), StrataCom (acquired by Cisco), Sychip (acquired by Murata Manufacturing) and Teradata (acquired by NCR). More information is available at http://www.sierraventures.com.
About Flywheel Ventures
Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that makes investments of first institutional capital in the Mountain West. Flywheel targets companies based on innovations in information technology and the physical sciences. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs and market opportunities with Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience, and industry relationships to accelerate innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel is based in Santa Fe and also has offices in Albuquerque and San Francisco. For more information on Flywheel, please visit www.flywheelventures.com.
TruTouch Technologies, Albuquerque, NM announces new Vice President of Marketing
August, 2006
TruTouch announces that Jacquie Sheehey has joined the Company as Vice President of Marketing. She has more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing for drug and alcohol testing products in the workplace and government markets, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA).
Jacquie Sheehey, Vice President of Marketing
Jacquie Sheehey has more than 20 years of experience in marketing serving the private sector, federal government, and non-profit organizations. Her expertise focuses in the areas of substance abuse, criminal justice and the workplace. Prior to joining TruTouch, Jacquie was the Marketing Manager for Varian, Inc. drugs of abuse testing products. Jacquie was responsible for all product launches, market strategy, promotional and direct mail campaigns, and advertising. Prior to Varian, Jacquie was President of her own marketing communications company with a wide variety of customers including the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), the New York Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals, the U.S. Department of Labor, and other private sector companies in the criminal justice field.
Jacquie is a graduate of The Ohio State University, is a member of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA), chairs the Corporate Advisory Committee for the NADCP, and serves on various committees for the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA).
CoMeT Solutions Launches Breakthrough Product for Multi-Solver Mechanical Assembly Simulations
CoMeT/StructuralDynamics enables multiple rigid/flexible body dynamic simulations and
structural FEA with full CAD associativity in a single user environment.
Albuquerque— Sept. 25, 2006 —CoMeT Solutions, Inc. (CSI), a developer of software used to
enable simulation-driven engineering, will launch its first product, CoMeT/StructuralDynamics™,
at the Collaborative Product Development Associates (CPDA) PLM Roadmap™ Strategic
Conference held September 27-28, 2006 in Dearborn, Mich.
CoMeT/StructuralDynamics enables users to simulate the performance of structures and
mechanisms (both static and dynamic) using codes such as ADAMS for rigid and flexible Multi-
Body Dynamic (MBD) simulations and ABAQUS, ANSYS and MSC.NASTRAN for Finite Element
Analysis (FEA). With CoMeT, it is now possible to develop mechanical assembly simulations that
are fully associative to the base CAD geometry – all within a single integrated simulation
environment.
“CoMeT/StructuralDynamics allows us to work with a single model from the initial design clear
through the end of analysis. It helps us keep track of design information and data files, which
prevents errors and saves time,” said Scott Anderson, principal engineer at Dana Corporation’s
commercial vehicle systems division.
“Our design process uses three models – one for Pro/ENGINEER, one for ANSYS, and one for
ADAMS. When we go from one system to another, we have to recreate geometry, which is not
only time-consuming, but also introduces the potential for errors,” Anderson said. “As a beta user
of CoMeT, we use Pro/ENGINEER as the starting point. We can then generate the ADAMS
model through CoMeT, and it also creates the flex bodies for analysis in ANSYS, all with
associativity to the Pro/ENGINEER model.”
According to Malcolm Panthaki, CoMeT Solutions’ chairman, founder, and chief technology
officer, CoMeT/StructuralDynamics is the first release in CSI’s line of products for dynamics
simulation work. A line of products for optronics assembly simulation and a full suite of adaptors
for both CAD and CAE systems are also forthcoming. “Our solutions enable companies to drive
CAD designs with analysis results, enabling true simulation-driven engineering,” Panthaki said.
“We believe the Abstract Modeling capabilities in CoMeT/StructuralDynamics are groundbreaking
by enabling engineers to capture simulation processes at a high level, before geometry is even
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created. This will enable them to easily reuse engineering data across large changes to the
design,” Panthaki added. “Abstract Modeling will be a key driver of our customers’ success as
we move forward, along with CoMeT’s common data model for CAE, the Universal Engineering
Model (UEM™). Our UEM provides engineers with the ability to work with any CAD and any CAE
code in a single integrated simulation environment.”
“CoMeT’s Abstract Modeling is a technology breakthrough that has tremendous potential,” said
Michel Vrinat, research director of Collaborative Product Development Associates, LLC.
“Analysts will be able to execute multi-discipline studies using multiple simulation tools without reentering
data, and to synchronize design changes with simulation through an automated process.
Simulation templates will be made available for non-experts, resulting in a wider use of simulation
in product development, leading to better quality with less physical tests.”
CoMeT/StructuralDynamics is available for immediate use by innovative companies seeking a
significant competitive advantage through engineering analysis. CoMeT Solutions offers
complementary services for product adoption and engineering process implementation to
accelerate time to benefits for customers.
About CoMeT Solutions, Inc.
CoMeT Solutions, Inc. provides software-based solutions that enable virtual product engineering,
a strategy increasingly employed by manufacturing companies to design better products rapidly
and to replace costly physical prototype testing. CoMeT software provides an integrated
simulation environment in which engineers can define and solve complex engineering problems
and manage all related models, processes, and resulting simulation data. No other commercial
CAE environment brings virtually any CAE and CAD application under a single user interface,
while integrating design and analysis data using a common data model, the CoMeT Universal
Engineering Model (UEM). CoMeT makes it possible for companies to achieve up-front analysis
and a simulation-driven engineering process.
CoMeT Solutions, Inc., UEM and CoMeT/StructuralDynamics are trademarks of CoMeT
Solutions, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.
Groople Secures $6 Million in Additional Financing
DENVER – August 10, 2006 – Groople, the leader in online group travel and industry pioneer, announced that it has secured $6 million in its latest round of financing. ArrowPath Venture Partners led the financing along with FA Technology Ventures (FATV). Existing investors Vista Ventures, Fatty Tuna and Flywheel Ventures also participated in the round.
Groople provides online booking capabilities for group travelers and matches the needs of specific groups with appropriate products, prices and support. While facilitating bookings and generating new revenue, Groople allows travel suppliers to retain control of their inventory and rates. Groople provides the tools for non-managed group leaders to request a block of hotel rooms while permitting the individual group members to make changes to reservations and pay individually.
“There has been such strong demand for our product from both consumers and suppliers, as evidenced by our double-digit revenue growth, as well as triple-digit growth in profits,” said Groople Chief Executive Officer Mike Stacy. “We are pleased to have partners of the caliber of ArrowPath, Vista and FA Technology Ventures. These firms have tremendous experience in building young technology companies into market leaders. We were very selective in deciding which venture firms to work with and we are delighted by our choice.”
“Self-organized, small group travel is a growing, multibillion dollar segment of the travel industry. Group travelers have come to expect the same convenience and control of individual online travel coupled with a service that understands the unique needs of group travel,” said Jerry Gramaglia, a Partner with ArrowPath Venture Partners. “Groople, led by top executives from both the travel and technology industries, is filling that consumer need.”
This latest investment will be used to further accelerate the company’s growth plans including expansion of their website (www.groople.com) and improving the customer experience. The company will also use a portion of the proceeds to enhance agent and supplier technologies as well as increase its growing network of hotel properties, affiliates, partners and direct sales capabilities.
In addition to providing investment in the company, Jerry Gramaglia of ArrowPath Ventures and Giri Sekhar of FATV have been appointed to the Groople Board of Directors.
Explaining his reasons for backing Groople, FATV’s Giri Sekhar commented “Groople fills one of the last big holes in the online travel market. There are numerous online booking solutions for individual travel, but groups still have to do things the old fashioned way – with telephones, faxes, voicemail, agents and snail mail. Groople brings group travel into the Internet age.”
About Groople
Groople (www.groople.com) is the leader in online group travel, offering one-stop group booking on hotel, cruise, air, bus, and rail, and is backed by partnerships with the largest travel suppliers worldwide. Groople is group travel made easy, with more than 60,000 hotel choices worldwide and six top cruise lines brought together in an online group booking website. Groople offers discounted rates, individual payment options and creates a single point of contact for the group travel consumer. Groople’s customer sales center provides personal attention and offers group travel experts to advise on corporate travel and leisure group travel for weddings, family reunions, religious groups, sports teams, and more. Created by twenty travel industry veterans, Groople pioneered the online group travel space and continues to lead the group travel industry in technology, inventory and convenience.
About ArrowPath Ventures
ArrowPath is an early-stage venture capital firm with over $325 million under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies developing highly differentiated enterprise and infrastructure technologies as well as consumer services that offer compelling value and have the prospect of achieving market leadership. ArrowPath’s goal is to help entrepreneurs build companies of enduring value while generating superior returns for investors. For more information, go to www.arrowpathvc.com.
About FA Technology Ventures
FA Technology Ventures (FATV), based in Boston, MA and Albany, NY, is a leading early stage investor, providing venture capital, management and guidance for companies in the emerging growth sectors of Information Technology and Energy Technology. FA Technology Ventures is committed to helping build tomorrow’s great technology companies by backing experienced, passionate entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas and a new vision for the future. Recent notable FATV investments include iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT), Meta Group (Nasdaq: METG, acquired by Gartner Group) and Softricity (acquired by Microsoft). To learn more about FA Technology Ventures, visit www.FAtechventures.com.
Micromanipulator Acquired By Flywheel Ventures
Receives $1 million cash infusion for future growth and acquisitions
Carson City, NV, 11 July, 2006 – The Micromanipulator Company, a leader in analytical probing equipment for the semiconductor industry, announced today that Flywheel Ventures, a New Mexico-based venture capital firm, has acquired a majority interest in the company for an undisclosed amount from its current owner, the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”). In addition to the transfer of interest, the company will also receive a direct $1 million cash infusion from Flywheel to support future growth and acquisitions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
At the close of the transaction, Trevor Loy and Kim Sanchez Rael of Flywheel Ventures and Carlos Perea of MIOX Corporation (and a Strategic Advisor to Flywheel) will join Mike Slessor of Caltech and Bill Hartman of Micromanipulator on the company’s Board of Directors. Slessor, Loy, Rael and Perea all have significant semiconductor industry experience. Hartman most recently led MesoSystems Technology to a significant increase in valuation and sale.
Caltech acquired ownership of Micromanipulator via a gift from the estate of the company’s founder, Robert D. “Stan” Hancock, and will continue to maintain a minority interest in the company. Caltech and Micromanipulator sought the involvement of Flywheel Ventures in order to bring in additional value-added investors with significant entrepreneurial and growth expertise in the semiconductor equipment sector.
President and CEO Bill Hartman commented, “With Flywheel Ventures’ investment, semiconductor industry expertise and management assistance, I see a tremendous opportunity to build on Micromanipulator’s 50 years of probing leadership. Micromanipulator has long been known for outstanding product reliability and customer service. This investment will accelerate our development of new products, processes and services while creating our base for additional semiconductor, nanotechnology and MEMS device test solutions. We are already off to a very strong start to our 51st year in this industry. The active involvement of both Caltech and Flywheel on our Board of Directors will have a tremendously positive impact on our future growth.”
Flywheel Managing Partner Trevor Loy said, “Flywheel Ventures was attracted to Micromanipulator’s strong technology and intellectual property position, top-tier customer base of leading semiconductor manufacturers, strong brand awareness, and potential for revenue growth as well as expansion into new markets.”
Bill Hartman concluded by saying, “I am looking forward to the partnership with Caltech and Flywheel. Our employees, partners and customers are similarly excited by the investment and the exciting changes already ongoing at the company.”
About Micromanipulator
The Micromanipulator Company is a leading manufacturer of analytical probing equipment for 150, 200 and 300 mm semiconductor wafers, solar cells, nanotechnology and MEMS devices. Micromanipulator provides probe stations and accessories for applications including reliability testing, low current/low noise IV/CV testing, high frequency testing, and probing for flat panels and PCB’s. Micromanipulator is located in Carson City, Nevada. For more information on Micromanipulator, please visit www.micromanipulator.com.
About Flywheel Ventures
Flywheel Ventures is a venture capital firm that makes investments of first institutional capital in the Mountain West. Flywheel targets companies based on innovations in information technology and the physical sciences. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs and market opportunities with Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience, and industry relationships to accelerate innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel is based in Santa Fe and also has offices in Albuquerque and San Francisco. For more information on Flywheel, please visit www.flywheelventures.com.
About the California Institute of Technology
The mission of the California Institute of Technology is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education. Caltech investigates the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere, while educating outstanding students to become creative members of society. In the Institute’s 115-year history, Caltech faculty have been awarded 32 Nobel Prizes and 5 Crafoord Prizes, along with 47 National Medals of Science and 10 National Medals of Technology. For more information on Caltech, please visit www.caltech.edu.
CoMeT Solutions to Preview New Product at PTC/User® World Event
CoMeT will preview its upcoming solution for multi-solver assembly simulations integrated with Pro/ENGINEER®
Albuquerque, NM,May 24, 2006 – CoMeT Solutions, Inc. (CSI or CoMeT), a developer of software used to enable simulation-driven engineering, will preview its new product as an exhibitor at the PTC/User® World Event 2006 held June 4-7, 2006 at the Gaylord Texan Resort near Dallas, Texas. A PTC Partner Advantage™ Gold member, CoMeT will demonstrate how Pro/ENGINEER users can get more work out of their analysis tools and significantly extend the value of Pro/ENGINEER in their multi-solver assembly simulations using CoMeT software. CoMeT ensures bi-directional associativity between Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire and CAE data from a variety of vendor tools.
CoMeT’s Pro/ENGINEER integrated application for multi-solver assembly simulations is in beta implementation with leading automotive, aerospace and consumer products manufacturers. It will be available for commercial release later this year.
“Moving Pro/ENGINEER assembly models and data to and from analysis systems is tedious, time-consuming, and fraught with errors. Automating engineering processes using those systems together has been just as difficult. CoMeT brings together Pro/ENGINEER along with all your CAE tools under a single roof. A normally complex, multi-vendor CAE process, such as rigid body analysis of an assembly or flexible body dynamics, is accomplished rapidly and easily within the CoMeT work environment,” said Malcolm Panthaki, founder and chairman of CoMeT Solutions.
The PTC/User World Event is an international technical conference serving users of software produced by PTC® of Needham, Massachusetts. Over 2,000 professionals from over 400 different companies are expected to be in attendance at this year’s event.
DOWNLOAD FLYER HERE (pdf - 1.35 MB)
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About CoMeT Solutions, Inc.
CoMeT Solutions, Inc. (www.cometsolutions.com) provides software-based solutions that accelerate innovation by enabling virtual product engineering. CoMeT software provides a single coherent work environment in which engineers can define and solve complex engineering problems – using virtually any CAE and CAD application – and manage all related models, processes and resulting simulation data. CoMeT integrates all CAE data using its innovative Universal Engineering Model (UEM™) that was developed and tested with partners including the Air Force Research Labs, Sandia National Labs, and NASA. Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, CSI is a privately held company that was incorporated in 2001.
Contacts:
Daniel Meyer
President Chairman
CoMeT Solutions, Inc.
513.561.9666
dan.meyer@cometsolutions.com
Malcolm Panthaki
Founder & CTO
CoMeT Solutions, Inc.
505.323.5838
malcolm.panthaki@cometsolutions.com
Groople Appoints Michael Stacy as CEO
DENVER, CO – November 30, 2005 – Groople, the leading online group travel booking resource, announces the appointment of Michael Stacy as Chief Executive Officer. David Loy will maintain his role as President and Founder of Groople, working alongside Stacy on day-to-day operations as they spearhead the company’s next phase of growth in the online group travel market.
Stacy brings fifteen years of executive level experience to his new post at Groople, including successfully growing some of the leading brands in online travel. He most recently served as President of Cendant’s CheapTickets, where he led the site to profitability for the first time, making it the fastest growing online travel site in 2004. Also at Cendant, Stacy served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Development for the company’s Retail Travel Services group. He led the successful integration of Cheap Tickets into the Orbitz organization following Cendant’s acquisition of Orbitz. Stacy also spent five years at then-startup Travelocity, including four years as Senior Vice President of Consumer Marketing. Having built the Travelocity brand in U.S. and led its European launch, along with managing numerous site improvements to enhance Travelocity’s customer experience, Travel Agent magazine twice named him a Rising Star.
“Mike Stacy’s broad experience and proven successes in the online travel industry make him an invaluable asset in leading Groople into our next stage of development,” said Groople President and Founder David Loy. “Mike has helped build some of the industry’s largest brands, including our partner Travelocity, and we are excited for him to bring his vision and knowledge to Groople’s team of travel executives.”
“Groople has impressed me with the caliber of their product as well as their team, and I look forward to applying my experience to enhance the company’s presence in the marketplace and to encourage further fruitful partnerships with additional travel providers,” said Groople CEO Michael Stacy.
In addition to more than 60,000 hotels and six top cruise lines, Groople offers group bookings for air, car, bus and rail. In February, Groople partnered with Travelocity, allowing broader distribution of Groople’s group rates and inventory on Travelocity.com when users select more than 5 hotel rooms. The past year has also brought partnerships with Choice Hotels International, Cendant Hotels, Best Western and La Quinta Hotels, increasing Groople’s inventory and thus providing even more hotel options for groups booking through the Groople website and call center.
About Groople
Groople is the leader in online group travel, offering one-stop group booking on hotel, cruise, air, bus, and rail, and is backed by partnerships with the largest travel suppliers worldwide. Groople is group travel made easy, with more than 60,000 hotel choices worldwide and six top cruise lines brought together in an online group booking website. Groople offers discounted rates, individual payment options and creates a single point of contact for the group travel consumer. Groople’s customer sales center provides personal attention and offers group travel experts to advise leisure group travelers on weddings, family reunions, religious groups, sports teams, and more. Created by twenty travel industry veterans, Groople pioneered the online group travel space and continues to lead the group travel industry in technology, inventory and convenience.
New West.Net Wins Two National Online Journalism Awards
Missoula, MT –NewWest.Net, the innovative online publication about the Rocky Mountain West, has been named the winner of two prestigious Online Journalism Awards.
NewWest.Net was the winner in the General Excellence category for small publications – a rare honor for an enterprise that has only been in operation for eight months. New West.Net also won the Enterprise Journalism award for small publications for Hal Herring’s gripping six-part series Sex, Money and Meth Addiction: Inside the World of the ‘Dasen Girls.’
“We’re thrilled to be recognized in this way, especially at such an early stage in our development,” said Jonathan Weber, founder and editor in chief of New West. “We’ve got an amazing group of contributors, and it’s their great writing and community engagement – and the tireless efforts of our managing editor, Courtney Lowery - that made this happen.”
The Online Journalism awards are sponsored by the Online News Association and USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, and the winners were announced Saturday night at the ONA’s annual conference on in New York. The General Excellence award had categories for large, medium and small publications, and the Enterprise Journalism award had categories for large and small publications. The New York Times Online took home three awards, including General Excellence in the large category. Slate magazine also won multiple awards at Saturday’s ceremony, and the Spokane Spokesman-Review was recognized for General Excellence among medium-sized sites.
NewWest.Net, which focuses on the culture and economy of the Rocky Mountain West, is pioneering a new form of interactive community publishing that invites a wide range of contributions from journalists and non-journalists alike. Launched in late February, NewWest.Net now has local sites in nine communities, including Missoula, Bozeman, Boulder, Aspen, Durango, Salt Lake City, Boise, Northern Idaho, and Albuquerque/ Santa Fe. It is currently reaching 40,000 readers a month and growing rapidly.
Targeted at the educated, engaged citizens of the Rocky Mountain West, NewWest.Net offers news and information on a range of topics including growth and public policy, the environment, business and the new economy, books, film, and events. Service offerings include free classified advertising and a free interactive community events calendar.
New West recently launched its Bozeman, Mont. node, and has also added an affiliate site in Washington’s Columbia Gorge area. It has developed partnerships with a number of non-profit organizations including Headwaters News and the Colorado College “State of the Rockies” team.
Advertising continues to grow in step with increasing readership. Chico Hot Springs Resort, PrintingforLess.com, Liquid Planet, Barney Jette Jewelry and O’Berry Cavanaugh are among New West.Net’s site sponsors and advertisers.
New West Publishing LLC, the Missoula-based parent company of NewWest.Net, was founded by Jonathan Weber. He was previously the co-founder and editor in chief of The Industry Standard, an award-winning newsweekly that chronicled the emergence of the Internet economy, and before that was a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times. The company’s node editors and writers have a passion for the West and have published extensively in local and national publications. New West Publishing received seed funding from a prestigious group of angel investors that includes Brad Feld, a Boulder-based venture capitalist; Flywheel Ventures of Santa Fe; and Gary Loveman, the CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment.
Flywheel Ventures Closes $31 Million Venture Capital Fund
Santa Fe, NM – 29 June 2005 – Flywheel Ventures, a Southwest/Rockies-based early-stage venture capital firm, today announced the final close of its first institutional venture capital fund, Flywheel I, L.P. The $31 million fund, with 75% of committed capital from institutions, will invest in seed and early-stage information technology and physical sciences ventures located primarily in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.
Participating investors include national foundations, university endowments, state governments, and prominent family offices including the Kauffman Foundation, New Mexico State Investment Council, the McCune Foundation, Hunt Holdings, the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation and the New Mexico State University Foundation.
Kauffman Foundation’s Chief Investment Officer, Dan Kingston, said, “We were attracted to the strong investing track record and broad operating experience of this emerging manager team. The team’s combination of deep local roots, Silicon Valley connections and focused investment strategy offered a unique value proposition in a promising regional technology market.”
Flywheel I, L.P. represents a next-generation successor fund to Flywheel Capital, LLC, the firm’s 2002 angel fund with a similar investment focus and strategy.
Flywheel I, L.P. will be managed by Trevor Loy, Founder and Managing Partner, General Partners Scott Caruso and Kim Sanchez Rael and Senior Associate Chris Traylor. Collectively, the team has founded, managed, advised, invested or otherwise participated in the growth of 50 technology companies, including 12 companies in the Southwest / Rockies region. The team is supported by a nationally-recognized Strategic Advisory Board chaired by Dr. Tom Byers of Stanford University and includes seasoned venture capitalists such as David Albin of Natural Gas Partners, Stewart Alsop of New Enterprise Associates, and Erik Straser of Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Trevor Loy, Flywheel’s Managing Partner said “We are very gratified by the strong institutional support for Flywheel I, L.P. We believe that there is a significant early-stage funding gap relative to the rich technology and economic potential of the Southwest / Rockies region. Our team will continue to leverage our on-the-ground presence and start-up experience with our Silicon Valley connections to build successful businesses.”
Flywheel I, L.P. expects to lead initial investments of $100K-$1M in entrepreneurs and ventures that use innovations in information technology or the physical sciences to ‘re-segment’ the delivery of products and services to existing vertical markets. The Fund will invest in a total of 15-18 companies. To date, Flywheel I, L.P. has made three investments in its primary target region.
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Founded in 1999, Flywheel Ventures (www.flywheelventures.com) is a Southwest/Rockies-based seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on information technology and physical sciences ventures in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona. The firm matches talented entrepreneurs with market opportunities where Flywheel’s capital, entrepreneurial experience and industry relationships help accelerate innovations into profitable companies. Flywheel has offices in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Silicon Valley.
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