Posts Tagged ‘NC IDEA grants’
Friday, August 17th, 2012
By Allan Maurer
 Anil Chawla, founder, CEO, Archive Social. He’ll be talking about the need for companies to keep records of their social media activities at the upcoming Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, Nov. 7-8. Social media management is a hot topic right now as more and more firms enter the fray. But while many companies are addressing the marketing side of how to use social media effectively, only a few industries are thinking about potential legal, compliance and e-discovery risks.
Companies are using social media for purposes such as recruitment and customer service as well as marketing, notes Anil Chawla, founder and CEO of Durham, NC-based ArchiveSocial.
“They need to take ownership of their social media data and keep track of their communications. They need to keep records of what they’re saying and what others are saying to them,” Chawla says.
Financial services leading the way
Some industries know this. Financial services firms and others with regulatory requirements understand it’s not a luxury to keep track of their social media interactions, its necessary.
“Financial services are at the bleeding edge of this,” says Chawla.
Government agencies with public records requirements also need to keep records of their social media activities, although Chawla notes that many “are struggling with it.”
He suspects that companies punting the issue down the road may not do anything until “Some sort of incident forces them to change.”
 ArchiveSocial, founded in May of 2011, sells a cloud-based social media archiving solution. Businesses can sign-up online, connect the service to their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, and it automatically pulls in any account history.
The two-person company was part of the inaugural class of The Triangle Startup Factory and received an NC IDEA grant this year (2012).
Appearing at Internet Summit in Raleigh
Chawla will discuss ArchiveSocial and the need for keeping social media records at the upcoming Internet Summit at the Raleigh, NC, Convention Center Nov. 7-8, which attracts 2,000 attendees to its lineup of 120 marquee brand name speakers and panelists.
Brands represented this year include PandoDaily, Twitter, Mashable, AOL, Bing, Klout, Google, IBM and the Cheezburger Network, among many others.
 Chawla has spent more than 10 years developing software products, including 7 years at IBM creating enterprise security software and Big Data analysis tools. At IBM, he says, “I realized I wasn’t achieving my potential. I started tinkering on the side with social media apps and the satisfaction of creating something on my own was far more satisfying.”
Although he was promoted at IBM, he finally decided it was time to “Figure something out and start a company.”
He decided it was a good time for ArchiveSocial, because many of the available solutions were cumbersome work arounds compared to what his company’s technology does.
“Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn are not in the business of keeping your data available to you forever,” Chawla says.
Every established company should keep social media records
And once you move beyond regulated markets such as financial services, there is the whole issue of potential e-discovery is a company is sued. “Social media is being requested more often,” in e-discovery,” he adds.
“Just from a legal standpoint, every established company on social networks should be proactive about keeping records,” he says.
Why? Suppose a customer “Creates a storm on social media and then deletes everything he posted? Then you can’t prove your side of the story because you don’t have the records,” Chawla says.
For companies, on the other hand, once something posts on social media, “You have broadcasted it to the world,” says Chawla. “Even if you delete it, someone else may have it.”
ArchiveSocial’s key differentiator
The key differentiator between ArchiveSocial and its competitors, he says, “Is how we capture the data. We do a 100 percent authentic capture. A lot of others claim to archive social media, but none are doing it well. Many of them just use web page archiving tools, which just take a snapshot of Facebook and Twitter. It’s like taking a picture of your gmail and calling that email archiving.”
That means users can scroll through their walls or history, see comments, and search by person, discover who sent a message and where it was sent from, and more. “It’s a powerful search feature,” Chawla says.
Data from a search can be reproduced in a Pdf or Excel file.
“We focused a lot of effort on providing easy-to-use tools to manage search and produce data when necessary,” he says.
Chawla says the company is just beginning to ramp up marketing with a more public launch, although it already has paying customers.
The company may seek additional funding later in the year.
Tags: Anil Chawla, ArchiveSocial, Internet Summit 2012, NC IDEA grants, social media, tracking social media activity, Triangle StartUp Factory
Posted in Company Profile, Events, Internet/New Media | No Comments »
Friday, June 8th, 2012
By Joe Procopio
 Joe Procopio Last year, I wrote about the NC IDEA grant program for Startup America, noting it had surpassed $2 million in funds granted (not loaned or invested) in North Carolina startups. This is an awesome thing, and I was adamant about the fact that every startup in North Carolina should take full advantage of this program.
Turns out they listened to me and they’re doing exactly that. According to Dave Rizzo, NC IDEA President, the entrepreneurs are far more prepared for the application process than they’ve ever been, resulting in a massive number of applications, most with a much higher quality than they had ever seen.
Late last year, NC IDEA hooked up with Groundwork Labs to create something much closer to a true accelerator model.
A lot of companies have gone from zero to sixty thanks to NC IDEA – including the startup I work for, Automated Insights, as well as other names you know like Valencell, Oncoscope, Argyle Social, Spring Metrics, and BoostSuite.
Chances are you’ll soon know the names of this round of grant winners, if you don’t already. A lot of you are in the loop like that.
This is who they are and what they will build with the money and the connections received from NC IDEA.
ArchiveSocial
Anil Chawla and ArchiveSocial just busted out of Triangle Startup Factory yesterday with a brilliant and well-received pitch for his social media archiving solution for business compliance and legal protection.
Anil says, “we are primarily investing in marketing efforts to take ArchiveSocial to market in full force. This means spending on online advertising, creating industry targeted content for our website, and investing in some other creative efforts to generate awareness for ArchiveSocial. Our overarching goal is to create as many customer interactions as possible to get our brand out there and build an initial customer base.”
Motaavi
Alex Zhang, Nick Bhargava, Kaiting Chen and Melanie Plageman are co-founders of Motaavi, an integrated trading platform and exchange where anyone can invest in and trade shares of companies raising money through private offerings, including crowdfunding.
Alex says, “We will be using the money to apply for full patents on our unique market structure and register as a broker-dealer.
Gema Touch
Brent Fagg and Joanna Rogerson are the co-founders of Gema Touch, which sells a patent-pending Near Field Communication (NFC) platform, enabling brands to create robust customer engagement interactions between mobile devices and physical surfaces.
Brent says, “The money will be used to finalize initial RFID tag design, build beta software concept, complete pilot scale manufacturing, and perform field test of product in relevant environment.”
Impulsonic
Impulsonic develops audio content creation tools for sound designers in the film, television and video games
industries. It was founded out of the UNC Department of Computer Science by Anish Chandak, Lakulish Antani, and professors Dinesh Manocha and Ming C. Lin.
Anish says, “The grant from NC IDEA will mostly go towards developing our initial prototypes and products in audio content creation space and strengthening our IP portfolio.”
DealCloud
Charlotte’s DealCloud provides a free, web-based platform where M&A professionals can manage and grow their network, execute sophisticated deal processes, and confidentially review and manage new investment opportunities., founded by Rob Cummings and Ed McMahan.
Rob says, “We are applying the grant funds in 3 areas. Marketing and business development, product development, and legal – we plan to file a patent on our industry matching algorithm.”
Joe Procopio (@jproco) heads up product engineering for automated content startup Automated Insights, which is also StatSheet. He founded and runs startup network ExitEvent, consulting marketplace Intrepid Company, and writers network Intrepid Media. You can read him at http://joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Alex Zhang, Anil Chawla, Anish Chandak, ArchiveSocial, DealCloud, Dinesh Manocha, Ed McMahan, Groundwork Labs, Impulsonic, Kaiting Chen, Lakulish Antani, M&A platform, Melanie Plageman, Ming. C. Lin, Motaavi, NC IDEA grants, Rob Cummings, social media, startup accelerator, Startups, trading platform, UNC
Posted in Columns, entrepreneurship, Internet/New Media, IT, social media, Startups | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – NC IDEA, an organization committed to supporting business innovation and economic advancement in North Carolina, has awarded $205,000 in grants to five North Carolina startups in one of its most competitive cycles to-date.
Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grants program has awarded over $2.1M to 57 companies across the state, with these most recent awards being the eleventh cycle of the program.
The five grant recipients were chosen after a 4-month application and selection process, which drew over 110 applications from 17 counties across the state. A committee comprised of experienced venture investors, industry experts and seasoned entrepreneurs selected 23 companies to submit full proposals which was further narrowed down to ten finalists who were given the opportunity to pitch their idea in person, ultimately resulting in five winners.
“This most recent grant cycle was incredibly competitive, and we were extremely impressed with the quality of applicants,” said David Rizzo, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “As the applicant field became more narrow, our decisions became increasingly difficult.
So many of the companies were deserving of the money but in the end these five companies rose to the top. Our decisions came down to where our money will make the most impact, certainly for the companies, but ultimately for the state of North Carolina. We look forward to tracking the progress of our winners and working alongside them to become major contributors to the state’s business community.”
The following five companies are NC IDEA’s most recent grant recipients for the Spring 2011 cycle:
Keona Health makes an advanced Online Triage portal, which helps patients make smarter health choices, improves operations for healthcare providers, and saves money. The intelligence inside is the Insight Engine, which combines knowledge of the practice of medicine with statistics from thousands of previous encounters. Learn more at www.keonahealth.com.
Loyalese is an online loyalty platform that makes ecommerce loyalty easy for online shoppers and merchants. Consumers earn cash back and rewards for shopping, referring friends and recommending products, and merchants increase revenue through custom rewards that promote loyalty and word-of-mouth advocacy. Learn more at www.loyalese.com.
NanoForge produces copper nanowires, which are long filaments of copper ten times thinner than the wavelength of visible light. When spread onto a surface, the nanowires form a microscopic mesh that is nearly transparent and highly conductive. Such surfaces are a critical component of all touch screens, flat panel displays and photovoltaic cells. NanoForge’s unique copper nanowires revolutionize the manufacturing of these products by providing a low-cost alternative to the currently used crystalline Indium-tin-oxide on both glass and flexible plastic substrates.
OtherScreen is a consumer technology startup building a convergence platform for television and the Internet. The company believes there is a large opportunity to combine mobile Internet, broadcast TV, user-generated content and social gaming to form an entirely new layer of monetize-able consumer entertainment and solve the problem of partial viewer engagement. Learn more atwww.otherscreen.com.
Sarda Technologies is a clean-tech startup focused on reducing power loss in a wide range of electronic systems. Sarda’s product is a more efficient semiconductor switch for voltage converters that are widely used in portable, enterprise and consumer systems. Sarda’s switch reduces power loss which, in turn, increases system performance, extends battery life and reduces system size, weight and cost.
Keona Health – Chapel Hill, NC
Loyalese – Durham, NC
NanoForge – Durham, NC
OtherScreen – Charlotte, NC
Sarda Technologies – Durham, NC
The upcoming Fall 2011 grant opportunity for North Carolina based companies will open in mid-August. Learn more about NC IDEA’s grant application process, timeline and criteria at www.ncidea.org.
Tags: Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Keona Health, Loyalese, NC IDEA grants, NC Startups, OtherScreen, Sarda Technologies, spring 2011
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina | No Comments »
Monday, January 10th, 2011
RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – NC IDEA has awarded $200,000 in grants to five North Carolina startups.
NC IDEA’s grants program is a catalyst for technological breakthroughs developed in North Carolina that have a significant potential to successfully transition into commercially viable high-growth enterprises.
“We are sure to see some exciting developments from our recent grant winners over the coming months,” said David Rizzo, President and CEO of NC IDEA. “These five recipients emerged to the top of one of our most competitive grant cycles to date. The quality of the approximately 100 applicants was impressive. NC IDEA remains committed to funding these young companies that are poised to become viable, high-growth enterprises and contribute to North Carolina’s job growth and economic development.”
The following five companies are NC IDEA’s most recent grant recipients for the Fall 2010 cycle:
HEALTHeME – Durham, NC
The HEALTHeME’s digital therapeutics platform empowers people to manage their own health via the web and their mobile phone. The HEALTHeME platform combines clinical treatments and sophisticated artificial intelligence to create customized plans based on users’ lifestyles, health goals and personality type. Leveraging real-time coaching, social networks and the user’s own healthcare providers, HEALTHeME provides truly tailored care outside the clinic walls. Its first product scales obesity treatment and has been launched in three states including North Carolina. To date, data shows that HEALTHeME’s users’ achieve double the weight loss as other mobile health products at 3 months. Learn more at www.myhealtheme.com.
PowerChalk – Cary, NC
PowerChalk is the first and only web-based sports motion telestrator that lets users upload, markup and voiceover videos without installing high priced, hard to use (and harder to configure) software. Already in use by major league players and teams, PowerChalk is changing the face of sports instruction. Learn more at www.powerchalk.com.
RemedEase – Durham, NC
RemedEase offers a patented method and device as a new and novel treatment for nosebleeds, suffered by millions of Americans every day. It requires only that the device be slipped under the top lip where it significantly curtails the primary flow of blood to the nose in approximately 1-2 minutes. It is easily distinguished from other nosebleed products – none of which are both patented and FDA approved and all of which require that the device be inserted in the nose cavity directly, therefore being much more invasive to use.
Scion NeuroStim – Raleigh, NC
Scion NeuroStim has developed an inexpensive, non-invasive neurostimulator that is being used in a highly successful pilot study to treat migraine patients. The underlying science involves stimulation of innate protective pathways in the body to treat pain. The goal is to provide a device that can be used in either the physician’s office or eventually the patient’s home. The company’s current focus is on expanding clinical studies using the device and achieving FDA clearance for its commercialization.
Spring Metrics – Durham, NC
Spring Metrics helps you grow your online business by providing a deeper understanding of your customers and how they interact with your website. The company does this by making complex web analytics more friendly and digestible for marketers and e-commerce professionals who don’t want to wrestle with the complexity of traditional analytics products. With an easy-to-use interface that requires no coding knowledge, Spring Metrics eliminates the hassle of creating conversion funnels and goals. The company’s real-time dashboard offers an array of conversion-oriented metrics, and the Insight Engine unearths actionable patterns in the data—patterns that help you turn more visitors into paying customers. Learn more at www.springmetrics.com.
The upcoming Spring 2011 grant opportunity for North Carolina based companies will open in mid-February. Learn more about NC IDEA’s grant application process, timeline and criteria at www.ncidea.org.
Since its inception in 2006, NC IDEA’s grants program has awarded approximately $1.9M to 52 companies across the state, with these most recent awards being the tenth cycle of the program.
NC IDEA’s grants program is a catalyst for technological breakthroughs developed in North Carolina that have a significant potential to successfully transition into commercially viable high-growth enterprises. The grants, which are up to $50,000 per recipient, support business plan research and development, reduce risk of early failure and advance projects to the point of suitability for angel or venture capital investment.
Tags: HealtheMe, NC IDEA grants, PowerChalk, RemedEase, Scion NeuroStim, Spring Metrics
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
 DURHAM, NC – Five North Carolina startups will split $200,000 in grants from NC IDEA, which will also provide other services to the firms.
NC IDEA is an economic development organization that has pumped about $1.5 million into 42 startups since 2006.
The firms winning funds from this round of grants are:
Argyle, a company developing an SaaS platform to help marketers tie their social media to business outcomes. www.argylesocial.com
CertiRx Corp., an AuthentiForm Technologies company, is developing a system product that reduces the growing global risk of injury and death from counterfeit medicines. www.authentiform.com.
Dyzen Inc. provides a web-based solution to help improve the efficiency of scientific labs, offering a common interface platform for all aspects of the research process, including grant management, the generation of scientific data and lab organization.
EcoCurrent has developed an efficient and cost-effective gasification system that converts biomass feedstock to usable energy. The company’s initial focus is on farm- scale gasification of dried swine manure to generate electricity and carbon offset credits. www.ecocurrent.com.
EntoGenetics has developed a method for transferring a spider’s silk production gene into the common silkworm, creating for the first time a commercially viable method of spider silk production. This fiber will provide soldiers with life-saving vests that are tougher, lighter and more comfortable to wear than current vests made of Kevlar and other similar fibers. It will also be used in promising medical, aerospace and composite applications.
The upcoming grant opportunity for North Carolina based companies opens on Monday, February 22, 2010. For more information see: www.ncidea.org
Tags: Argyle, CertiRx, EcoCurrent, EntoGenetics, NC IDEA grants
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, IT, Money, North Carolina | No Comments »
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