2009 FiReStarters
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American CareSource Holdings, the first national, publicly traded ancillary care network services company, offers a comprehensive national network of approximately 2,500 ancillary service providers at over 25,000 sites through its subsidiary, Ancillary Care Services. The company’s ancillary network and management provide a complete outsourced solution for a wide variety of healthcare payors and plan sponsors, including self-insured employers, indemnity insurers, PPOs, HMOs, third-party administrators, and both federal and local governments.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Jeb Terry, CEO, Aberdeen Investment Management, Inc.
Participating at FiRe 2009
David Boone, Director, President, and CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Visit American CareSource online at: www.anci-care.com
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Attensity Group provides business user applications that generate value from unstructured data. Its comprehensive family of solutions leverages semantic analytics to enable knowledge management professionals, business leaders, customer support personnel, and customers to interpret and manage an organization’s unstructured data to get relevant and actionable answers – fast. Attensity Group’s award-winning software is in use by more than 250 of the Global 1000 and by large government agencies to deliver powerful insights, enhance operational efficiency, reduce risk exposure, and ensure increased customer satisfaction.
Attensity Group, with more than 500 installations worldwide, services customers from multiple offices in the U.S. and Europe. The company’s go-to-market entities are Attensity Americas and Empolis in the EMEA region. Attensity is the winner of the 2009 SSPA Innovation Award. Attensity Group’s corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Niall Davis and Uwe Feuersenger; Partners, aeris CAPITAL AG
Participating at FiRe 2009
Ian Hersey, Global CTO and EVP, Products (FiRe Speaker)
Craig Norris, Managing Director, The AmericasVisit Attensity Group online at: www.attensitygroup.com
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Avatar Reality delivers next-generation 3D virtual world software that offers revolutionary levels of interactivity, fidelity, and scale. Its premiere new massively multiplayer virtual world, Blue Mars, offers game developers, digital entrepreneurs, educators, and corporations unique new ways to play, profit, learn, and collaborate. Using Blue Mars, businesses can develop their own cities, games, digital goods, experiments, and social exhibitions for massive worldwide audiences.
Blue Mars features class-leading CryENGINE™2 powered graphics for breathtakingly realistic avatars and environments. The engine has been enhanced with custom hair, skin, and cloth shaders along with multi-threaded performance optimizations and MMO server integration.
Unlike legacy 3D virtual worlds, the Blue Mars platform supports thousands of simultaneous users per region. Using Blue Mars, content developers can create truly scalable attractions without worrying about turning customers away because of restrictive user limits.
Blue Mars’ robust content management system gives IP holders the control they need to protect their users and their brands from inappropriate content.
The platform’s secure transaction backend supports micro-transactions, pay to play, trial to buy, and subscription services so developers can choose the business model that suits them the best.
The Blue Mars asset pipeline supports industry standard content creation tools like 3DSMax and Maya, along with Flash-based HUD and UI elements
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Michael Pfeffer; Managing Partner, Koholala Ventures
Participating at FiRe 2009
Jim Sink, Vice President of Business Development (FiRe Speaker)
Henk Rogers, Founder, Avatar Reality; Co-Founder and Chairman (FiRe Speaker)Visit Avatar Reality online at: www.avatar-reality.com
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The Blue Lava Technologies product “iLovePhotos” is free software for your Mac that solves a very simple problem: people have too many photos on their hard drive, and they never have time to look at them.
iLovePhotos uses facial detection to make it effortless to organize, share, and enjoy your photos. Its desktop software applies advanced technology to automatically create personalized slideshows for your friends and family to watch on the Web, iPhone, and TV. Given thousands of personal photos, iLovePhotos automatically creates new 60-second slideshows every day. It’s like a personalized radio station for your pictures.
iLovePhotos is not creating a photo management platform as much as a photo enjoyment platform. Unlike traditional photo platforms that emphasize archiving, organization, or printing, iLovePhotos sees organizing as a necessary evil. Its technology makes organization extremely fast and simple, but the end goal is to use organizational data to make it effortless to enjoy your photos in a slideshow format on any platform. Put simply: iLovePhotos brings your photos back into your life.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Michael Pfeffer; Managing Partner, Koholala Ventures
Participating at FiRe 2009
Henk Rogers, Founder, Avatar Reality; Co-Founder and Chairman (FiRe Speaker)
Lorenz Sell, Co-founder and CEOVisit Blue Lava Technologies online at: www.bluelavatech.com
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ClearFuels Technology Inc. is a leading developer of advanced biorefineries based on its High Efficiency Hydrothermal Reformer (HEHTR) platform. This unique thermochemical biomass-to-syngas (BTG) technology, when combined with multiple gas-to-liquids platforms, can convert various mixed cellulosic biomass feedstocks into high-value clean energy products including renewable Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesel, jet fuel, hydrogen, renewable electricity, and ethanol at industry-leading yields. ClearFuels’ strategy for near-term commercial production will be driven from the same BTG technology platform regardless of feedstock or end products while decreasing both feedstock cost and end-product commodity risks.
ClearFuels intends to integrate all of its commercial facilities with existing sugar mills and wood product facilities, providing access to onsite, non-food-based biomass while further reducing operating costs and increasing process efficiencies. Construction of a demonstration plant for biomass to renewable FT diesel is scheduled for completion in 2010. Development of five U.S. commercial-scale biorefineries is targeted for completion by 2015 and expected to have an aggregate capacity of more than 100 million gallons of advanced renewable fuels and 30 MW of renewable power.
ClearFuels is led by highly experienced professionals in the cellulosic ethanol, sugar, and utility-scale and renewable-power industries who have held senior positions with organizations such as Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., Bechtel Construction Corp., Black & Veatch, U.S. Generating Co., General Electric, Peter Kiewit Sons Inc., and the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research. ClearFuels is headquartered in the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center in Aiea, Hawaii.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Michael Pfeffer; Managing Partner, Koholala Ventures
Participating at FiRe 2009
Eric Darmstaedter, CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Steve Sharpe, Capital Markets AdvisorVisit ClearFuels Technology Inc. online at: www.clearfuels.com
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Founded in 2006, Complete Genomics is a California company that has developed a novel approach to sequencing human DNA. Complete Genomics plans to combine its proprietary third-generation DNA sequencing technology and its high-performance computing capabilities to create a human genome sequencing service that will deliver low-cost, high-quality data on an unprecedented scale. The company is currently building the world’s largest human genome sequencing center. This development will allow pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, for the first time, to conduct large-scale human genome studies that will help identify the genetic underpinnings of complex diseases and drug responses.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Rick LeFaivre; Managing Director, OVP Venture Partners
Participating at FiRe 2009
Clifford Reid, Chairman, President, and CEO
Aaron Solomon, Vice President of Business Development (FiRe Speaker)Visit Complete Genomics online at: www.completegenomics.com
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Since the inception of Rearden Commerce in late 1999, founder and CEO Patrick Grady has been building the company in its mission to revolutionize the way companies and individuals buy and manage services online, and to deliver the ultimate Internet personal assistant. Its flagship product, the Rearden Personal Assistant™, is an intelligent Web and mobile application that provides companies and individuals with one place to conveniently purchase a variety of services, such as travel, entertainment, shipping, and conferencing. Companies can establish and enforce corporate spending policies that deliver significant cost savings, while employees can easily find the services they need at the best value. The Rearden Personal Assistant is the only online destination one need visit to find and book a range of services, whether based on company policies, personal preferences, location, or the context of a given project.
Participating at FiRe 2009
Patrick Grady, Founder, Chairman, and CEO
Ravi Chiruvolu, Board Director (FiRe Speaker)Visit Rearden Commerce online at: www.reardencommerce.com
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SIMtone Corp. makes cloud computing universally simple. The company has developed and commercialized the patented SIMtone Universal Computing Platform, which allows network operators and businesses to host, manage, and quickly provision any cloud-hosted services and ubiquitously deliver them to zero-touch terminals that can be standalone, low-cost hardware appliances, or software terminals usable via browsers or on PCs, thin clients, and mobile devices. With the SIMtone, cloud services such as virtual desktops, DaaS/SaaS, PC Remote Access, or Web services are simple and very inexpensive to host and manage for businesses and providers, and become usable without a computer, on-demand and on-the-fly, simply and safely, by everyone, everywhere. SIMtone Corp.’s North American headquarters are based in Durham, North Carolina and SIMtone International headquarters are based in Vevey, Switzerland. SIMtone is a privately held company.
Participating at FiRe 2009
Mario Dal Canto, Chairman and CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Lorenzo Mejia, Senior EVP and CFO
Misha Nossik, EVP, Corporate DevelopmentVisit SIMtone Corp. online at: www.SIMtone.net
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SkyFiber Inc. develops patented wireless light communication products that address the rapidly growing global requirements for fast, secure, and affordable wireless communication solutions. SKYFIBER ™ solutions can economically augment or replace traditional fiberoptic and microwave technologies to meet customer needs for mobility backhaul, enterprise, and campus area networks; last-mile connectivity; secure private data networks; and emergency response networks.
Drawing on the strength of a deep patent portfolio, SKYFIBER has overcome the reliability and distance limitations of earlier generations of free space optics (FSO) technologies. In customer implementations, SKYFIBER products have delivered 99.999% reliability, even in extraordinarily heavy fog, rain, and smog conditions. Additional SKYFIBER benefits include:
Deployment in a fraction of the time and cost required for traditional solutions such as fiberoptics and microwave communication
No FCC licensing requirements
Industry’s smallest physical footprint, reducing the complexities of zoning, site access, and lease costs
Patented separation of antenna and electronics, requiring no rooftop power
Zero RF footprint, ensuring the most secure network transmission available
Lower power consumption and elimination of microwave smog results in an eco-friendly “green” solution
Exclusive patent for Point to Multipoint (PtMP) mesh networking
All of these innovations combine to uniquely enable accelerated growth of market share and revenue, ensuring the highest rates of OPEX and CAPEX savings available in the industry.
The demand for next-generation free-space optical technologies is here. SKYFIBER is prepared to lead the industry in providing wireless light networks to connect the world.
For more information, please email info@skyfiber.com.Participating at FiRe 2009
David Achim, President and COO (FiRe Speaker)
Mark Doucet, Chairman, CEO, and CTO
Adrian Steckel, Vice Chairman of SkyFiberVisit SkyFiber Inc online at: www.skyfiber.com
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A leader in mobile advertising, Smaato Inc. has created a mobile ad network aggregation exchange with 20+ international ad networks and growing, serving more than 200 countries with a unprecedented fill rate of over 95%. Smaato’s value proposition is its unique ability to aggregate multiple leading ad sales networks globally to maximize mobile advertising ARPU.
The company’s core product – the open mobile advertising platform SOMA – connects ad sales networks, ad inventory owners (developers, publishers, and operators), and third-party ad technology providers. Smaato’s key advantage is the platform’s ability to dynamically optimize the targeted filling of ad requests in real time from its portfolio of ad sales networks to maximize the value of the publisher’s ad space and enables advertising on mobile phones within applications and in mobile Internet sites with dynamic response and targeting functionality.
Smaato is an active member of leading mobile industry organizations such as the Mobile Marketing Association. Smaato received the Launch Silicon Valley Award as the company “Most Likely to Succeed” and the “Top 100 Private Company” award by AlwaysOn Media (2009 and 2007), and was an Andrew Seybold Choice awards finalist at CTIA 2008 for “Best Newcomer.”
Founded in August 2005 by a team of experienced multinational executives, the privately held company is headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, with employees in the USA and Germany.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Niall Davis and Uwe Feuersenger; Partners, aeris CAPITAL AG
Participating at FiRe 2009
Ragnar Kruse, Co-founder and CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Petra Vorsteher, Executive Vice President and Co-founderVisit Smaato Inc. online at: www.smaato.com
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“This year there will be over $500M in lost economic value from the PV solar installations made in 2008 due to the inefficiency of harvesting power output from the modules. While the solar industry invests heavily to bring new photovoltaic material to market to address future cost and efficiency, Tigo Energy has developed a Distributed Inverter System Solution which will immediately return from 7-20% upside power from today’s traditionally architected systems. As a “CapEx neutral” system, achieved through the re-partitioning of system electronics, the value of increased power generation is available to the system owner in the first year. Operational expenses (cost-of-ownership) are also reduced through increased system reliability, safety enhancements and advanced module-level management for granular maintenance and warrantee service.”
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Rick LeFaivre; Managing Director, OVP Venture Partners
Participating at FiRe 2009
Sam Arditi, CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Jeff Krisa, Vice President, Marketing and Sales (FiRe Speaker)Visit Tigo Energy online at: www.tigoenergy.com
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TTTech Computertechnik AG is the leading supplier of dependable networking solutions based on time-triggered technology. The company’s products improve the safety and dependability of networked computer systems in transportation and automation industries. Worldwide market leaders are using TTTech’s time-triggered products in commercial production programs for the automotive, aerospace, and off-highway industries. TTTech solutions are deployed in applications in the Airbus A380, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and the next generation of the Audi A8, among others.
The solutions are based on TTP® and TTEthernet™. FlexRay™ offerings are provided by TTTech’s subsidiary, TTTech Automotive. TTTech’s product range enhances the approach to handle safety-critical data communication with respect to cost, safety, and development efficiency.
FiReSpotter: VC Partner: Niall Davis and Uwe Feuersenger; Partners, aeris CAPITAL AG
Participating at FiRe 2009
Georg Kopetz, Member of the Executive Board (FiRe Speaker)
Kurt Doppelbauer, DirectorVisit TTTech Computertechnik AG online at: www.tttech.com
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Vesta Health Systems Inc., with its technology partner Dolki, of Seoul, South Korea, is bringing a rule-changing non-antibiotic anti-infective to the world. The most significant aspect of this technology is that it can be applied to human mucosa (eye, nose, mouth, lungs, and vagina). Therefore, there is promise to affect chronic sinusitis, common cold, HPV, pneumonia, and other conditions. The technology platform produces LOW concentrations of hypochlorous acid (3.5 PPM) simply, portably, and economically.
Kill rates are Log 7-plus for a wide range of microbes in 30 seconds, significantly bettering existing approaches, yet our LOW concentration HOCL is benign enough to drink. The economics are substantive – a 2 billion U.S. annual market for OTC anti-infectives alone. Other important non-economic benefits include the increased reach of anti-infectives to the third world and a green platform. The IP portfolio supporting this innovation can be deployed in health, dentistry, agriculture, food, hospitality, and the home. Clinical studies are under way, and a peer-reviewed study was published in October 2008 showing the efficacy of LOW concentration hypochlorous acid in-vitro. Over $250,000 USD of the product has been sold in Korea over the last three years. Vesta is seeking venture funding to address productization and regulatory clearance in order to monetize the IP by way of licensing.
Participating at FiRe 2009
Alan Smith, Founder and CEO (FiRe Speaker)
Chil-Young Kim, Technology Partner, Vesta Health Systems Inc.;Visit Vesta Health Systems Inc. online at: www.vestahealthsystems.com