PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 8, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) (www.sep.benfranklin.org) has approved funding for nine emerging companies that are well positioned to grow their enterprises and the Commonwealth's economy. A total of $2,025,000 has been approved for companies in such leading-edge areas as a car seatbelt lock that supplies better stability than conventional seat belts, technology that enables surgeons to create precisely controlled connections within the human body, and a system for the more accurate placement of catheters.
"The Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority is making targeted early-stage investments to bolster new technologies in medical sciences, advanced manufacturing, and data management that will secure our status as a national leader in this new economy," said Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonsky. "Governor Rendell has challenged the Ben Franklin Technology Partners with supporting innovation of new products, innovation in our processes, and innovation in our workforce. They are accepting and meeting this challenge."
BFTP/SEP's Vice President, Investment Group, Terrence H. Hicks said, "These nine, technology-based companies are poised for growth and have the potential to contribute substantially to the southeastern Pennsylvania economy."
The nine companies that BFTP/SEP has funded are:
Lap Belt Cinch, Inc. - Investment: $125,000
Lap Belt Cinch, Inc., which is relocating from the State of Delaware to Pennsylvania, invented and manufactures the patented seatbelt CG lock. The product attaches easily to existing seatbelts and allows the user to tighten the lap portion of the seat belt independent of the shoulder harness. Tests have proven that belts with the CG lock provided enhanced driver capabilities and added safety. Typical seatbelts in most vehicles are loose (have slack) and do not tighten except in the event of an impact which provides less stability than if the user were more secure in the seat. Lap Belt Cinch's product provides the option of a secure fit and the resulting safety benefits.
Wellspring Acquisitions, Inc., Bucks County - Investment: $250,000
Wellspring makes the proprietary ZigBee radio-based, utility sub-metering systems that allow building owners to increase earnings, and boost their property valuation by an amount nominally 10 times their investment. The systems produce a simple payback of their investment in less than 18 months. Wellspring reads over 60,000 meters every day, documenting an average 26% reduction in utility use, and 92% expense recovery from tenants. The company's business focuses on designing and selling its radio-meters to owners of multi-unit dwellings.
Logic Explorers, Inc. dba Altosoft Corporation, Delaware County - Investment: $300,000
Altosoft provides software products that enable private and public sector organizations to optimize their business processes. Unlike traditional approaches, Altosoft's products automatically and continuously monitor and analyze business processes so that any condition that requires attention is immediately routed to the optimal person(s) who can either use the information to maximize the benefit of an opportunity or mitigate the potential negative impact of an emerging problem. This product offering combines business activity monitoring (BAM), business intelligence (BI) and corporate/enterprise performance management (C/EPM) to improve operations in numerous ways across a wide variety of industries.
TMX Interactive, Inc., Montgomery County - Investment: $250,000
TMX Communications is an award-winning digital communications agency. It uses patented technologies with exceptional strategic planning and creative talent to enable leading global corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, EMC Corporation and Northwestern Mutual to begin to build stronger, more valuable lifetime commercial relationships with customers. Its breakthrough marketing and sales platform, TMX Communicator(tm), is a web-based sales force effectiveness application that sales representatives use to trigger targeted, compliance and brand approved communications directly to customers in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, and financial services.
Bioconnect Systems, Inc., Montgomery County - Investment: $250,000
Bioconnect Systems is developing technology that enables surgeons to create precisely controlled connections within the human body. The company's proprietary Optiflow(tm) technology provides a pre-formed conduit with a unique self-seal mechanism to eliminate the use of sutures, clips, staples or glue. The Optiflow(tm) platform is expected to transform traditionally labor intensive suturing techniques into precise and highly reproducible procedures.
Galleon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Philadelphia - Investment: $250,000
Galleon Pharmaceuticals is developing a lead product to treat sleep apnea and other respiratory drive, and rhythm disorders. One goal is to evaluate the efficacy through alveolar minute ventilation, pharmacodynamics and safety of GALL200 as a hypoxiamimetic agent, in patients to be weaned off mechanical ventilation. By determining the pharmacodynamic profile of GALL200 and its involvement in breathing drive in ventilator dependent patients, a subsequent program can be designed to achieve the goals of assessing GALL200 in sleep apnea patients and to create a specific oral dosage form customized for the sleep apnea indication and related sleep disorders.
LumenVu, Inc., Philadelphia - Investment: $250,000
LumenVu is developing a system for real-time monitoring of bedside placement of catheters using near infrared technology. The system uses an optical waveguide combined with a guidewire (or stylet) which is aligned with the tip of the catheter. The tip of the catheter is lighted using near infrared light from an external laser diode. Using a specialized camera, the lighted tip of the catheter is monitored as it progresses to the desired position within the body, and the images are viewed in real-time on a monitor at the patient's bedside. The system is intended to address the high (25 to 30%) failure rate for bedside placement of catheters which is currently performed without monitoring assistance or with assistance requiring software interpretation (magnetic guidance).
Topaz Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Montgomery County - Investment: $250,000
Topaz Pharmaceuticals LLC is a start-up company that plans to develop and market pediatric medicines. Its first product is expected to be ready for commercialization in 2009. Topaz is developing a topical form of ivermectin for the treatment of head lice. Near term plans of the company include the completion of the toxicology studies, IND filing and then completion of Phase I clinical studies. The company expects to develop additional indications covering other parasitic insects affecting human health.
Cogniscape, LLC, Delaware County - Investment: $100,000
Cogniscape, LLC is a Philadelphia-area software developer and service provider whose groundbreaking CogniViz software platform combines advanced querying and data management with flexible information visualization to answer complex business questions. Cogniscape markets a focused Sarbanes-Oxley compliance solution that allows enterprises to achieve true visibility into their financial reporting processes, IT systems, and control structures without replacing their existing systems. The CogniViz for Sarbanes-Oxley solution improves the efficiency of generating compliance-related reports, improves data traceability and credibility when dealing with auditors, and allows management to gain a truly global view of the complex interrelationships that are characteristic of today's complex compliance environments.
About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Since 1982, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) has served as a catalyst for stimulating entrepreneurial potential through the integration of systems designed to accelerate the transition of scientific discovery and technology development to commercialization. Part of a statewide network in Pennsylvania, BFTP/SEP provides entrepreneurs and established businesses the capital, knowledge, and networks they need to compete in the global marketplace. BFTP/SEP has provided more than $130 million to over 1,600 regional enterprises through various funding means. BFTP/SEP is a founding partner of the Nanotechnology Institute(tm)(NTI) and the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance (MANA(r)) and is funded by Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development. For additional information, visit www.sep.benfranklin.org.