On August 25 Metzger Associates, Holme Roberts and Owen LLP, and Investor Avenue.com presented the Summer InvestorAvenue Forum at Metzger’s Boulder offices. This invitation-only event featured ten startups – nine technology companies and a real estate development company – that each presented for five minutes. The audience was comprised of accredited investors, qualified purchasers, and institutional investors. A round table discussion followed featuring feedback from the audience regarding specific presentations. The presenting startups and companies were:
1CAVO seeks to help real estate brokers capitalize on online leads, almost half of which receive no follow up from agents. The company is working to create a model to evaluate lead quality that will allow brokers to focus interactions on those most likely to lead to actual sales.
GreenFly defines itself as a “social fabric,” or a service that enables sharing and broadcasting across a variety of platforms. Among the potential applications for the technology are “behavioral advertising”, which allows message targeting based on location, activity, and many other characteristics and essential business communication including messaging in crisis response situations.
Osmosis Pur Medical Skin Care provides a line of skin care products designed by Dr. Ben Johnson, who previously founded and sold another successful skin care company. Osmosis boasts impressive margins on its products that are sold at the offices of dermatologists and other physicians as well as spas.
RIVWorks allows companies to easily integrate video onto their e-commerce sites to enhance engagement and improve conversions. The company offers a variety of pre-recorded videos using live actors and a platform to easily insert these videos onto existing websites, substantially reducing the cost and time traditionally associated with developing video content.
PatientNow provides complete electronic medical records (ERM) and practice management software for physician offices, focusing on certain specialties including dermatology and primary care. The company believes the market is ripe for significant growth given the government rebates in excess of $40K per physician for adoption of ERM available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Toghers seeks to create an online resource to support family caregivers. The company’s website features a variety of plans to help families evaluate different situations (e.g. housing transition plan) and provides online coaching via phone, chat and email to support caregivers.
SpyderLynk provides companies the opportunity to make their traditional media advertising interactive. An ad in a magazine or on a sign containing a SnapTag (a circle containing the company’s logo and proprietary code) allows consumers to take a picture of the SnapTag with a camera phone and send it to a specified number. This interaction allows the company to respond in a variety of ways (e.g. coupon, special offer) and provides for better analytics on an ads impact.
VSE (Virtual Space Entertainment) seeks to create richer interactive media experiences that differ drastically from just watching video on a screen. Among the company’s current efforts are collaborations with National Geographic to provide virtual tours of landmarks including The Terra Cotta Warriors and projects with college stores to create a more interactive online shopping experience.
UGC Media, rounding out the technology offerings, chose not to be a part of this summary.
The lone real estate presentation of the day came from Takoda, a large residential development in Louisville, Colorado, which recently headed Money Magazine’s list of the top places to live. At completion, the development will include a total of over 300 detached homes, town houses, and condos.
The Investor Forum is a medium for entrepreneurs to engage with accredited investors. For an invitation to the next event, please see the following page for details. The next Forum will take place in six to ten weeks.
