SPRING 2015
THE ART OF
BIG DATA EXAPTIVE
ANALYZES AND REPURPOSES LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA
VEIN PROTECTION
COMPRESSION SOLUTIONS PROTECTS PATIENTS FROM DANGEROUS BLOOD CLOTS AFTER SURGERY
THE REAL SMARTHOME
SMART PANEL PROVIDES HOMEOWNERS CONTROL OF ELECTRIC USE
We’re Proud to Help
OKLAHOMA GROW Comprised of over 175 Oklahoma corporations and business groups, the Oklahoma Business Roundtable serves as the state’s major economic development support organization. We are a collaborative non-profit group whose sole purpose is advancing Oklahoma’s economic development – through business start-up, expansion, recruitment and quality improvement programs.
During the past 23 years, the Roundtable has supported hundreds of state, national and international business promotion activities resulting in millions of dollars of new corporate investment throughout Oklahoma. Our members are committed to the growth and diversification of our state’s economy.
We invite you to join us in our efforts! Contact us today. Rhonda Hooper Roundtable Chairman Jordan Advertising, Oklahoma City OklahOma Business ROundtaBle 655 ReseaRch PaRkway, suite 420 OklahOma city, OklahOma 73104 405-235-3787
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BUILDING A STRONGER OKLAHOM A
www.okbusinessroundtable.com
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INSIDE
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i&E Profiles Valve Systems International 6 SmartPanel 8 Machine Party 10 Compression Solutions 12 Meeting the Energy Challenge 14 Energy & Environmental Services embraces new ideas to expand presence in the oil field.
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Taking Flight 16 Boston-born Exaptive find welcoming home in Oklahoma as it provides a way to analyze and repurpose large caches of data. Validation Sticks 20 New entrepreneurs discover i2E’s Venture Assessment Program to reach out to potential customers and validate their concept. OKBIO Section OK BIO Delegation 22 Tetherex 23 Oklahoma Blood Institute 24 Drik, LLC 25
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24 innovators & Entrepreneurs is produced by i2E, Inc., manager of the Oklahoma Technology Commercialization Center. For more information on any content contained herein, please contact i2E at 800-337-6822. Š Copyright 2015 i2E, Inc. All rights reserved.
i2E TEAM
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The i2E management and staff is composed of professionals with extensive experience in technology commercialization, business development, venture investing, finance, organizational.
Howard G. Barnett, Jr., Chairman OSU-Tulsa, OSU-CHS
Scott Meacham President & CEO Rex Smitherman Senior Vice President, Operations Sarah Seagraves Senior Vice President, Marketing Mark Lauinger Senior Vice President, Client Services Tom Francis Director of Funds Administration Judy Beech Director of Finance Elaine Hamm Venture Advisor & Director, Proof of Concept Center Richard Rainey Venture Advisor & Director, OSCR Program Kevin Moore Venture Advisor & SeedStep Angel Manager Claire Robison Venture Advisor
Stephen Prescott, Vice Chair OMRF Michael LaBrie, Secretary McAfee & Taft Leslie Batchelor Center for Economic Development Law
Jay Calhoun Cherokee National Businesses Michael Carolina OCAST Rita Combs REYAP Youth Programs Steve Cropper
Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Duane Wilson LDW Services, LLC
PA R T N E R S Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST)
Elizabeth Frame Ellison Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Carl Edwards Price Edwards Company Oklahoma Business Roundtable Presbyterian Health Foundation
Darcy Wilborn Client Engagement Director
Brad Krieger Arvest Bank
Cindy Williams Underwriting Coordinator & Investment Compliance Officer
Philip Kurtz CareATC
Kate Nelson Administrative Assistant
Brien Thorstenberg Tulsa Regional Chamber
U.S. Economic Development Administration
Scott Thomas IT Manager
Jennifer Buettner Executive Assistant
Wes Stucky Development Management, Inc.
Philip Eller Eller Detrich, P.C.
Suzette Hatfield Crawley Ventures
Shaun Fair Underwriting Specialist
Craig Shimasaki Moleculera Labs
Robert Brearton Richard Williamson T.D. Williamson American Fidelity Assurance Company
Joseph J. Ferretti James Lovely University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Venture Advisor
Katelynn Henderson Events Specialist
Darryl Schmidt BancFirst
Hershel Lamirand III Capital Development Strategies Merl Lindstrom Phillips 66
City of Oklahoma City Oklahoma Business Roundtable Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation American Fidelity Foundation Presbyterian Health Foundation Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation The Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Oklahoma Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative
Fred Morgan The State Chamber David Myers Ponca City Development Authority David Pitts Stillwater National Bank Mark Poole Summit Bank Theresa Rose Chesapeake Meg Salyer Accel Financial Staffing
www.i2E.org
facebook.com/OKGOVCUP twitter.com/i2E_Inc
Welcome from Scott Meacham ABOUT i2E WE INVEST IN ENTREPRENEURS TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL HIGH GROWTH OKLAHOMA COMPANIES Over our 16-year history, i2E’s nationally recognized services have provided business expertise and funding to more than 620 of Oklahoma’s emerging small businesses. With more than $48 million of investment capital under management, we are focused on serving companies in all phases of the business life cycle, from startups looking for their first round of capital all the way to established businesses seeking funding to expand their markets or products. We also are helping lead new business developments into the marketplace more efficiently and more quickly while providing guidance to bring more funding to Oklahoma’s researchers and entrepreneurs. Through our proven business and venture development process, we turn ideas into successful enterprises ... i2E.
W H AT W E D O • Evaluate the market potential of new concepts • Assist with evaluation of business plans, marketing plans and raising capital • Provide guidance in building a management team, business structure and financial forecasting • Assist with developing an effective investor presentation • Assist in obtaining funding through federal grant programs • Work with research universities to encourage commercialization of research technologies • Provide grant capital assistance and equity investment
Oklahoma’s entrepreneurial environment not only encourages innovators to push ahead with their new ideas to address a big market problem, but it is fertile ground for those who are bringing new concepts into the state, as well. As a prime example, I would like to introduce you to Bostonborn Exaptive, which has created a software platform that lets other innovators find new uses for their own concepts. Exaptive took its name from the term “exaptation” which is the concept of finding new uses for existing ideas, concepts or technologies. Exaptive’s founder and CEO Dave King discovered a welcoming environment in the state when he decided to relocate the company to Oklahoma after his wife gained a job as professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma. King planted Exaptive in downtown Oklahoma City and has become a part of the vibrant new entrepreneurial culture that is growing our community. The MIT-trained entrepreneur discovered networking and speaking opportunities in Oklahoma City, as well as clients. Since coming to Oklahoma last June, Exaptive became an i2E client, its CFO spoke at the Oklahoma Venture Forum, and the company gained its first Oklahoma customer in Moleculera Labs. Welcome to Oklahoma, Dave. (See story, page 16) As usual, this edition of i&E magazine is filled with native born startups and entrepreneurs who are working to make their ideas into success. We profile four of our newest clients in a wide variety of industries for you in this magazine. We tell the story of Valve Systems International, which has developed a new style of highpressure valve and fluid control device (page 6). There is Machine Party, which has developed an online trading platform where buyers and sellers of specialized machine parts can find one another and set up trading terms. Machine Party even provides temporary financing. (page 10). Smart Panel has created a truly “smart home” by letting home owners control electric flow to rooms and wall outlets by setting its control box at the home’s electrical panel (page 8). Compression Solutions has designed specialized equipment that reduces the risk of blood clots and often-fatal pulmonary embolisms in patients recovering from surgery (page 12). Other stories in this edition of i&E magazine provide a glimpse at a new i2E program known as the Venture Assessment Program for startups (page 20), and a look at an old-line energy supply business called Energy & Environmental Services that expanded its presence in the oilfield with innovative new ideas (page 14). As always, I encourage you to spend some time with this magazine and discover some of the encouraging, innovative concepts that are emerging in Oklahoma. – Scott Meacham President & CEO Spring 2015
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Profiles Valve Systems International
Let It Flow Valve Systems International designs valves to withstand erosion forces in high pressure use During a 25 year career as a control valve engineer, Mark Lobo became well acquainted with how quickly internal valve components can be damaged during use. While regulating the flow of high pressure fluids, the fluid forces can kill the control valve. “Severe service” valves regulate the flow of fluids under thousands of pounds per square inch of pressure. The pressure could exist at a gas well head or within an industrial process. Actuators cause control valves to accurately change restriction to maintain a prescribed fluid flow rate as system demands or pressure and temperature changes. “A control valve applied in severe service even for relatively short periods of time can lose accuracy and eventually lose the ability to control the flow due to damaged internal parts,” Lobo said. Worst case, well head fluid can erode the valve walls and leak into the atmosphere. Lobo has designed a valve employing a patent pending actuation system that has reduced internal erosion potential of severe service valves. This permits the valve to exceed the performance of current control valves in the severe service market. Tulsa-based Valve Systems International (VSI) was founded to develop the new valve system and advance it to the market. Before the first physical prototype was created, Lobo verified his design concept through a series of computer simulation analyses that allowed him to predict fluid flow performance. The Inventor’s Assistance Service at Oklahoma State University provided input into the design of the new control valve system. 6
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“The valve has been designed through an iterative process involving traditional analysis and substantial computer simulation in order to verify it will meet the high performance requirements for severe service,” Lobo said. Unlike conventional valves, Lobo’s design does not require fluids to make drastic turns before and after passing through the valve’s restriction.
After graduating from Oklahoma State University in 1971, Lobo’s engineering career included more than 20 years as Supervisor of Valve Engineering for Badger Meter, Inc., five years as COO and Engineer for Cyclonic Valve Co., and five years in private practice as principal of Lobo Engineering PLC. Lobo’s control valve experience led him to develop the VSI system. Potential
Mark Lobo, P.E. Founder & CEO Year Founded 2010 Location Tulsa, OK Employees 1
Product or technology VSI is developing a fluid control valve employing a patent pending rotary-to-linear actuation system. Market Severe service control valves for the oil and gas industry and other high pressure fluid systems. Future plans The actuation system could apply in products ranging from jet engines to amusement park rides. Funding VSI has turned to i2E and the SeedStep Angels for initial investment capital to support development of the innovative control valve.
industry customers have shown interest in incorporating VSI’s new control valves into their operations. “When I have described the design, the response has been positive without exception,” he said. “While the companies using the valves will collaborate on this pre-production work, VSI’s target customers are control valve manufacturers who would license the technology and apply it to their own products.” Valve Systems International has created a new product that serves a segment of the $6 billion worldwide control valve market. Lobo has turned to i2E and the SeedStep Angels for the investment capital required for developing his severe service control valve positioned squarely in that segment. Next steps for the company includes production of valves for field testing as the advanced technology works its way to the market.
Successes A patent published in November 2014 is currently under review by the U.S. Patent Office. The VSI technology is also protected by international filing under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. vsillc.com
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Profiles SmartPanel, LLC
SmartPanel Brings Intelligent Solution to ‘Smart Home’ Power Management Oklahoma City-based company controls home electricity use at the ‘natural hub’ of home power use
T
he “Smart Home” isn’t really smart. In fact, homes using so-called smart thermostats address only 26 percent of home energy use, leaving 74 percent of a typical home’s electricity use uncontrolled. Some smart homes tackle energy use by controlling electricity at the plug level. But with the cost of individual plug controllers often in excess of $50 each, many of the average 40 sockets in a home are left with no controllers and it is hard to make an energy cost saving justification for those that are controlled. An Oklahoma City-based company called SmartPanel is working to make the Smart Home a whole lot smarter. “SmartPanel is seeking to monitor and control electricity at the natural hub in the home, the circuit breaker,” said Tom
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Hughes, founder of the company. “Competing energy management technologies focus on switching power at switches and receptacles.” By placing a single device at the breaker, the homeowner controls every electrical load in the house with the one device. Hughes is a well-respected engineer who has worked in both the power and energy industries. He was named one of the Top 20 Engineers Under 40 by Engineering New Record and one of the Top 40 Engineering Leaders Under 40 by Plant & Controls Magazine. Hughes conceived the idea of an automated breaker in 2012 during a long commute through the Nevada desert, where he realized the home circuit breaker panel is the natural hub for electricity in the home.
The patent-pending SmartPanel is the result of Hughes’ epiphany. The SmartPanel is a totally enclosed device, composed of a series of digitally controlled relays that allow consumers to turn energy loads on and off at the circuit level. This single piece of hardware communicates with Web-connected devices to give users the ability to see which circuits are on and off and set user-friendly schedules to automatically turn on and off certain circuits at specified times. The company is pursuing partnering agreements with utilities and cooperatives as its entry into the market. Early stage development of the SmartPanel has been completed and the company is moving into the prototyping stage of its development.
Tom Hughes Founder and CEO Year Founded 2012 Location Oklahoma City, OK Employees 4
“The next stage of technical development requires a more robust prototype and advanced development of control software,” Hughes said. “We have brought in a director of technology for the second level of hardware/software development.” After a fully functional prototype is complete, SmartPanel will take the design to a UL-certified manufacturer for final redesign and UL testing, after which the product will be ready for launch. SmartPanel first reached out to i2E in 2012 and has since drawn on expertise of i2E advisors in business planning and commercial development of the technology. It also participated in i2E’s Immersion Program for early stage ventures. “While technical development is under way, SmartPanel is engaging future customer directly in a sales and marketing campaign,” Hughes said. When the SmartPanel technology is fully developed, the Smart Home will finally live up to its name.
BEDROOM
HOT WATER
LIVING ROOM
Product or technology A device that connects to the circuit breaker in a home and controls the power usage in a “holistic” manner Market Home energy management systems that currently are addressed at the individual plug level or through smart thermostats. Future plans SmartPanel has several other concepts for growing news technologies in both the energy efficiency and home energy management space. Funding Self-funded early on along with i2E Immersion Program funding. Successes The company has completed early stage development of its patent-pending technology and now has moved into the prototyping phase of the SmartPanel. www.smart-panel.net
BEDROOM
BONUS ROOM
PORCH
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Profiles MachineParty Inc.
in the Machine Shop MachineParty creates trading floor for buyers and sellers of hard-to-find machine parts
L
et’s say you are project manager for a factory under construction in India. You need specialized machine parts to complete your project, but find it challenging to connect with a seller of those parts. Where do you turn to find those machine parts? This is the dilemma that Tulsa-based MachineParty was created to solve. Founded in 2014 by Will McKee and cofounders that include Denis Clijsters, Matt McKee, Ben Kimbro, Peter Wieben and Sreekar Shastry, the idea for MachineParty came out of Will McKee’s experience in building factories and production machines around the world. Will McKee is a Tulsa native whose family owned a foundry, providing him with experience in pouring bronze and making castings. The family’s other business is an engineering firm that designs and builds foundry equipment. McKee has traveled the world, building foundries and installing equipment in Romania, Egypt and India among other locations. He learned first-hand the difficulties of connecting with suppliers of specialized parts and then negotiating terms for completing the transaction. “MachineParty addresses problems all
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through the workflow of industry,” McKee said. “We’ve developed a simple platform that solves the buyer’s difficulty in sourcing parts, the seller’s need for leads and a company’s need to manage cashflow.” To facilitate a virtual trading floor on which buyers and sellers will connect, MachineParty is constructing its own social networking site for companies to use. It functions in similar fashion to how social media giant Twitter operates. Users of the MachineParty site will see “meeps” from other users cascading down the screen, filtered by the use of hashtags. “A buyer needs a machined item,” McKee explains. “They ‘meep’ with a tag ‘machineshop’ or ‘machining.’ If the seller is a machinest, they will filter meeps with the same tags. A seller can filter by hundreds of tags.” MachineParty adds values to the workflow in the variety of ways. It will synchronize all the parts numbers, something that industries and governments the world over have been trying to do for years. And it will act as a clearinghouse broker between buyers and sellers. The company will generate revenue by offering finance terms to buyers, as well as meeting payment terms for sellers where sellers may want pay-
ment within 30 days or even upon shipping. “This is the clearinghouse principal,” McKee said. “Buyers want extended terms while sellers want their money now. MachineParty permits this. We are taking three old types of financial products, using them all together and coming up with a clearing house – PO financing, factoring and credit insurance.” McKee and the MachineParty team connected with i2E after hearing its name come up around Tulsa while pitching the company’s concept to people. “When we got to a certain point in development, we felt it was time to connect,” McKee said. “Every meeting we have had with i2E has been interesting and full of probing questions that help us think and rethink.” Machineparty.com is up and running with beta users trying it out to hone the user experience before it goes live to buyers and sellers around the world. The MachineParty is a play on the words “machine parts,” McKee said. “We like to say ‘MachineParty, it’s what technology wants,” he said. “Hey, a factory is just one big machine party.”
Will McKee Co-founder and CEO Year Founded 2014 Location Tulsa, OK Employees 13
Product or technology MachineParty is developing a social network for manufacturing that acts as a clearinghouse for machine parts transactions between buyers and sellers. Market The company is targeting manufacturing and production manufacturing industries, Future plans After the MachineParty website is up and running for buyers and sellers around the world, it will begin offering finance services to both parties of transactions. Funding The company’s early stages have been funded by friend and family. Successes Developing a working website has been MachineParty’s most significant milestone to date. www.machineparty.com
“We are taking three old types of financial products, using them all together and coming up with a clearing house – PO financing, factoring and credit insurance.”
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Profiles Compression Solutions
Risk Aversion Compression Solutions reduces chance of death caused by blood clots after surgery What if two Boeing 747 jetliners crashed every day for a year, taking the lives of every passenger who was aboard? It would be a disaster of unparalleled proportions, with the public demanding halts to all flights until ways were devised to lower the risk of flying. Well, it turns out there is a medical condition that claims 300,000 Americans annually – the equivalent to two 747s crashing every single day for a year – and it rarely receives a headline. The condition is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which are blood clots that develop deep in the veins, usually in the legs, often after surgery when blood is naturally clotting. When a blood clot dislodges and travels to the lung it can form an often-fatal
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pulmonary embolism (PE), which obstructs breathing. Tulsa-based Compression Solutions has developed technology to prevent DVT and its devastating impacts. Compression Solutions provides an FDAapproved mechanical compression device known as the Triple Play VT® for in-home use by patients recovering from surgery. The Triple Play VT was developed by company founder Mark Farrow, who has been a durable medical equipment provider for 25 years. Farrow started JPS Medical in 1999 and in 2001 purchased Orthopedic Resources, which evolved into Compression Solutions in 2012 with a sole focus on compression products and DVT prevention. Farrow developed the Triple Play VT in 2009 for use in surgical facilities and for
recovery at home. “Surgical patients are at their highest risk of DVT five to 10 days after surgery when they are recovering at home,” Farrow said. “Compression Solutions provides DTV takehome prevention.” Patients who have undergone hip- or knee-replacement surgeries are particularly at risk from DVT, he said. Compression Solutions has added the Triple Play Pro to its product lineup to add power and features for clinical use. The Triple Play Pro pump starts DVT prevention at the hospital before the patient transitions home with the Triple Play VT. Additionally, the Triple Play Pro offers cold and compression therapy for orthopedic patients to alleviate pain and swelling while in recovery.
Mark Farrow Founder & CEO Location Tulsa, OK Year Founded 2012 Employees 45
Product or technology The Triple Play VT and Triple Play Pro prescription compression products for prevention of deep vein thrombosis and cold and compression therapy, as well as the PowerPlay non-prescriptive cold and compression therapy product for use in physical therapy clinics and by athletic trainers and athletes. Market Compression Solutions’ Triple Play products target the hospital and surgical centers as well as orthopedic surgeons. The PowerPlay product targets physical therapists, athletic trainers, athletes and persons with chronic joint pain. Future Plans The company is more actively pursuing the hospital market in order to help
“Both the Triple Play Pro and Triple Play VT offer DVT prevention as well as optional cold and compression therapy to reduce pain and swelling at the surgical site,” Farrow said. The combination of Compression Solutions’ Triple Play VT device and blood thinners has shown to reduce risk of deep vein thrombosis for recovering surgical patients by up to 75 percent. Farrow also developed the Power Play® cold and compression therapy device for physical therapy clinics, therapists, athletic trainers and athletes. Compression Solutions connected with i2E through OCAST, and the relationship has developed into a valuable relationship for the company. “We look at i2E as being a great resource for information and connections to help us accomplish our goals in continuing to innovate our products,” Farrow said. The Compression Solution products are currently used in hundreds of ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals across the U.S., with thousands of patients using their products while they are at home recovering from surgery or unable to get up and walk around. Meanwhile, the PowerPlay technology is used in physical therapy clinics and by athletic trainers at the high school, college and professional levels. For patients using Compression Solution products, the bottom line is a faster, safer recovery.
protect their patients in the hospital and when they go home to recover. Funding Self funded, but now looking at other funding options to accelerate growth. Successes The most significant milestone was the development of the Triple Play VT product in 2009. www.compressionsolutions.us
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Profiles EES Energy & Environmental Services
A Challenge Met Employees at OKC’s Energy & Environmental Services step up to implement ideas for products, manufacturing
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el Smith set an incredible growth trajectory into motion less than four years ago with a challenge he issued employees of Oklahoma City-based Energy & Environmental Services, Inc. (EES). EES, which is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals and coatings used in the oil and gas industry, was quietly serving a niche market with its frac, acid additives and anti-corrosive coatings. Smith, a chemist with more than 50 years experience in the specialty chemical industry, had some ideas. “We were an eight-person company doing $1 million in revenue annually less than four years ago when Mel said. ‘I’ve got some ideas here. Do you guys want to jump on and grow the company?’ ” said Leon Joyce, the company’s Business Development Manager. “We all responded ‘Yes, we do.’ ” Today, EES employs 40 people with locations in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Chickasha and Snyder, Texas. It is manufacturing and distributing its own line of specialty valves, anti-corrosive coatings and solar technology, as well as liquid and solid chemicals. Agriculture products are also in the works to continue to diversify the company portfolio. “To be successful in this game you have to be aggressive,” Smith said. “If you are not creating ideas you are going to be stagnant. And you have to have good people. The third thing is you can’t leave your production facilities out of it.
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Mel Smith has proven to be an idea man, starting with the creation of EES as a production chemical company producing frac and acid additives in the early 1990s. Eventually, Smith conceived the idea of creating specialized dry coatings branded as Enduro-Bond to differentiate the company from its competition. Then solid chemicals were added to the EES line of products. In 2013, EES opened a 45,000 square foot Enduro-Bond Manufacturing Co. location in Chickasha where it produces its own line of oilfield valves treated with the company’s EnduroBond coatings. The valves promise twice the life of conventional valves, all of which are subject to corrosion from exposure to saltwater in the drilling process. “Everything we do is geared to keep costs low, so the small independent can pump his well economically and EES can make a dollar and the operator can make a lot of dollars by reducing his operational costs,” Smith said. “That’s where our Enduro-Bond coatings come in because we can offer double the life of stainless steel and outlast the most expensive and exotic alloys out there.”
EES recently added solar technology to its mix of products, marketing it under the name of TherMelKem Well-Treating Systems. The patented technology, TherMel-Kem system, captures heat from the sun to deliver down-hole paraffin treatments for wells, along with well stimulation services. The company recently opened a 10- acre, 66,000 square foot facility in Snyder, Texas, that is within easy driving distance of the oil production area around Midland/Odessa, Texas. “Snyder will become our major manufacturing plant for our solid materials in different sizes,” Smith said. “It could become huge in relation to our solar technology.” The growth trajectory continues for EES. This spring EES moved to its corporate headquarters into a 20,000 square foot building at 6300 NW Expressway that has been christened the EES Technology Center. Open House is scheduled, July 16th, 2015. “I have a dream that we will have an incubation center for small high tech companies,” Smith said. “We want the next inventor to come to us.” Smith summed it up when he said “I see our customer’s problem as our opportunity. Somebody has a need and then you can develop a business.” As it approaches 20 years of history, Smith says EES remains a “young, vibrant” company with plenty of growth potential in its future.
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Oklahoma City’s EXAPTIVE adapts a natural phenomenon for the innovation world In the beginning was the feather. And it was good. The feather was great for trapping heat and helping birds in flight. Then man discovered other uses for the feather such as filling for pillows and comforters. The phenomenon of repurposing a tool such as the feather is known as exaptation, said David King, the founder and CEO of an Oklahoma City-based company created to encourage similar exaptations in the world of information. Founded as a Boston-based company in 2011, King named his venture Exaptive, Inc., after the natural occurrence of exaptation. Exaptive was created on the belief that exaptation happens in human innovation. For example, the original printing press was created by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1400s using a wine press as his model. That’s exaptation in innovation. King refers to Exaptive as an innovation engine for the Conceptual Age. Check out ovf.exaptive.com for a video of a presentation that King made at the Oklahoma Venture Forum.
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“We’ve developed a patent pending platform that allows us to take all the discreet building blocks of the information age and provide a way for people – data scientists, other scientists, analysts, even non-programmers – to connect those pieces together in very powerful ways,” King said. King built Exaptive to help others sift huge amounts of data to find answers to questions they may not even be asking. Exaptive can retrieve and massage data from disparate sources that in normal circumstances are not easily compatible. For example, Exaptive can extract text and phrases found in large databases, analyze them with statistical algorithms, and produce interactive word clouds of the key concepts, or just as easily process numeric data, for example comparing subtle changes in the genetic mutations that occur in different types of cancer tumors, and help to illuminate options for personalized treatments. King compared the quest to mine information from data and the resulting answers to an hourglass, which is broad at the top, narrows in the middle and broadens out again.
“Data and data analytics are like finding a needle in a haystack,” he said. “But that’s just the first part of the hourglass. Once you find that needle in the haystack, that usually opens up another set of questions that cause you to broaden out along another direction, finding something else of interest – which then causes you to narrow in and broaden out again.” Unexpected answers can lead Exaptive users to different data sets that might have initially appeared to be far outside the scope of the original question. King uses an example of a researcher who wants to know how geography relates to a problem being investigated. “You might have started analyzing a problem by thinking it was a social phenomenon, and you might be narrowing in by analyzing demographics census data,” King said. “At some point you might discover the phenomenon to be clustering around particular geographical regions, but the census data may be limited in the data it contains about the geography. So you may want to broaden out your analysis to include new geographical datasets like crime rates, real-estate activity, or the weather in the region. Data science tools need to be able to keep up with you as you make these pivots – allowing you to pull in new data as you evolve your hypotheses and look in new directions.” Spring 2015
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A software engineer who was educated at MIT, King relocated Exaptive to Oklahoma City in mid-2014 after his wife, Deonnie Moodie, was hired as a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma (see related story). Before relocating from Boston, Exaptive focused on the life sciences. It proved its value by helping Multiple Sclerosis researchers analyze data from a large repository of independently operated and uncoordinated research studies. But Exaptive can be applied to data in any industry. The company has a mission to lower barriers to discovering answers and make it easy to view and analyze data sets, algorithms and visualizations in a “plug and play” environment. “If the barrier is too high, rather than taking a long time to answer the questions, people just don’t try to answer the questions,” King said. “The key here is that we make new ways of analysis feasible because before it was too complicated.” Since relocating to Oklahoma City, Exaptive has shifted its business model from a consulting role to licensing its product to customers who use it for a variety of purposes, including building their own datacentric applications. Current clients include supercomputer maker Cray Inc., the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and an Oklahoma City-
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based company, Moleculera Labs, which has developed a series of tests to uncover neurological disease in children. Moleculera CEO Dr. Craig Shimasaki discovered Exaptive when he saw King’s presentation at an Oklahoma Venture Forum meeting. Shimasaki was intrigued by the presentation and began to explore how the Exaptive platform could help Moleculera exploit the volume of information it generates with its test panels for a condition known as PANDAS, or Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infection. “I liked his training as an MIT engineer and that they were using a visual interface for data analysis, where anyone could provide thoughts and input based on visualizing the
data,” Shimasaki said. “It made sense, and they were doing it in an integrative manner so anyone could understand and suggest ways to analyze data.” Moleculera hopes to use the Exaptive platform to create algorithms to help physicians predict the effectiveness of treatments for children based upon its laboratory tests. “That requires analyzing large amounts of data and coming up with concrete solutions that we can validate,” Shimasaki said. “We are calling this our ‘Big Data’ project.” Exaptive also gained its first Oklahoma investment when i2E led at $1.825 million investment in the company that closed in early May. Through its Accelerate Oklahoma! Fund, i2E invested $750,000 in Exaptive, which was joined by $700,000
from the i2E-managed SeedStep Angels and $375,000 from other investors. Eventually, King hopes that Exaptive can be used as a sort of crowdsourced platform into which developers contribute their own expertise. He compares it to the crowd-sourced online information giant, Wikipedia. “We want to allow something similar with Exaptive where people can contribute code components that are inside their area of experience,” King said. “And those code components can be combined and recombined.” That’s the information age equivalent to taking feathers that sprouted originally for warmth and adapting them for human use. “We want our system to be open to the extent that anyone with a new idea for a new visualization technique or new algorithm or new data set can easily create an Exaptive component,” King said, “so that it can be put into an Exaptive ecosystem where it can play with all the other Exaptive components to solve new problems in new ways.” That’s exaptation in the 21st century.
High growth city for a high growth company Exaptive founder David King relocated his company from Boston to Oklahoma City in July 2014 after his wife, Deonnie Moodie, accepted a faculty position as a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma. An MIT graduate, King took time to answer questions about the change of address and the company’s new Oklahoma City location. The following are excerpts of that conversation: Q: What lured two Boston-area residents to Oklahoma City? A: Deonnie finished her Ph.D. at Harvard and got a job interview at OU. She came to visit and was super impressed. Oklahoma was not where we saw ourselves living, but, she came back from that interview really taken with OU. It was a great fit for her and when she was offered a tenure track position, there was no question we had to move. Q: How difficult was it to make the decision to relocate your company? A: Like I said, the decision to move was easy, but the harder decision I had to make was whether I was going to continue to run Exaptive as a Boston-based company or relocate it to be an Oklahoma company. By that time, July 2014, Exaptive had grown and had deep roots in Boston. We had fulltime employees there, part time advisors, and a bunch of Boston-based clients. It was definitely going to be disruptive to move it to Oklahoma, but the more time I spent here, the more excited I got about doing so. I was impressed by the caliber of programmer I was able to hire here, and by the energy the state was putting into fostering creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. I remember being told that Oklahoma wanted to become “the Silicon Valley of the Midwest” and thinking, “Awesome, I want Exaptive to be a part of that.”
Q: So, what had you heard about Oklahoma City before you moved? A: I’d certainly heard that Oklahoma City was going through a renaissance, but when I got here, I was able to see it for myself, and the excitement was definitely contagious. I was surprised and excited when I got here in a bunch of different ways that I didn’t expect. It felt like a great environment to build Exaptive in. Deonnie and I are living in Oklahoma City instead of Norman, and that was intentional. We both wanted to live in the city and thought it was a really exciting time in Oklahoma City because it felt like it was just on the tipping point of achieving critical mass and taking the next step in its evolution. Q: Why was living in the city important to you? A: I have a fascination with cities in general – they are one of the few things in the world where more isn’t just more, but where more becomes different. That is, if you add more people to a village it doesn’t just become a bigger village, it becomes a town, and if you add more people to a town it becomes something categorically different again – a city. And one of the things that cities do best is produce new ideas. At Exaptive we think of what we’re trying to do with our software a lot like this – we’re building a virtual “cognitive city” that can produce
new ideas. Living right in Oklahoma City felt like a great opportunity to live in a place that was very proactively designing a physical city, at the same time that I was trying to design a virtual city. I spend a lot of time thinking about Exaptive from an urban planning perspective, thinking about how to incentivize people to participate in certain ways and how to create the right geography that maximizes productive friction. When I look out my window in Midtown and see things like H&8th and the “Downtown It!” signs, I love it – it’s a physical analog to what I’m trying to create virtually. Q: How has your relationship with i2E benefitted Exaptive? A: I get the idea that i2E will meet ventures wherever they are in their development, whether it’s an idea on the back of a napkin, or a profitable venture. At Exaptive, we have revenue, clients and an experienced team of six, but there’s still a lot we don’t have too, and I2E has helped mentor us in areas where we weren’t as experienced. They’ve also really helped us get situated here in Oklahoma - getting connected to the larger entrepreneurial community and they’ve helped us get our message out. We’ve really enjoyed working with them, and now we’re in the process of doing a round of fund-raising with them to take Exaptive to the next level. Spring 2015
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Innovation A Proven Investment in Oklahoma
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5122-562-668 vog.ko.tsaco.www vog.ko.tsaco/moc.koobecaf tsaco/moc.rettiwt
First Steps Down the Path Venture Assessment Program process connects new entrepreneurs with future customers A group of 10 people looked on intensely as i2E Venture Advisor Elaine Hamm stood at the front of the Enterprise Room at i2E’s Oklahoma City offices and told them to draw an imaginary person on a sheet of paper. Hamm was conducting an exercise for the first class of i2E’s new Immersion Venture Assessment program in which entrepreneurs are asked to focus on connecting with potential customers of their new venture.
there is a big market waiting to buy their product. The Venture Assessment program makes them take a realistic assessment of what the market size and demand for their product actually is by going directly to potential customers. “The problem is most companies either neglect to ask those tough questions or they feel they are beyond it,” Lauinger said. “They have this unfounded confidence that they know their market, and the reality is most of the time they don’t.
At the conclusion of the three-week program, entrepreneurs should have an idea of who their customers are or if there is really demand at all. “They need a mechanism to identify, validate or counterbalance what they think,” Lauinger said. “And we think the Venture Assessment program is the way to do that.” In addition to Hamm and Lauinger, program participants also interact with Catherine Brown, i2E’s Sales Executive in Residence from Initial Call. The Venture Assessment program draws curriculum from the Oklahoma Proof of Concept Center that Hamm directs. That program takes participants from the state’s research universities through a much more rigorous market assessment program. “We do all this stuff already,” Lauinger said. “But we’re just packaging it so that it can sharpen the spear early.” i2E expects to have about 5 to 7 such classes throughout the calendar year, Lauinger said. As Hamm wound down the second week of the initial class, participants not only drew pictures of a potential customer, but brainstormed facts about them, as well. They imagined their age, educational level, gender, salary and where they live. At the conclusion of the class, she gave participants a homework assignment of contacting at least three to five potential customers before the next class to get a feel of whether there is a true need for the technology they have developed. “You have to listen to them and then determine what their pain really is and figure out how your technology can solve that for them,” Hamm said. Alex Golimbievsky, co-founder and CEO of Tulsa-based JobPact, said the class brought a lot of value to his team. “A lot of times, entrepreneurs are drawn to positive feedback but are lacking in true, hurtyour-feelings level feedback that something like this can provide,” he said. “So, this is great.”
But first came the exercise of drawing a stick figure of that imagined customer. “Give them some details as you draw them,” she told the class that included entrepreneurs sitting before her in the Enterprise room and others who were participating via video conferencing technology from i2E’s Tulsa office. “Are they males or females?” she asked. “Give them some hair. If they are in a lab, put a lab coat on them.” The exercise was just the first step in a process that ultimately led to making phone calls to potential customers over the following week. There was a method to Hamm’s seemingly whimsical command to draw an imagined customer. “When we get it on on paper it makes it an actual person and gets you to focus on the needs of this person and not what you think the needs of this person are,” she said. i2E’s Venture Assessment program requires participants to take steps often omitted by new entrepreneurs, said Mark Lauinger, i2E’s Senior Vice President of Client Services. For instance, many times entrepreneurs wrongly assume that Spring 2015
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You may not realize it, but biotech is big business in Oklahoma. In fact, companies in the bio industry in the Greater OKC area alone cumulatively sport annual revenues of more than $4.1 billion and employ more than 27,800 workers with total compensation of $1.5 billion. Those big numbers are just some of the reasons the Greater OKC Chamber partners with the Oklahoma Bioscience Association to promote Oklahoma at the BIO International Convention every year.
Each June a delegation of around 80 people representing the industry in Oklahoma travel to BIO. The purpose of this trip is to network, partner and spread the gospel of the bioscience industry in our region. Last year, Oklahoma biotech companies, research institutions, universities and other organizations held 150 meetings with potential partners, investors, employees and more at our booth. Collaborative efforts like these help lead to long-term success for our companies and organizations, and that helps make for a healthy economy as well as healthy people.
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Oklahoma BIO International SPONSORS Accele BioPharma Ardmore Development Authority Analyutical Research Laboratories CareerTech DNA Solutions Dunlap Codding, PC Emergent Technologies, Inc. Greater OKC Chamber i2E, Inc. Moleculera Labs OG&E OKBio Association Oklahoma Blood Institute Oklahoma Business Roundtable Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology Oklahoma Health Center Foundation Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Oklahoma State University Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust OneNet Ponca City Development Authority Stillwater Chamber The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Tulsa Community College University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
TETHEREX Emerges from Selexys’ Success In 2012, Oklahoma City-based Selexys Pharmaceuticals announced a $25 million Series A investment and a potential acquisition of the company and its SelG1 therapeutic treatment for Sickle Cell Disease by the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company, Novartis, at a valuation of up to $665 million based on Phase 2 trial success of the SelG1 therapeutic. What was not in the news release about the investment and potential acquisition was that Selexys has developed a second antibody, called SelK2, for treatment of Crohn’s Disease, multiple myeloma and other inflammatory disorders. Selexys recently took steps to spin-out the SelK2 intellectual property prior to the potential buyout of Selexys and its SelG1 therapeutic Novartis. A new company called Tetherex Pharmaceuticals has been spun-out of Selexys to develop the SelK2 antibody for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease. “The spin-out of Tetherex was solely to allow us to maintain ownership of the SelK2 technology that was spun-out into Tetherex,” said Rick Alvarez, a Selexys cofounder and Vice president of Operations and Research for Selexys. “It’s not a new program in the sense that we have discovered and developed something new.” If Selexys had left the SelK2 technology where it was without a spin-out, then Novartis would have acquired the technology for no additional consideration if it exercised its option to purchase Selexys and the SelG1 therapeutic. Novartis may acquire Selexys pending a successful outcome of the company’s Phase 2 clinical trial known as SUSTAIN. That trial was launched in August 2013, with trial results are not expected until 2016. The original Selexys management team and researchers will continue to develop the SelK2 technology under the Tetherex name. Dr. Scott Rollins is President and CEO of Selexys, while Dr. Russell Rother is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. David Falconer is Vice President of Business and Drug Development, Dr. Jonathan Stocker is Senior Director of Clinical Development, Dr. Ziad Kawar is Senior Scientist, and Nick Stefanko is R&D Program Manager. The SelG-1 technology that targets Sickle Cell Disease emerged from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Laboratories of Selexys cofounders Dr. Rodger McEver, now Member and Program Chair of the Cardiovascular Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and Dr. Richard Cummings, now Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at Emory University in Atlanta.
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OBI branches out with research initiative Adult stem cells are the lifeblood of groundbreaking scientific developments in which researchers can take a stem cell and use it to grow skin or a tendon or an ear. It’s called regenerative medicine. Amazing stuff. For scientists involved in advances in regenerative medicine, their discipline begins with access to adult stem cells. The use of adult stem cells has largely reduced the criticism of stem cell research because it replaces the controversial study of fetal stem cells. But where do scientists obtain adult stem cells? The answer for scientists in Oklahoma and beyond may be found at the Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) and a new initiative it’s launching called BioShare. Through BioShare, OBI will supply researchers with stem cells and other blood products, said Charles Mooney, the blood bank’s vice president of New Ventures & Quality Management. “The community blood bank is the entity with the most expertise to facilitate the collection of cells needed to develop these new cell therapies,” Mooney told me during a recent visit in his office at OBI’s headquarters, at 901 N Lincoln on the Oklahoma Health Center campus.
“We’ve got stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, we’ve got platelets, we’ve got plasma, we’ve got serum, and we can collect other things that people need us to collect.”
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OBI collects approximately 250,000 blood donations annually, which includes whole blood donations as well as plasma, platelets and other blood products. Since blood products have a limited shelf life, sometimes a hospital doesn’t use its supply before expiration, so the blood supply is refreshed. BioShare creates new uses for unused blood products. “We’ve got stem cells, red blood cells, white blood cells, we’ve got platelets, we’ve got plasma, we’ve got serum, and we can collect other things that people need us to collect,” Mooney said. BioShare is one of three initiatives OBI is launching. BioLinked is a second initiative, under which the institute will create a database of people who agree to participate in future research studies. The third initiative is BioCareNextion, through which OBI can connect blood donors to health care providers when it discovers a health problem during the screening or collection process.
The Bottom Line OBI is already big. It provides blood products to 158 hospitals across Oklahoma and into both Texas and Arkansas. It employs 765 health care professionals who collect blood, process it under very strict FDA guidelines and service hospitals from Woodward in the west to Pine Bluff, Ark., in the east and south to Vernon, Texas. “OBI is the largest bio company in Oklahoma,” Mooney said. “Often, people don’t think of OBI when they think of biotech. We are about as biotech as you can be.” So, why expand beyond the business of collecting blood and supplying it to hospitals? “It costs a whole lot of money to get that blood from a donor’s arm into a patient,” Mooney said. “It’s not just draw it and hand it to the hospital. It is regulated by the FDA like a prescription drug. It’s a very expensive undertaking and takes a whole lot of business and science talent to pull it off.” Still, OBI’s mission remains unchanged. “All of this OBI wants to do so that we can fulfill our not-for-profit mission, which is that we provide the community with the blood and other cells that the community is going to need both now and in the future,” Mooney said. And that’s the real bottom line.
Shining a light on Toxicology As he pursued a master’s degree in Biochemistry in his native India, Kumar Sripathirathan was drawn to the library at the American consulate in the city of Chennai along India’s southeast coast. The young Indian student was a regular visitor to the library. There he discovered books and journals by American authors that sparked both his scientific interest and his curiosity about the United States. “It drove my imagination and, I would say, fascination with science because they went into so much great detail about evolution, biochemistry, embryology and how things work,” Sripathirathan told me as we sat in his office at Oklahoma City’s Drik Safety Testing, a preclinical toxicology services laboratory for drug safety evaluation. “I just always had a fascination about developments that were happening in the U.S,” he said. The son of a housekeeper and a banker, Sripathirathan went on to earn his Ph.D. in 1998, and soon made his first visit to the United States at a scientific meeting in Seattle. “When I was in Seattle, I went to the Boeing factory,” he said. “It blew my mind. It was so huge, so big and gave me an idea of the capabilities and strengths of this country.” Sripathirathan subsequently was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Loyola University in Chicago. Then he moved to the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and earned a second master’s in clinical research. As part of his post-doctorate studies, Sripathirathan did neurotoxicology studies and was involved in an EPA program that studies certain chemicals that mimic the body’s hormones. The expertise he gained in toxicology — which studies the effect of chemicals upon living organisms — led him directly to Oklahoma in 2008. CoMentis Inc. hired him as a toxicologist for its ongoing program to develop drugs for devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s. When CoMentis eventually shut down its research laboratory in the University Research Park, Sripathirathan seized the opportunity to create his own toxicology testing company. Drik was founded in 2012. “I always had an inspiration to start a business,” he said. “It was my childhood dream, I would say. I saw the opportunity here and started working toward having my own business.” Today, Drik fills an important role for companies and researchers in Oklahoma and beyond who are developing new therapeutics. Toxicology testing is a key step in drug development.
“Our main clients are pharmaceutical clients who are involved in drug discovery and development,” he said. “Not only that, we serve industries in agrochemicals like pesticides, and the cosmetics industry too.” Sripathirathan and his wife, Vanmathy Vasudevan, an accountant who is Drik’s cofounder and chief operating officer, have set deep roots in Oklahoma. They are raising their two children in Edmond.
“I’ve traveled all around the country – East Coast, West Coast, Florida, New York – and we lived in the big city of Chicago for almost 10 years,” he said. “But I love Edmond and Oklahoma. It’s fun raising kids here, because it is more relaxed and the quality of life is much higher.” Drik received investment funding from i2E Inc. and today is generating revenue through its drug testing laboratory located in the Research Park. The word Drik means “shining light” in the ancient Sanskrit language, Sripathirathan said. Drik accomplishes that goal by filling a niche for clients who otherwise would have to take their drug-testing needs to laboratories on the East or West coasts. “We’re helping clients succeed in their business,” he said.
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Investing in Oklahoma’s Startup Companies i2E, as manager of the Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, the Accelerate Oklahoma Fund, and the Technology Business Finance Program (TBFP), committed over $5 million of investment funding to 17 companies during FY2015. The Seed Capital Fund committed $1.9 million, the Accelerate Oklahoma Fund committed just over $3 million, and the TBFP committed $127,000 to startup companies.
COMPANY NAME
LOCATION
INVESTMENT FUND
AMOUNT
Accele Biopharma
Oklahoma City
Accelerate Oklahoma
$400,000
Agric Bioformatics
Oklahoma City
Concept Fund
$40,000
Associated Material Processing
Stillwater
Accelerate Oklahoma
$156,200
Exaptive, Inc.
Oklahoma City
Accelerate Oklahoma
$750,000
Get People Moving, LLC
Edmond
Concept Fund
$10,000
ICEdot
Oklahoma City
Accelerate Oklahoma
$500,000
Moleculera, Inc.
Oklahoma City
Accelerate Oklahoma
$750,000
NewAnthropy
Oklahoma City
Concept Fund
$40,000
Pamlico BioPharma, Inc.
Oklahoma City
Seed Fund II
$500,000
Roll-2-Roll Technologies, LLC
Stillwater
Seed Fund II
$250,000
SpectrumFX
Oklahoma City
Concept Fund
$37,000
Selexys Pharmaceuticals
Oklahoma City
Seed Fund I
$51,079
Synercon Technologies
Broken Arrow
Seed Fund II
$200,000
Synereca Pharmaceuticals
Oklahoma City
Seed Fund II
$500,000
Tetherex Pharmaceuticals
Oklahoma City
Seed Fund I
$7,382
Valve Systems International, LLC Tulsa
Accelerate Oklahoma
$175,000
WeGoLook
Oklahoma City
Accelerate Oklahoma; Seed Fund II
$650,000
Total $5,016,661
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Empowering communities
What makes a strong community? Educational and professional opportunities, relief to those in need, and the responsible use of technology. Because empowering your community is what drives us, we proudly support the efforts of the 2015 Governor’s Cup.
Š 2015 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
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VeloCity: Writing for Your Wall S ’ A C I R E M OKC: TAUP ENGINE STAR
A1M AC C L T U U K D OS O D W E N N A ST TUPS S TA R
OKC: AMERICA’S
STARTUP ENGINE STAN D O UT ACCLA1M STARTU PS NEW KUDOS
Oklahoma City has grown by leaps and bounds, and now the world will know about our success. Check out VeloCity, an easy-to-share digital magazine that gives a dynamic new portrait of Oklahoma City and features articles, pictures, links, videos and more. The new startup-focused edition is available at www.velocityokc.com. Read and share it with friends, colleagues and family members. 28
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