For the sixth year in a row, Strategic News Service (SNS) is selecting up to 12 businesses - top startups or businesses with new startup technology - for world promotion, based on nominations by trusted strategic investment SNS Members. We believe that these FiReStarter businesses, which are integrated into the FiRe program, are on the cusp of making great strides in improving our world. They are businesses we believe you should know about.
How does the process work?
SNS Members have access to and knowledge of key world-changing new businesses, or businesses with new technologies, that deserve recognition. We therefore invite a select number of SNS Member investment firms to nominate businesses they know that fit into this high-caliber category. From these nominations, we perform reviews and select up to 12 finalists to feature at the FiRe conference. These are businesses we hope to follow for a very long time.
In addition to promoting these businesses before, during, and after FiRe, we follow up with each FiReStarter to learn how and in what ways their business has changed as a result of their participation at FiRe.
If you would like your company to be considered as a FiReStarter nominee in 2012, or if you have any questions, please contact Sharon Anderson-Morris, Director of SNS Programs, at sam@stratnews.com.
2012 FiReStarter Companies
Active Life Scientific Inc., a Santa Barbara, California-based early-stage life science and medical instrumentation company, is developing a next-generation medical technology to address many of the world's most pressing healthcare needs. Based on renowned inventor and professor Paul Hansma's newest breakthrough, Reference Point Indentation (RPI), Active Life's products utilize the power of nanotechnology and micro-sized probes to enable medical researchers and doctors to take quantifiable "touch" measurements on and inside the human body.
Active Life's customers and collaborators comprise leading experts around the world across multiple fields of medicine. As a result of combined efforts with customers and collaborators worldwide, Active Life's technologies are fostering improved diagnostics, therapeutics, and medical decision-making for the betterment of mankind.
Heliae is developing and designing cost-effective technology solutions that will enable the sustainable, industrial-scale production of food, fuel, cosmetics, fertilizers, and bio-chemicals from algae. As innovators and integrators of a technology platform, its processes will enable companies worldwide to convert sunlight and waste-nutrients into the affordable and renewable products our growing world requires.
Independa is a software company which provides supportive independence products and services to older adults and to their caregivers who typically are remote some or all of the time. Independa's holistic, person-centered technology will support the vulnerable older adults and their families and professional caregivers. Independa augments traditional caregiving by providing fully integrated cloud-based solutions, including a caregiver Web application, a rich set of telephony-based solutions, and comprehensive solutions for social engagement, as well as health, environmental, and activity monitoring.
Social-engagement solutions span Independa's telephony-based system, as well as a single-touch application running on a tablet, touchscreen computer, or even a television. Independa will provide caregivers and the care team with real-time alerts, allowing for immediate, efficient, and effective intervention whenever customized parameters are exceeded. Last, Independa will integrate its software platform with existing systems to foster continuity and communication among care team members, patients, and families.
MAR Systems has developed a faster, cheaper, greener solution for the removal of heavy-metal contaminants from water.
As a result of the increasing presence of hazardous metal contaminants found in water, MAR Systems has developed patented, proprietary processes that remove mercury, selenium, arsenic, and other metals from water through its Sorbster media.
Sorbster media technology chemisorbs the contaminants, creating a non-hazardous disposal option, and MAR Systems has implemented a process to get its clients' industries into EPA compliance in just six months. The company's process establishes a new standard in effectiveness, cost, and simplicity to ensure water treatment facilities are using an EPA co-developed media that finally addresses and solves the conflict between industry and the environment.
Participating at FiRe 2012 Tony Lammers, President and CEO (FiReStarter Speaker)
Morphlabs is a recognized leader in converged infrastructure solutions for the Enterprise. Its flagship products, the mCloud Racks and mCloud Data Center Unit (DCU), pre-integrate hyperscale hardware with best-of-breed software to deliver the most price-performant private cloud solution available today.
The mCloud solution's next-generation modular architecture completely integrates compute, storage, and networking to dramatically reduce the cost of IT while accelerating time to market. Enterprises are free to focus on the tasks that differentiate their business instead of worrying about IT procurement, integration, assembly, and optimization. Founded in 2007 by industry pioneers, Morphlabs Inc. is headquartered in Los Angeles, with operations in the Philippines, Japan, and Australia.
One to the World™ is a revolutionary, two-way interactive webcasting platform that transforms the way online events, sharing, education, training, and meetings are conducted and consumed. Interactive in both live and on-demand, One to the World's suite of services offers a simple cloud-based, drag-and-drop webcast administration capability that seamlessly integrates a variety of media types and can be delivered to audiences of unlimited size.
OneOcean Corp., based in Seattle, Washington, is the world leader in cloud storage and data management for marine geographic information systems. OneOcean has developed a unique Internet software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for collecting, storing, accessing, and analyzing complex oceanic and geophysical data. The OneOcean public Archive™ and private DataBank™ solutions unburden organizations from indepen¬dently managing inefficient legacy systems and empower them to meet their business, research, and operating objectives with advanced processing and insight engines.
Founded by experts from the Internet, geospatial, and ocean survey industries, the company is revolutionizing the use and utility of marine data to help government, industry, scientists, and policymakers better understand the Ocean. OneOcean's technology paves the way for marine spatial planning, or "intelligent zoning," by providing a baseline dataset and operational platform to sustainably manage the Ocean.
One of the major triggers forcing the elderly to move from the comforts of home to institutionalized care is incontinence. Today, up to 70% of nursing-home residents are treated as "incontinent," and incontinence management is one of the largest costs for nursing homes, exceeding $80 billion/year globally. Yet there is widespread dissatisfaction with the way incontinence is managed: the elderly would rather stay at home than enter a nursing home, and would prefer their incontinence be managed in a more dignified way; nurses would rather spend less time on incontinence management tasks; and nursing home CFOs would like to reduce this major budgetary line item.
Using novel wireless sensors, cloud-based software, and clinical management algorithms derived from large volumes of data, Simavita is commercializing IP-protected products to reduce the costs of managing incontinence, restore dignity to elderly people who suffer from poor incontinence management, and help elderly people stay at home where they can age gracefully for longer.
The global market for Simavita's first product/service offering is $3 billion/year. Pilot deployment started in 2010 in Australia, where the company is generating revenue. Simavita is now planning its expansion to the USA and the EU.
WoodallTech makes ultra-pure hydrogen at low temperatures and pressure using a totally green and economical process, with no carbon footprint and without electricity. The company's raw materials are totally recyclable. It has also designed scalable and safe reactors and a distribution system for interfacing with existing hydrogen systems. While focusing initially on ultra-pure hydrogen for semiconductor manufacture and similar applications that use bottled hydrogen, WoodallTech expects to partner with and license to leading firms with domain expertise to develop future applications for powering generators, automobiles, ships, submarines, and other vehicles, and for heating and cooling.
Participating at FiRe 2012 David E.Y. Sarna, CEO (FiReStarter Speaker) Jerry Woodall, Founder, WoodallTech; and National Medal of Technology Laureate;
For the sixth year in a row, Strategic News Service (SNS) is selecting up to 12 businesses - top startups or businesses with new startup technology - for world promotion, based on nominations by trusted strategic investment SNS Members. We believe that these FiReStarter businesses, which are integrated into the FiRe program, are on the cusp of making great strides in improving our world. They are businesses we believe you should know about.
How does the process work?
SNS Members have access to and knowledge of key world-changing new businesses, or businesses with new technologies, that deserve recognition. We therefore invite a select number of SNS Member investment firms to nominate businesses they know that fit into this high-caliber category. From these nominations, we perform reviews and select up to 12 finalists to feature at the FiRe conference. These are businesses we hope to follow for a very long time.
In addition to promoting these businesses before, during, and after FiRe, we follow up with each FiReStarter to learn how and in what ways their business has changed as a result of their participation at FiRe.
If you would like your company to be considered as a FiReStarter nominee in 2012, or if you have any questions, please contact Sharon Anderson-Morris, Director of SNS Programs, at sam@stratnews.com.
