Certicom Corp. (purchased by Research in Motion Limited)
Certicom, founded in 1985, is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and has offices in Ottawa, Ontario; Reston, Virginia; Foster City, California; London, England; and Shanghai, China. The company is the leading provider of cryptography used by software vendors and device manufacturers for the purpose of embedding security into portable communication devices and other electronic equipment with limited information storage capacity.
Vital Financial viewed the company as significantly undervalued by virtue of its cash position, patent portfolio, unique market position and the value of its then pending lawsuit with Sony.
Beginning in March of 2008, Vital Financial purchased a significant interest in Certicom at prices ranging from C$1.30 to C$1.87 per share and became a large shareholder of the company. In March 2009 Vital Financial exited its investment with a substantial gain upon the acquisition of Certicom by Research In Motion Limited for C$3.00 per share.
Clinverse, Inc.
Clinverse, Inc., based in Charlotte, NC, is a technology startup solely focused on the financial management of clinical trials and associated payments in over 140 currencies. Their flagship product ClinPay revolutionizes the Investigator payment process and considerably reduces study start-up time and increases financial accounting accuracy. ClinPay is a secure on-line Clinical Trial Payment Network that dramatically reduces time spent on the Investigator payment process with significant increases in clinical trial productivity.
Vital Financial's principals joined with a number of co-investors to invest a substantial amount in Clinverse in September 2009. Nat Brinn from Vital has joined Clinverse's board.
For more information, visit the Clinverse website at www.clinverse.com
GramercyOne Technology Corp.
In November 2011, Vital Financial invested in GramercyOne Technology Corp., participating in a $15.25 million Series A Preferred Stock investment led by Revolution Ventures, Grotech Ventures, TD Fund and Jubilee Investments. GramercyOne is a leading provider of cloud-based business management and marketing solutions to service businesses around the world. The company's integrated software platform enables businesses to manage operations efficiently while promoting their services and capturing customers through new marketing channels including social commerce, group buying, mobile and local advertising. GramercyOne's products are marketed under industry specific Booker brands and include SpaBooker, SalonBooker, FitnessBooker, and GoSuite. The GramercyOne products offer extensive features, including point-of-sale and other capabilities. These products are used by more than 3,000 businesses in 58 countries - from multi-national enterprises like Hilton Worldwide to single location spas, fitness centers, salons, medical practices, and local service businesses. GramercyOne is headquartered in New York, NY. For more information please visit www.gramercyone.com
Mobeam, Inc.
In August 2011, Vital Financial's principals made a small investment in Mobeam, Inc., participating through yet2Ventures, in a $4.9 million Series A venture round which also included funding from Samsung Ventures, Mitsui and other investors. Mobeam's patented technology overcomes the technical barrier preventing mobile phones from interacting with the laser scanners used at retail locations around the world. Funds from this funding round will establish Mobeam's light based communications ("LBC") technology as a new industry standard allowing mobile phones to interact with point of sale ("POS") technology. Mobeam is also accelerating business development efforts with major consumer and retail brands for mobile couponing and other broad mobile commerce initiatives. Overcoming the technical barrier preventing mobile phones from interacting with laser scanners at checkout, Mobeam's technology provides universal access at POS, enabling the transmission of coupons, gift cards, tickets and other barcode data at retailers worldwide. Mobeam's technology powers new capabilities for existing mobile phone designs, and requires no changes to retailer POS infrastructure. Mobeam is headquartered in Cupertino, California. For more information visit the Mobeam website at www.mobeam.com
Pervacio, Inc.
Pervacio, Inc., founded in 2004 and based in Bethesda, Maryland, provides software to improve the process of managing mobile phones and other devices. The Company also has offices in Virginia, India, and Hungary.
In June 2010 Vital Financial and its co-investors invested more than $1.8 million in preferred stock of Pervacio, leading a venture capital round with an initial closing of $2.3 million. Craig Asher represents Vital Financial on the Pervacio board of directors.
QuantaLife, Inc. (purchased by Bio-Rad Laboratories)
QuantaLife, Inc., incorporated in 2009 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, has developed the third generation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology that quantifies DNA molecules by Digital DropletTM PCR. Digital Droplet PCR reduces the cost of quantitative PCR, while providing an absolute measure of target molecules with unrivaled quantitative resolution and sensitivity. Applications in the field of genetic research include copy number variation (CNV), mutation detection and gene expression analysis. The company's mission is to provide tools that accelerate new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of inherited disorders, cancer and infection disease.
In November 2010, Vital Financial and its co-investors invested $1.68 million in preferred stock of QuantaLife, by participating in a capital round led by the company's initial venture capital investor, Paladin Capital Group. In October 2011, Bio-Rad Laboratories purchased QuantaLife for $162 million cash plus an earnout.
For more information, visit the Bio-Rad website at http://tinyurl.com/5w7hwo2
SchoolChapters, Inc.
In July 2011 Vital Financial and a group of other investors, including Connecticut Innovations and Angel Investor Forum, invested $670,000 in SchoolChapters, Inc. SchoolChapters (www.schoolchapters.com), based in West Hartford, Connecticut, sells a suite of software solutions designed to manage the evidence that educators compile to demonstrate their educational programs' quality and alignment with standards.
As of August 2011, the company's offerings were used in more than 1,000 classrooms across the country in multiple settings including YMCAs, Head Starts, public school districts, corporate centers, Department of Defense centers, and institutions of higher learning. SchoolChapters is managed by Claudia Reuter, Chief Executive Officer.
Shoefitr, Inc.
Shoefitr, Inc. www.shoefitr.com, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provides software that enables online footwear shoppers to purchase shoes that fit correctly. Online footwear retailers are thereby able to reduce the percentage of returned shoes, which is a significant cost to the industry. The Company's easy-to-use shoe fitting application was initially embraced by the running community which accesses Shoefitr on the sites of popular media like Runner's World. Shoefitr then rapidly expanded to numerous additional footwear categories.
In October 2011 Vital Financial led a $1.2 million funding round which also included BlueTree Allied Angels (a Pittsburgh-based angel investor group) and Innovation Works (a quasi-public venture capital entity of the State of Pennsylvania). Craig Asher represents Vital Financial on the Shoefitr board of directors.