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Trinity University Virtual Stumberg Venture Competition Selects 5 Finalists
19Apr AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Trinity University Virtual Stumberg Venture Competition Selects 5 Finalists

Ten Trinity University student entrepreneur teams pitched business ideas to judges via a Zoom video call Monday evening in the seed round of the annual Louis H. Stumberg Venture Competition. Trinity University president Danny Anderson said the venture competition enables "students to thrive as they express their creativity" while building new businesses. The five finalists pitched "Shark Tank-style" their ideas for wide-ranging businesses, from social justice to bioscience, art, and esports. Commuv founders Jalen White ‘23 and Michael Marquez ‘22 came up with the idea to develop software that connects police officers and drivers during low-level traffic stops via short-range technology and a mobile application. Using an app can help reduce the need for direct contact during traffic sto...
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Soilworks Launches Grassroots Carbon, a Carbon Credit Company
15Apr AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Soilworks Launches Grassroots Carbon, a Carbon Credit Company

Soil Value Exchange and PastureMap merged Thursday to create Grassroots Carbon, the latest company Soilworks Natural Capital is launching. Grassroots Carbon is a public benefit limited liability company that provides certified soil carbon storage credits for organizations or individuals buying credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Grassroots Carbon sells its credits by working with ranchers and farmers using regenerative farming practices that help the soil capture more carbon. Soilworks Natural Capital founders Lew Moorman and Ed Byrne, who also launched software company Scaleworks, have been investing in, acquiring, and incubating companies that accelerate the adoption of regenerative land management, a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, ...
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IMG Studio Wins Air Force Contract for Video Game Training
14Apr AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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IMG Studio Wins Air Force Contract for Video Game Training

The U.S. military is leveraging video gaming to recruit young people, not just train them once they join military service.  That need for engaging video content presented an opportunity for The IMG Studio. The San Antonio-based company won a U.S. Air Force Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop a flight simulation video game for the Air Force to train and recruit its personnel. Owned by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Heather Chandler, the video and software development company proposed building a physics-based video game that goes beyond the simulated video game training environments often used to train military personnel. The San Antonio-based company specializes in software and video game development that frequently incorporate advanced virtual...
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Port San Antonio Innovation Center on Track to Open by Early 2022
12Apr AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Port San Antonio Innovation Center on Track to Open by Early 2022

On an overcast Monday morning, Sundt Construction crew members installed large 40-foot concrete walls into place for the Port San Antonio innovation center. Port San Antonio CEO Jim Perschbach confirmed the new facility would open by February or March of 2022.   Port San Antonio board members committed $60 million in August 2020 to build a state-of-the-art facility that will connect people with employment, educational, and entrepreneurial opportunities. The 130,000 square-foot innovation center will be a multi-purpose building with a 2,500-seat state-of-the-art technology arena capable of flexible configurations for hosting esports (competitive multiplayer video gaming) competitions, concerts, product launches, large training programs, and conferences. The expanded home for the San Anton...
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Allosense Receives San Antonio Biomedical Seed Funding for Military Medical Innovation
31Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Allosense Receives San Antonio Biomedical Seed Funding for Military Medical Innovation

Allosense, a startup company producing internet-of-things or IoT tracking devices, will receive $25,000 from the San Antonio Military Medical Innovation (SAMMI) Fund. The City of San Antonio established the fund in December 2019 to support local companies commercializing discoveries in medical devices, new drugs, and biotechnology and biomedical software that can meet military medical mission needs. This is the first $25,000 round of SAMMI investment for Allosense. The company provides an easy way for companies or organizations looking to integrate smart sensors for tracking assets. The asset trackers are cell phone-sized devices that are always in communication, either on-demand or via a data stream. The startup is developing a next-generation version of its tracker small enough to...
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Geekdom Incubator Program Holds Demo Day for Civic Tech Startups
23Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Geekdom Incubator Program Holds Demo Day for Civic Tech Startups

Aspiring entrepreneurs pitched their startup concept at the virtual Geekdom incubator Demo Day Tuesday night. Geekdom's 12-month-long incubator program is designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs launch civically-focused tech startups. The downtown co-working startup community officially launched its two-year pilot in March 2020 to support a total of six teams working on technologies that have a social impact. Read: Geekdom Launches Incubator Program for Startups Focused on Social Impact Year 1's graduating cohort from March 2020 are: Polis, a Bluetooth network-based navigation solution for the San Antonio River Walk, solovaGo, an app that uses crime data to help users evaluate the safety of neighborhoods, and, Pawtify, an application that makes finding a San Antonio An...
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Advanced Surgical Retractor Systems Innovates 100-Year-Old Medical Device Design
19Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Advanced Surgical Retractor Systems Innovates 100-Year-Old Medical Device Design

The military medical experience of one San Antonio-based trauma surgeon helped shape the invention of a new type of surgical retractor, a medical device that hasn't changed much in over a century. Dr. Ramon Cestero, a surgery professor at UT Health San Antonio and former U.S. Navy trauma surgeon, developed the TITAN CSR surgical retractor and launched Advanced Surgical Retractor Systems, Inc. (ASR Systems) in 2019. Surgical retractors are medical instruments used during a surgical procedure to keep an incision in the body open while a surgical procedure is being performed. They provide better visibility for the surgeon so the procedure can be performed easily and quickly. The invention of a hinged rib spreading retractor in 1904 prompted the development of specialized types of retractors ...
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Stirista Acquires Venture Development Center To Boost Big Data Adoption in Marketing
10Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Stirista Acquires Venture Development Center To Boost Big Data Adoption in Marketing

Stirista, a digital marketing agency that provides audience data, email, and display advertising services, has acquired Venture Development Center (VDC) for an undisclosed amount. The New Jersey-based data marketplace has unique data assets and clients such as Accenture, Asurion, TransUnion, and Warner Media. VDC will help Stirista combine the power of authoritative identity data with more targeted omnichannel marketing for its Fortune 500 and mid-market clients such as Great Clips, Oracle, and Verizon. Matthew W. Staudt, who has held the CEO role at VDC since 2018, will join Stirista as chief strategy officer. This is the third acquisition for Stirista over the past 10 months. In July 2020, Stirista bought AdStir, a data-driven self-serve media buying platform. By September, Stirist...
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Active Capital Leads $1.3M Seed Round for Stagger, a Visual Storytelling Platform for Businesses
10Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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Active Capital Leads $1.3M Seed Round for Stagger, a Visual Storytelling Platform for Businesses

Stagger, a visual storytelling platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses, closed a $1.3 million round in pre-seed funding Wednesday. The San Antonio-based venture firm Active Capital led the round, with participation from Operator Partners, Hustle Fund, Adapt VC, and several angel investors. Stagger is a graphic design platform that includes templates for users to create social media graphics, presentations, and other visual content.  Chrissy Cowdrey launched Stagger first as an iOS app in mid-2019 for her own use.  Stagger has a drag and drop design much like Canva that business owners lacking complex design software experience can use. Stagger's added value is the machine learning features Cowdrey built into the platform to feed the analytics-based dashboard that tra...
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New Dominion Enterprises Wins Air Force SBIR Funding for Energy Innovation
4Mar AvatarBy Iris GonzalezNo Comments
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New Dominion Enterprises Wins Air Force SBIR Funding for Energy Innovation

After rigorous scientific review, New Dominion Enterprises, Inc. (NDE), a San Antonio energy technology company, won an Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I $50,000 contract in early February for its battery additive innovation. New Dominion is commercializing inorganic electrolyte materials that stabilize organic lithium-ion battery electrolytes, resulting in more durable, longer-lasting, and safer lithium batteries. Their dual-use technology has potential applications ranging from consumer batteries to batteries used with electrified transportation and micro power grids. The product was fully developed and tested under a U.S. government contract. Co-founder and chief scientist Mason K. Harrup invented the inorganic electrolyte materials for lithium batteries ...
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