Monday, February 2, 2009

Vuzit Gets Funding

One of our DreamIt companies, Vuzit, recently shared that the company received funding from a mix of angel investors and economic development organizations, including Robin Hood Ventures, Innovation Philadelphia and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Vuzit, located at the Science Center in Philadelphia, was part of our DreamIt Ventures program. Their flagship technology is an online document viewer and SaaS-based security application designed to provide a more secure method to share and store sensitive documents that today are often distributed by e-mail. Vuzit won the "Most Innovative Product or Service" from the Ben Franklin Emerging Business Awards competition earlier in the year. Coley Brown, President of CTB Consulting said, "We've been following the progress of Vuzit for some time and have chosen to be an investor with Innovation Philadelphia and Ben Franklin. Vuzit has shown amazing promise with over 5,000 trial users and a steep viral marketing curve. With Vuzit’s plans of a future document control system supporting Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA privacy requirements, Vuzit is primed to extend their current success into a whole new market." Coley is a member of Robin Hood Ventures and is mentoring Vuzit as a board member and temporary Vice President of Sales. Brett Matzelle, CEO of Vuzit, added, "It is satisfying to receive support from investors in the Philadelphia community like Robin Hood, Innovation Philadelphia and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. This was a natural next step for us after an intense summer with DreamIt Ventures where we were able to quickly transition from working prototype to a live application with paying customers. This money and related support will allow us to continue to drive the business forward, capitalizing on our positive momentum." The company will use the investment capital to enhance its sales and marketing efforts as well as to patent their proprietary document technology. To learn more about Vuzit and their new technology, please visit the website at http://vuzit.com/.