Just because the caller ID says its you calling your bank to activate that new credit card, doesn’t mean it is! Not with caller ID spoofing available with a subscription near you. What’s a bank to do?
Pindrop Security (formerly Telineage) is a telecommunication startup bringing trust back to the telephone. Rather than relying on a caller to give an accurate number, Pindrop uses your phone call’s unique audio fingerprint to provide an alternative to unreliable caller ID. The technology uses both the device signature and the call path to determine if that really is you calling.
Confounding scammers is such a remarkable calling that TAG named Pindrop a Top 40 Innovation Company in 2011. Judges in the GRA/TAG Business Plan Competition selected the company as a finalist for the May 24 showdown overseen by investors and venture capitalists.
The company is working on adding geolocation features to its repertoire, further enhancing its scam-stopping prowess. Things are going so well at Pindrop that they need to hire more software developers (check out this job description and application.).
We love a smart solution to an annoying problem. We’re cheering on this ATDC member company for bringing integrity back to caller ID.
ViscidTech is adding a third dimension to a touchscreen near you. The company is commercializing ViscidTouch, a technology that relies on pressure sensitivity to bring all new possibilities to games, art applications, and even the humble computer mouse. ViscidTouch mimics human skin, sensing where and how hard someone is pressing on a surface.
The ATDC company grew out of the study of human-computer interactions, a field leading to the remarkable evolution of the interface between man and machine. The potential applications range from more responsive prosthetics to games, toys, and touchscreens.
ViscidTech entered the market with the introduction of RageGage at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. The RageGage demonstrates the ViscidTech pressure sensitive touch technology in one very smashable little scapegoat of a product. Having this simple consumer device helps the company highlight the technology that will ultimately elevate computers to a whole new level of responsiveness.
ViscidTech is busily bringing us higher productivity, more intuitive systems, and way more fun! Be sure to cheer them and other ATDC Companies on at the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition Finals on May 24!
Accounting is a nerve-wracking ordeal. A small easy-to-make mistake can leave your business in a big bind.
AuditMyBooks is bringing us all some peace of mind with the AuditMyBooks Analyzer, a subscription software service that automatically double checks accounting records for problems. The company got rolling in early 2010 and has been cooking it ever since.
Like any good kitchen, AuditMyBooks has a diversity of talent. A team with experiences in financial services, business intelligence, statistics, and security brought together ideas from other industries and applications to lead a true breakthrough in small business accounting.
By adapting ideas from detecting information security threats, AuditMyBooks set out to develop advanced statistical methods to analyze financial transactions and identify fraud and accounting errors. The company was quickly recognized as one of the 2010 Top 40 Most Innovative Companies by the Technology Association of Georgia and as the Best Native App on the QuickBooks Intuit Partner Platform.
Shortly after releasing their Analyzer AP product, AuditMyBooks won a $150,000 SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant was used to conduct research that supported extending the Analyzer product line. Later in 2010 the company experienced a whirlwind of publicity including presenting at the 2010 Venture Atlanta and receiving recognition from the prestigious Sleeter Group as having a “New Product To Watch.”
This year brings more excitement with ongoing support from Intuit and making finalist in the GRA/TAG Business Launch Competition.
Transferring ideas across functional and industry boundaries is key to driving innovation. By cultivating a multifaceted skill base, AuditMyBooks is serving up exceptional value.
Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) has partnered with Dave Gould of TechOperators to fund HireIQ Solutions.
HireIQ, formerly Toomah, provides a web-based selection engine that automates the interview screening process. Staffing centers and any company going through the time-consuming process of screening job applicants save time and expense by filtering applicants with Hire IQ solutions and only interviewing the best candidates.
With ATA’s continuing participation, HireIQ gained Devon Wijesinghe, board member of ATA and human resources outsourcing entrepreneur, as an advisor. Dave Gould, who joined HireIQ as chairman of the board, has experience in the contact center space as former CEO of Witness Systems, a company he sold for over $1 billion.
The Series A funding will be used to accelerate development of the company’s predictive analysis tool and to provide more growth capacity for their Interview Plus product. Sounds like a good deal. What’s the word on the street on the amount?
The new SBIR Circle will bring future applicants and previous award winners together to learn more about using SBIR/STTR Federal grants and contracts as seed funding. Julie Turner Collins has been working with SBIR/STTR applicants for over 5 years and will be moderating the sessions.
The SBIR Circle will be held on Thursdays from 10:30 am to 11:30am, usually in Suite 200A in the 2nd floor reception area of the ATDC Centergy Building at 75 5th Street.
The first circle will take place this Thursday, April 28, 2011 at the Enterprise Resource Center in the 1st floor lobby at the ATDC Centergy Building.
TripLingo is a language translation guide that makes it easy and fun to learn a bit of the local lingo when you travel. The web and mobile applications create a customized phrase list to help you talk like the locals.
TripLingo was born through the experiences of Jesse Maddox, a well-trekked native Atlantan. Tired of missing out on local culture and interactions in his time in Vietnam and India, Jesse worked hard to learn local jokes and slang and then arranged local-language-only dinner parties for his fellow expatriates. People loved the light-hearted experience of really understanding the culture of the country they were visiting.
When he got back to the US, Jesse was so pumped about building a more practical and useful translation guide that he begged his way into the 2011 Start Atlanta after the application deadline, pitched the idea on the spot, and with the help of an adrenaline and caffeine fueled team, was voted the “Best In Show” at the January event. The Start Atlanta team was so excited about TripLingo that they continued developing the idea with Jesse.
TripLingo joined ATDC in February and has been going at light speed ever since. They adopted Hub Atlanta as their new home and went on to enter and win Startup Riot. The take away from Startup Riot included nearly $15,000 in prizes and seven hours of meetings with venture capitalists.
The team is still driving hard from their Hub Atlanta hideout and plans to release the TripLingo Mobile application this month.
We hope making the semifinals in the TAG/GRA Business Launch Competition won’t slow down the release. We can’t wait to get our hands on it to tell racy jokes on the go in five new languages!
Because of the Amazon Cloud outage, TripLingo’s website is down, but be sure to check them out on their blog, twitter, and facebook.
Tim Draper of DFJ at ATDC from ATDC on Vimeo.
Tim Draper, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, spent an hour with Georgia Tech students last week sharing his investing stories and taking questions from the audience. ATDC and the Tech Entrepreneurs Society arranged for him to speak about “Future Technology Growth Areas and Opportunities.”
Tim is the Founder and a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He coined the term “viral marketing” to describe his suggestion to geometrically spread an Internet product. The technique was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail and YahooMail and has been adopted by hundreds of other businesses. Draper Fisher Jurvetson has invested in many well known successful startups including Skype, Overture.com , Baidu, Hotmail, and many others.
Through decades of interacting with dozens of startups, Tim has developed a fierce appreciation for entrepreneurs and free markets. In addition to insights about the keys to economic prosperity, the entertaining presentation featured Tim dancing to a song he wrote about a struggling but ultimately successful entrepreneur. Check out the full presentation video here: Tim Draper of DFJ at ATDC.
Don’t miss our other great ATDC webcasts on Vimeo.
Want the scoop on where to find challenging bike trails, the most delicious pick-it-yourself fruit, and a Safari in Georgia? Look no further than DayZipping.com.
DayZipping is a social platform for travelers to share their favorite day trips. Whether you are visiting a new city or wondering what adventures await where you live, DayZipping provides a fun and painless way of deciding what to do today.
Founded in Atlanta less than a year ago, the company’s crowd sourcing model has already attracted hundred of contributions and ratings for day trips in exciting cities and places across the globe. The trips are easily searchable by a number of criteria and its super easy to submit your own trip ideas or rate the trips posted by others.
In addition to individual contributions to the site, Tennessee, North Carolina, Las Vegas, Denver and Colorado Springs have all committed to providing day trip suggestions. The arrangement gives local governments access to a broader tourist and resident audience and gives the broader audience access to great trip ideas. Everyone benefits. What’s not to love!
This summer, the company plans to launch a mobile app on Android and Apple devices that make the idea even more useful. DayZipping is also working on forming a partnership with ZipCar to make sure contributors have a car to carry them on their adventures.
DayZipping is an ATDC member company and has committed equity by angel funds in South Carolina, Georgia and California. With a great idea, a smart model, and an adventurous team, we think this company has what it takes to really take off. Any bets on how long it will take for DayZipping to become a household name? Our money is on ‘very shortly’!
Law firm DLA Piper LLP will have office hours on Tuesday, April 19th, from 11am to 4pm with a lunch break from 12 to 1p in suite 200 on the second floor of ATDC at Tech Square. Make an appointment today before the spaces fill up! Sessions are for 30 minutes each.
Partner Brian Gordon will be available for consultation. Brian Gordon is a partner in DLA Piper’s Corporate and Securities group, based in Atlanta. His diverse practice focuses on the representation of venture-backed technology companies and the venture capital funds that invest in them. He concentrates in representing such companies in acquisitions, financing transactions, the negotiation of credit facilities and the resolution of day-to-day legal issues. Mr. Gordon has closed over 60 venture financing transactions which have raised over $400 million. Mr. Gordon has also served venture capital funds in both their fund formation and ongoing matters, and as counsel to a fund-of-funds in its investment in approximately 30 venture capital and buyout funds.
Three cheers for never missing the bus again thanks to ATDC company RideCell! RideCell was founded and built by Georgia Tech faculty and alumni including Professor Emeritus Steve Dickerson, AT&T veteran Dave Kaufman, and CipherTrust product development guru Aarjav Trivedi. Frustrated with Atlanta traffic, Dr. Dickerson has been working on a better transit solution since 1975.
Years of research and development of industrial automation software by Dr. Dickerson and his team culminated in RideCell, a vehicle fleet automation software that reduces expenses for transportation services and improves customer experience when using those services. With RideCell tracking a bus or train online or on a mobile device is easy, dispatch becomes more efficient and automated, and performance statistics can be recorded and analyzed.
The idea was patented in 2001 and technology took almost a decade to catch up to the vision. But catch up it has. Georgia Tech recently used RideCell to reduce manual effort spent on the fleet by 80%. RideCell has plans to add Atlanta’s MARTA, Zipcar, and Georgia Tech Stinger shuttles to their real-time, location aware system so patrons can tell exactly when their ride will arrive.
RideCell has industry applications as well. In addition to automated dispatch coordination, delivery and maintenance fleets benefit from automatic call aheads to make sure customers are at home and from on-line truck tracking access by consumers and providers.
RideCell is really going places with a high-tech, low-hassle solution to automating transit dispatching . With so many compelling applications, the only question is where will the company focus next?