More than 400 entrepreneurs, technology leaders, investors and technology developers gathered for the 2013 Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) Startup Showcase April 22 at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference center in Midtown Atlanta.

The event kicked off with graduation ceremonies for five ATDC companies that have reached important revenue and operational milestones.  “These companies have already achieved quite a lot,” said Blake Patton, ATDC’s interim general manager.  “They’ve raised important venture capital and built a strong and growing customer base.  They’ve also left a lasting impression on ATDC – driving and leading change and helping other entrepreneurs.”

Speaker Bill Nussey, president and CEO of email marketing company Silverpop, a former ATDC company, joined Patton in congratulating the graduates on their accomplishments.  “You are defying the odds, living the dream and making a dent in the universe,” he said.

The 2013 graduating companies are:

• AccelerEyes helps code run 10 to 100 times faster by enabling it to run on graphics processing units. The company already serves thousands of customers in more than 40 countries across a variety of industries.
• BrightWhistle is a first-in-class digital patient acquisition solution designed for health care providers. Its technology helps providers quickly find high value patients through search and social media.
• KontrolFreek is a leading designer of ergonomic, game-enhancing products to improve comfort and performance when playing video games.
• Patientco helps patients pay, track, understand and manage their healthcare costs. The company helps patients reign in healthcare costs and allows providers to receive payments more quickly.
• Urjanet offers tools for tracking and reporting energy use for large-scale consumers.

The graduates joined some 35 other ATDC technology startups in exhibiting their innovative technologies at the showcase.  The companies demonstrated applications and hardware for a wide range of industries, including health care and medical devices, financial services, clean tech/energy, information security and gaming.

Among the technologies on display were cabled robotics with balloon lifting devices to provide broad surveillance over a large area, shoe inserts to capture electrical current to charge mobile devices while a person is walking, a repositioning device to allow a caregiver to lift the torso of a patient with one finger, and software automation for cutting and sewing garments and other items at costs less than foreign producers.

ATDC, just ranked by Forbes as one of the 12 business incubators that are changing the world, helps technology entrepreneurs in Georgia launch and build successful companies. With headquarters at Georgia Tech in Atlanta’s Technology Square, ATDC provides these entrepreneurs coaching, connections, and a community to foster their development. The ATDC Startup Showcase is one of dozens of workshops, seminars and networking events that ATDC offers live and online to assist and highlight the success of Georgia’s startup community.

Research News
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Media Relations Contact: John Toon (jtoon@gatech.edu)(404-894-6986)

Writer: Kathie Robichaud