EnterpriseWorks

  AGRICULTURE TECH STARTUP BRINGS ACTIONABLE PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS TO GROWERS CHAMPAIGN, IL., July 21, 2015—Agrible, Inc., an agriculture technology start-up focused on predictive analytics, today announced a $4.1 million Series A round of funding. Sierra Ventures is leading this round of investment and is joined by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). Founded and grown in the Midwest, Agrible, Inc. produces actionable predictive analytics tools that help growers and agricultural companies increase yields and profitability through field-specific data and forecasts. In February 2015, the company launched Morning Farm Report, the delivery infrastructure for its four products: Rainfall, Field Intel, Tractor Time, and Yield Engine. Agrible is a recent graduate of the EnterpriseWorks incubator in Champaign, having recently moved into larger space in the University of Illinois Research Park. Sierra Ventures is also located in the Research Park; ADM also has a Research Park operation. Morning Farm Report provides highly accurate forecasts and data on fieldwork logistics, yield estimates, rainfall, growing degree days, and more, through annual subscriptions to each product. Morning Farm Report not only reports what has already happened on a field, but also provides growers with forecasts and actionable recommendations to help with decision making. “What Agrible is delivering with Morning Farm Report is cutting-edge predictive analytics technology that hasn’t been seen before,” said Agrible CEO Chris Harbourt. “The majority of our team has a background in agriculture, and it shows. You can feel the energy and expertise of our team in the software we produce and the actionable analytics we provide.” As a part of the investment round, ADM will help to facilitate the distribution of the Morning Farm Report product. This commercial relationship will give Agrible immediate access to thousands of growers representing million acres of farmland throughout the Midwest. In addition, this funding will allow Agrible to expand its team and continue improving Morning Farm Report. Development will also begin on new tools to influence the future of agriculture. “We’re excited to work with Agrible as they grow and continue to build on existing revenue channels,” said Dennis Beard, Partner with Sierra Ventures. “The relationship Agrible has developed with ADM represents a stamp of approval on the uniqueness of their products and vision. We have been excited about ag data opportunities for some time and feel that the Agrible team has the experience, ability, and technical know-how to be very successful.”

June 29, 2015 – Rithmio, the gesture recognition platform for wearables, today announced that it has closed a $3 million seed round of financing co-led by KGC Capital and Intel Capital. Participants included MAS Capital Pvt Ltd., OCA Ventures, Hyde Park Ventures Partners, Hyde Park Angels, Foley Ventures, MKRC Ventures, Serra Ventures, and New Coast Ventures. With this investment, Rithmio will expand its product, R&D, and sales teams to fulfill its vision as the world’s leading gesture recognition platform. “We have the team, technology, and now strategic partnerships to take the motion-sensing market to the next level,” said Adam Tilton, CEO and co-founder of Rithmio. “Over the next year, we’ll work closely with the developer community on the next generation of wearables and other products built on Rithmio’s gesture recognition software.” “Real-time analytics for user-specific physical activities represents a potential game changing technology for fitness, physical therapy, and rehabilitation applications,” said Steven Holmes, vice president of the New Devices Group and general manager of the Smart Device Innovation team at Intel. “Intel is exploring a wide range of potential applications for wearable tech and gesture recognition, and we look forward to working with Rithmio as they push the boundaries of their solution.” In September of 2014, Rithmio raised $650,000 that was used to grow the team. Key hires included Kamil Chmielewski, Director of Software, Jen Quinlan, VP of Marketing, and Christian Nam, Designer. The seven-person team focuses on developing Rithmio’s core algorithms and SDK. Rithmio also opened a Chicago office in November 2014 at Catapult Chicago. This is in addition to its office in Champaign, IL at EnterpriseWorks Incubator, Research Park.    Rithmio was founded in 2013 through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Great tech innovations and startups have come out of the University of Illinois. Rithmio is no exception,” said Chris Capps, CEO of KGC Capital. “We believe in Adam and Prashant’s vision.” To learn more about Rithmio, visit http://rithmio.com or follow @rithmio.  

EnterpriseWorks startup OceanComm was named one of the oil and gas industry’s most promising technology startups at the Rice Alliance Startup Roundup in Houston earlier this month. The event took place at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) and showcased 50 emerging technology companies each with an innovative technology based business idea that they presented to potential partners and investors in attendance. The participating companies are solving challenges varying from more efficient gas compression to the aging demographics in the industry, and are at a range of stages of development. OceanComm is a University of Illinois startup commercializing the first video-capable wireless underwater modem. It was founded by Andy Singer, a Fox Family Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Technology Entrepreneur Center.

EnterpriseWorks graduate Electroninks has been recognized as a 2015 Edison Award Winner. Electroninks received the silver award in the Material Science category for their Circuit Scribe technology.  This tool is a rollerball pen that allows users to write with non-toxic conductive ink in order to create circuits. The Electroninks team includes University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign PhD graduates, Brett Walker and Analisa Russo. The Research Park’s Designer-in-Residence, Dr. Deana McDonagh played a key role in designing Circuit Scribe. The Edison award is given to companies who demonstrate innovation and business success.  This award recognizes excellence in new product and service development, marketing, human-centered design and innovation.

CHAMPAIGN, IL Feb 15, 2015 — Governor Rauner visited EnterpriseWorks for the launch of Uber service in Champaign-Urbana. He spoke about his new Innovate Illinois Advisory Council and helping support the growth of technology companies throughout Illinois. Following his remarks, he toured EnterpriseWorks and talked with incubator companies. Links to Media Coverage:News Gazette (Online)Northwest HeraldWILLWAND

Revolution Medicines is currently located in the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park. San Francisco/Redwood City, Calif. – February 4, 2015 – Third Rock Ventures, LLC today announced the formation of REVOLUTION Medicines, Inc. with a $45 million Series A financing to discover and develop new therapies derived from natural products. REVOLUTION Medicines’ innovative approach reconfigures these complex chemicals of life into best-in-class medicines. Veteran industry leader Mark A. Goldsmith, M.D., Ph.D., is the founding president and chief executive officer of REVOLUTION Medicines. Dr. Goldsmith brings to the company more than 25 years of experience as an academic scientist and senior executive in the biotechnology industry, and is a partner at Third Rock Ventures. REVOLUTION Medicines builds upon the vision of the company’s founder and scientific advisory board chairman, Martin D. Burke, M.D., Ph.D., professor of chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Early Career Scientist of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Burke invented a transformative method for synthesizing original compounds that are pharmaceutically optimized analogues of complex natural products. The company has entered into an exclusive license agreement with the University of Illinois to practice and expand this technology, and is pursuing a rapid clinical development path with its lead antifungal program that originated in Dr. Burke’s laboratory. “With this major advance in chemical synthesis, we now have the opportunity to unlock the full medical benefits of natural products that have been selected through a billion years of evolutionary pressure,” said Dr. Goldsmith. “Marty is a remarkably inventive chemical biologist, and REVOLUTION Medicines is working closely with him in his role as scientific advisory board chairman to exploit his breakthroughs for industrial-scale drug discovery through redesigning complex molecules. Our strategy should produce high-impact treatments for serious infections and non-infectious diseases, among them our lead product candidates for patients with life-threatening fungal infections.” The arduous process of synthesizing natural products often requires years of trial and error to reconstruct a single chemical scaffold. In contrast, REVOLUTION Medicines’ approach is a rapid, standardized and powerful process for assembling simple “chemical building blocks” into refined natural product-like structures. These optimized compounds have significant potential as best-in-class drug candidates. REVOLUTION Medicines’ first drug candidates exploit and improve upon the properties of amphotericin B, a powerful, broad-spectrum antifungal compound found in nature that has avoided generating significant drug resistance in 50 years of clinical use. Full therapeutic benefit from this highly efficacious natural compound is significantly compromised by inherent dose-limiting side effects, principally kidney damage. Using the building block synthesis platform to create new molecules, Dr. Burke and his research group overturned decades of scientific dogma and demonstrated that the antifungal efficacy of the amphotericin B scaffold can be separated chemically from the major mechanism that underlies human kidney cell damage. REVOLUTION Medicines is developing novel compounds that leverage the proven therapeutic mechanism for killing fungi while minimizing toxic effects on human cells. “Professor Burke and his group have demonstrated the power of research at our school to uncover methods and drug candidates that can be enormously impactful on human health,” said Phyllis Wise, Ph.D., chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “As one of the nation’s original land-grant institutions, our mission at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is to serve the public good through learning, discovery and outreach. Third Rock Ventures has launched REVOLUTION Medicines to translate these discoveries into important human benefits.” REVOLUTION Medicines Team The REVOLUTION Medicines team brings deep expertise and a track record of building exceptional life sciences companies. In addition to Dr. Goldsmith, founding president and chief executive officer and Dr. Burke, founder and scientific advisory board chairman, the team includes: David Pompliano, Ph.D., founding chief scientific officer, who is a leading drug discovery and development expert who previously led infectious disease research at Merck and GlaxoSmithKline; Peg Horn, J.D., general counsel and senior vice president, corporate development, a seasoned corporate executive with extensive experience in small and large companies; Neil Exter, interim chief business officer, a member of REVOLUTION Medicine’s board of directors and partner at Third Rock Ventures, who brings more than 20 years of experience leading business development and strategy, including service as chief business officer of bluebird bio (NASDAQ: BLUE) and Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI); and Alexis Borisy, a member of REVOLUTION Medicines board of directors, partner at Third Rock Ventures, and entrepreneur and chemical biologist who brings more than 20 years of experience launching and operating innovative science-based organizations, including Blueprint Medicines, Warp Drive Bio, Foundation Medicine and CombinatoRx.