It was a busy week on the local startup scene. Among the highlights:
* Innovation Happens was held at the Alpha Lab office in the South Side, bringing five startups together with business leaders in Pittsburgh. The goal of the program is to introduce local startups to local companies, which is a win-win for the region in helping to build great businesses, says Sean Ammirati, partner, Birchmere Ventures. The companies included:
Community Elf,
Acrinta,
WebKite,
Appcertain and Legal Sisters.
* Birchmere Ventures plans to make a big announcement later this week regarding the first local startup selected for
Birchmere Labs, a seed and studio fund.
* More than 200 people attended the grand opening of
Hustle Den, the new East Liberty incubator for entrepreneurs.
Project Aura claimed the $25,000 prize for Thrill Mill’s first Business Bout, two CMU design students who are working to make the streets safer by illuminating bicycle tires in an array of colors depending on how fast the bike is traveling.
* Cohera Medical, the company that is bringing absorbable surgical adhesives and sealants to patients, helping them to heal and recover faster from large flap surgeries, has secured an additional $17 million round through private investors. Cohera will use the funds to expand into the European markets.
* Big Data is changing the world. Learn all about it from a panel of local experts on how they are involved with 'big data' and what changes and opportunities they see emerging at the next
MIT Enterprise Forum on Feb. 20
th starting at 5:30 p.m. The panel, moderated by Raul Valdes-Perez, founder of Vivisimo, includes Mickey McManus, president and CEO of Maya Design, Saman Haqqi, a leader in the efforts to create the “Big Pittsburgh Data Mill,” John Dick, CEO of CivicScience and Susan Bachman of Management Science Associates.
Writer: Deb Smit