CED Announces 100+ ‘Showcase, Lightning-Round & Demo’ Companies To Be Featured at Tech Venture Conference 2015

DURHAM, NC, Aug. 13, 2015 – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), the largest and longest-running network for entrepreneurs in the country, today announced more than 100 “showcase, lightning-round and demo” companies that were selected to be featured at this year’s CED Tech Venture Conference 2015. These companies represent North Carolina’s hottest emerging and growth-stage technology companies.

This year’s conference theme is #ScalingUp, a topic that has sparked a national conversation about how to unlock the power of entrepreneurship by supporting growth-stage companies more aggressively.

“North Carolina companies are not just starting up, but scaling up – making big hires, acquiring new customers and connecting to investors all over the country,” said Jay Bigelow, director of entrepreneurship for CED. “The Tech Venture Conference stage will be packed with people who have cracked the scaling code. We will feature the most innovative companies and thought leaders in the country – people who know what it takes not just to start up, but to scale up and succeed.”

CED President Joan Siefert Rose added: “We know that the scaleup phase is where the entrepreneurial sector truly starts to deliver on its promise of creating jobs and economic prosperity. This year’s conference has reach and relevance for audiences around the world.”

Fourteen showcase companies, considered the “best of the best,” were selected to tell their story on the main stage in front of over 800 attendees at a conference that has become a “Who’s Who” of the nation’s technology industry – from the most exciting emerging tech companies to the most influential investors and tech leaders. It will be held Sept. 15–16 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

This year, because of the overwhelming number of worthy applications, the selection committee decided to create a new category. In addition to the showcase companies presenting on the main stage, the committee selected 17 early-stage companies to present on the main stage during a “lightning round.”

Nearly 80 of the most exciting early-stage companies have also been invited to demonstrate their products and technologies in the Demo Room at the conference.

“We had so many companies this year that deserve to be in the main-stage spotlight that we had to create a whole new category with the lightning round,” Bigelow said. “Between the main stage and the Demo Room, we’ll be showing the ‘full stack’ of the ecosystem – from early stage, to emerging growth, to companies with significant traction. This is a sign of a healthy ecosystem, that we have companies at all stages and can match them with investors at all stages.”

Bigelow said applicants listed more than 40 separate entrepreneurial support organizations that have assisted them as they build their businesses.

“Growing a new company is a team sport, and having a large number of supporting organizations all working to build the next great tech company is a huge asset,” Bigelow said. “The entrepreneurial ecosystem is alive and vibrant in North Carolina, and new technology companies are being born and nurtured here every day.”

The conference attracts a broad sweep of national venture capital firms, angel investors, corporate and strategic investors, representatives from North Carolina’s top universities, entrepreneurial companies from across the state, and community partners.

This year’s featured companies hail from cities all over North Carolina, including: Aberdeen, Apex, Asheville, Burlington, Candler, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Clayton, Durham, Fuquay-Varina, Greensboro, Indian Trail, Morrisville, Mount Airy, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, Rocky Mount, Wake Forest, Weaverville and Wilmington.

The companies represent a diversity of technologies and subsectors, including: AdTech, advanced materials and manufacturing, big data, connected devices/Internet of Things, crowdfunding, cleantech, SaaS, e-commerce, mobile/social, security and wearables.

The selection committee that chose this year’s companies was made up of distinguished members of the community, including active angel investors, local and regional venture capital firms, corporate partners, staff from CED and a presenting partner for the conference.

This year’s showcase companies, listed in alphabetical order, are:

Betaversity	Raleigh
BoomboxFM	Durham
Dude Solutions	Cary
inMotionNow	Morrisville
Lea(R)n, Inc.	Raleigh
Pack Purchase	Raleigh
Pendo	Raleigh
Plum Print	Candler
RevBoss	Durham
Reveal Mobile	Raleigh
RocketBolt	Durham
Stealz, Inc.	Raleigh
Windsor Circle	Durham
Zaloni	Durham

 This year’s lightning-round companies, listed in alphabetical order, are:

Akili Software, Inc.	Raleigh
AppVested	Indian Trail
Atmospheric Plasma Solutions, Inc.	Cary
BioMetrix LLC	Mount Airy
ELXR Health, Inc.	Durham
Essay Assay, Inc.	Durham
Fabl	Durham
Freedom	Chapel Hill
Fusion3	Greensboro
Klever	Durham
National Speed	Wilmington
Offline Media, Inc.	Raleigh
PodKeeper	Charlotte
SeaChange Technologies	Raleigh
SOLOpro	Chapel Hill
Szl.it Inc.	Durham
Testive	Durham

 This year’s demo companies, listed in alphabetical order, are:

3F, LLC	Raleigh
3DFS	Pittsboro
Airahm Inc.	Chapel Hill
AnyCloud	Durham
Appalatch	Weaverville
Aten, Inc.	Research Triangle Park
BabyShareLove	Raleigh
Beer Exchange	Charlotte
BeesWax Websites	Asheville
Big Pixel	Raleigh
Bivarus, Inc.	Durham
Buzz Behind Worldwide, LLC	Morrisville
ChopTix	Chapel Hill
Cityzen	Raleigh
CommuniGift	Chapel Hill
Counter Tools	Carrboro
Divvy Investments	Cary
EmployUs	Raleigh
Epoch Universal, Inc.	Charlotte
Farmzie	Raleigh
Fix-A-Latch	Chapel Hill
Flippze	Wilmington
Fresh Box LLC	Raleigh
Inverge	Chapel Hill
Joosy, Inc.	Raleigh
Kyma Technologies	Raleigh
Legal Software Solutions, LLC	Raleigh
Likeli	Wilmington
LineHire	Chapel Hill
LocoDIsco	Raleigh
LogZilla Corporation	Morrisville
LUMEOVA	Raleigh
Mindset Systems, Inc.	Chapel Hill
MiPayWay	Wake Forest
MobRocket	Asheville
Muses Labs, Inc.	Raleigh
My Family Cloud	Apex
Nicotrax	Raleigh
Nomadic Technologies	Charlotte
Noteables	Durham
OBX Computing Corporation	Raleigh
Papilia	Raleigh
Personalized Learning Games Inc.	Durham
Polymer Braille, Inc.	Raleigh
Practichem	Morrisville
ProAxion	Apex
PRTI, Inc.	Raleigh
Queue Software	Raleigh
Racefeedx	Raleigh
ReActiv Designs	Cary
ResiSpeak	Cary
Ripl	Asheville
Sarda Technologies, Inc.	Durham
ShomoLive, Inc.	Charlotte
ShopBot Tools, Inc.	Durham
SlideSource.com	Research Triangle Park
Smart Office Energy Solutions	Chapel Hill
Snapptop	Raleigh
SnapYeti	Raleigh
Sweeps	Raleigh
TAGGD’	Asheville
TaskTorch	Raleigh
Taste Analytics	Charlotte
TCI Software, Inc.	Aberdeen
The Train App, Co	Greensboro
Tiger Eye Sensor, Inc.	Clayton
Tootdeck, Inc.	Cary
Trainworks, Inc.	Wake Forest
Trimlio Health	Wilmington
Trunk Media, Inc.	Asheville
Upswing	Durham
Vaporware, Inc.	Raleigh
Vigilent	Raleigh
Virtucode Software	Fuquay-Varina
Williams Robotics, LLC	Burlington
Windlift	Durham
Work Around Me	Cary
XiLi Mobile, LLC	Wilmington
ZynBit	Rocky Mount

About CED

CED is the largest and longest-running network for entrepreneurs in the country. CED’s network propels emerging Triangle companies into highly successful businesses. Members include a wide range of startup and growth stage companies, investors, corporate partners, academics, service providers, and individuals interested in benefiting from CED’s powerfully connected network. Read more at http://www.cednc.org.

Conference website: http://www.cednc.org/techventure/

Media interested in attending the conference or connecting with showcase, lightning-round or demo companies should contact Steve Hinkson at 919.549.7500 or shinkson (at) cednc.org.

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