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For Immediate Release

BEN FRANKLIN TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA APPROVES INVESTMENTS INCLUDING SIX EARLY STAGE COMPANIES FOR $1.65 MILLION

PHILADELPHIA, PA - August 5, 2008 - Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) has approved investments totaling $1.65 million in over six early stage technology companies.

"BFTP strengthens the Commonwealth's role as a leader of cutting-edge science and technology, innovation, research and commercialization," said Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Yablonskly. "These sound investments, made by the Southeast BFTP, ensure that the state's emerging and growing technology enterprises will have access to the resources they need to become more efficient, more competitive and more successful in the global marketplace."

"We're happy to see two companies in this round of investments involve technologies being spun out of area universities: MicroMRI with technology from the University of Pennsylvania, and DE-ID Data Corp based on work done at the University of Pittsburgh. Also, three of these companies involve products that will be important to the healthcare industry," said RoseAnn B. Rosenthal, President & CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Companies approved for funding:

  • DE-ID Data Corp, LLC - Richboro - Bucks County - Approved Investment: $250,000
    www.de-idata.com

    Founded to develop technology that protects patient privacy from data mining, DE-ID Data Corp's name stands for "de-identification." De-IDTM Software offers accurate, automated high volume de-identification of text in patient records, reports and information systems, serving as a HIPAA-compliance and security filter for personal health information in medical records and reports. Licensed from the University of Pittsburgh, the technology easily integrates into clinical and research information systems.

    Dan Wasserstrom, DE-ID Data Corp's founder and chairman of the board, has devoted his career to bringing new technologies, delivery channels, and analytical techniques to healthcare; Steven Merahn, MD, most recently marketing VP at Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, is General Manager.

  • First Flavor, Inc. - Bala Cynwyd - Montgomery County - Approved Investment: $400,000 (BFTP/SEP previously approved $250,000 in 2007)
    www.firstflavor.com

    Inspired by the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, First Flavor's premier product, Peel 'n Taste®, uses edible film technology (similar to breath-freshening strips) to deliver product taste samples to consumers, a new product marketing technique. Due to Peel 'n Taste's ® success as an easy, safe and fun marketing tool, First Flavor is emerging as a leader in the growing field of multi-sensory marketing, and has received significant positive press over the past two years, including from The Wall Street Journal and The Today Show.

    Jay Minkoff, President & CEO, is also an activist in the Philadelphia Jewish and health care communities who looks for innovative ways to take care of people in need. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his BS in civil engineering from Tufts University.

  • Hovitate, LLC - Philadelphia - Approved Investment: $100,000
    www.vuzit.com

    Hovitate's flagship product, Vuzit (pronounced "views-it"), is a web-based document viewer that users can imbed into any webpage. Vuzit revolutionizes the way people and companies use documents by enabling users to enjoy universal office document viewing, security, auditing, and search functions without having to download a driver, plug-in or other application that loads documents in a separate window and program. By using Vuzit, publishers can more easily keep content secure, monitor viewer activity, and post information and advertisements next to the document. Vuzit utilizes AJAX technology to embed documents into web pages.

    Vuzit recently announced it is selling a product line called the Business Services Platform. "In a recent poll of our customer base, we found that 47% of our users were excited to have a corporate edition of Vuzit at their company," Brent Matzelle, CEO and Founder of Vuzit, noted. "Demand for the product has been overwhelming."

    Company founder and CEO Brent Matzelle was previously a member of the media development group at Traffic.com, where he designed and co-developed the first real-time 3D traffic reporting system used by broadcast television networks such as FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, and UPN.

  • MicroMRI, Inc. - Philadelphia - Approved Investment: $400,000 (BFTP/SEP previously approved $100,000 in 2007)
    www.micromri.com

    MicroMRI is taking strides to combat the chronic disease osteoporosis, with its innovative method of visualizing and quantifying bone micro-architecture using high resolution MRI. Its goal is to develop technology that can better diagnose and assess treatments for the disease; becoming the premier company for non-invasive bone micro-architecture assessment. The technology was licensed from the University of Pennsylvania.

    Osteoporosis affects both men and women, although the main threat is to woman after menopause, a population rapidly growing in most industrialized countries. Most importantly, one out of every two women will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime, which can be a life threatening event. Current technologies are limited at diagnosing and evaluating osteoporosis.

    Dr. Andreas Muehler, President & CEO, is a physician trained in radiology with a long history of working in management positions within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

  • mVisum, Inc. - Relocating to PA - Approved Investment: $250,000
    www.mvisum.com

    mVisum has created a medical communication system for doctors that allows them to receive, evaluate, and respond to digital medical data through most popular hand held smartphones, even when away from a medical center.

    The company was formed after the first-hand experience of one of the founders, whose relative's life was saved during a heart attack because of the fortunate presence of a cardiologist living next door.

    The technology allows for faster, and therefore better, care for patients - for example, allowing ambulance workers to send patient data, such as EKG, or other images, to the on-call physician or specialist ahead of time; so that they are already prepared for treatment when the ambulance arrives. Medical personnel can also use the system to communicate patient data in any way they need, securely through mVisum's HIPAA compliant platform.

    mVisum is run by president and CEO Praveen Dala.

  • Nayatek LLC - Relocating to PA - Approved Investment: $250,000
    www.nayatek.com

    Nayatek is a global provider of enterprise Information Management solutions providing comprehensive Content Archiving, EDiscovery, Storage Management and Compliance functionality. Nayatek's solutions provide the next generation "better way" to address specific problems and challenges that clients face today and beyond in managing their electronically stored information (ESI).

    Nayatek's flagship solution, Datosphere, is a next generation enterprise information management platform specifically designed to assist organizations to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of their messaging and electronic document resources, and to maintain objectively verifiable, robust procedures to comply with industry regulations. Organizations can respond effectively to expanding regulatory compliance pressure and their growing needs to easily archive and manage disparate data formats.

    Nayatek is led by Marc Olson, CEO; formerly President of the International Operations for Sybari Software, and VP of Southern Europe for McAfee, Inc.

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About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Celebrating our 25th anniversary, BFTP/SEP is the region's catalyst for Stimulating Entrepreneurial Potential. Ben Franklin invests in innovative enterprises and creates commercialization pathways that generate wealth through science and technology. Part of a statewide network in Pennsylvania, BFTP/SEP provides entrepreneurs and established businesses with the Capital, Knowledge and Networks to compete in the global marketplace. BFTP/SEP has provided more than $130 million to grow more than 1,600 regional enterprises. BFTP/SEP is a founding partner of The Nanotechnology Institute™ (NTI), Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance (MANA®), Emerald Stage2 Venture Fund, the Minority Angel Investor Network, and the Pennsylvania Advanced Textiles Research and Innovation Center (PATRIC). BFTP/SEP is part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin Technology Partnership.

We are Uniquely Ben™

For additional information, please visit www.sep.benfranklin.org

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BFTP/SEP Contact:
Jaron J. Rhodes
Manager, Marketing and Communications
(215) 972-6700, ext. 3214
jaron@sep.benfranklin.org

©2008 Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania
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