Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

In A Bet That Micro-Wagering Will Transform Sports Streaming, Startup Phenix Raises $16.7 Million

Posted on: September 20th, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

New players are piling into the sports streaming space, betting that the live nature of games can help reverse, or at least slow, the viewership declines seen throughout the broadcasting world. But just how “live” those game broadcasts are is up for debate: Because of latency issues inherent to online streaming, the home viewer might be watching action that is a minute behind what’s happening on the field.

One startup believes that it has found a solution—and that it will be lucrative.

Phenix, which says its technology can reduce the latency of video streams to less than half a second at scale, has secured $16.7 million in a Series B round led by the Chicago-based sports-tech venture capital firm KB Partners, bringing its total funding to $40 million. The investment values the startup at $90 million.

Rather than the HLS or DASH protocols that are generally used to deliver video because they can easily scale, Phenix cofounder Stefan Birrer adapted a protocol called WebRTC that was developed for chatbots with an emphasis on speed. The resulting software ensures streams are fast and synchronized across users and devices.

In the years after its founding in 2013, the Chicago-based startup focused on auctions and trivia games—spaces that require synchronization so that no competitor has an advantage over any other—powering car auctions for Manheim and working on an interactive component of ABC’s 2019 Oscars broadcast and a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? companion app. But as it got its tech ready for commercialization, it saw greater opportunity in the sports streaming space.

Read the full Forbes article here

Violet Defense is Helping Businesses Get Back to Normal

Posted on: March 26th, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

ORLANDO, Fla., March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — One of the most technologically advanced solutions to fighting the virus, which can disinfect nearly every part of a facility is UV Light. Violet Defense is a Florida-based disinfection technology firm offering a distinctive UVsolution and has partnered with numerous companies and venues to support them in their back-to-business reopening plans and protection of employees.

The Jewish Academy of Orlando, Orange County Convention Center, and Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention have directly experienced how Violet Defense’s patented pulsed Xenon technology can provide businesses with the tools they need to re-open and help people feel safer in the places they live, work, play and learn every day.

The recent passing of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 includes approximately $128 billion for local education agencies as they look to re-open for face-to-face instruction. The Jewish Academy of Orlando has reported that zero COVID-19 transmissions have occurred on their campus, and they credit a significant portion of that outcome to the use of UV technology. As can be expected with new technology and unprecedented situations, some staff and faculty at the academy were skeptical of the tech’s efficacy. However, according to Alan Rusonik, Head of School, those on the fence have now become supporters of the system. “We believe that Violet Defense is what is keeping our school safe. It is truly making a difference,” said Rusonik. Teachers at the academy have expressed confidence and appreciation of how user-friendly and efficient the tools are as “all they have to do is push a button, and 30 minutes later, the room is sanitized.”

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Violet Defense Announces Expanded Partnership With Orlando Magic to Continue Protecting Its Team With Patented UV Germ-Killing Technology

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

ORLANDO, Fla., March 16, 2021 (Newswire.com) – The Orlando Magic announce an expanded partnership with Violet Defense, an Orlando-based germ-killing company with patented UV technology. Violet Defense will become the official UV disinfection partner of the Orlando Magic. The updated partnership will also include the installation of their technology in the Magic’s new training facility, the AdventHealth Training Center, slated to open in the second quarter of 2022. 

As part of the expanded partnership, the Magic will also be able to take the same technology that protects their facilities at the Amway Center wherever they travel to on the road with the consumer version of Violet Defense’s UV disinfection system. 

“Through our collaboration with Violet Defense over the last couple of years, we have been able to easily incorporate their technology throughout our spaces as part of our on-going efforts to keep our facilities safe and healthy for our team,” said Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman.  “When we started planning the new training facility, we knew right away that Violet Defense needed to be an integral part of our plans and are thrilled about what this expanded partnership will continue to bring to our team.” 

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Violet Defense is proud to be apart of the back-to-business stride. By harnessing the power of UV, we help businesses feel more confident about opening back up to the public.

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

Plenty Expands to More Stores in Northern California, Launches Text-a-Farmer Feature

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

Vertical farming company Plenty today announced an expansion to 17 more Safeway stores across Northern California, as well as a new tech feature that lets shoppers text Plenty’s farmers directly.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the Northern California expansion is part of the multi-year deal between Plenty and Safeway parent company Albertsons. Through that deal, leafy greens grown in Plenty’s controlled-environment vertical farming facility in the San Francisco Bay Area get shipped to Albertsons stores up and down California. The goal is to eventually get plenty’s produce into more than 430 Albertsons stores, including those under the Safeway and Vons brands.

Simultaneous to this expansion is the launch of what Plenty calls its Text-a-Farmer feature. The tool functions much like its name suggests. A sign in the grocery store’s produce section will display a number users can text questions to. Those questions can be about anything related to Plenty’s produce, from “How should I store my greens?” to “Is your packaging recyclable?” Plenty farmers answer the questions in real time via text with the custom

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Thanks to Violet Defense’s Patented Disinfection Technology ‘Hands-On’ Cade Museum Reopens Doors

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

Violet Defense and Cade Museum restore human connection in Gainesville, FL, community.

ORLANDO, Fla., March 9, 2021 (Newswire.com) – Violet Defensethe only manufacturer of pulsed Xenon UV disinfection devices that can be installed and operated autonomously, is a proud partner with the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention. The Cade Museum installed Violet Defense technology across the premises to successfully reopen June 5, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaboration allowed the museum to disinfect the air and surfaces, protect museum employees and visitors, and remain open today.

During the pandemic, museums, performing arts and other cultural organizations across the globe had to close their doors, making it challenging to fulfill their missions. As part of the COVID-19 relief package passed in December, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program appropriated $15 billion to help live theater operators, performing arts organizations, museums, and other venues reopen and resume operations, including for expenses to help protect their workers from coronavirus.   

“Violet Defense enabled us to remain as a functioning business. Without that type of technology, I don’t believe our team would have felt comfortable coming back into our space. But this technology also allowed us to bring back a sense of normalcy and restore human connection during these trying times,” said Stephanie Bailes, Executive Director of the Cade Museum.

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Violet Defense Expands to More Countries With Gen 3 Product Launch

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

The Patented UV Disinfection Technology Debuts with Universal Voltage

ORLANDO, Fla., February 25, 2021 (Newswire.com) – Violet Defense, a leader in UV-disinfecting lighting products, is shining a new light with its latest offering, the Gen 3 Universal Voltage product line.

Violet Defense is known for its innovative pulsed Xenon UV light germ-fighting technology that eliminates up to 99.9 percent of E. coli, Salmonella, and coronavirus. Now, with the Gen 3 Universal Voltage product line, this proven disinfection technology can be used anywhere throughout the world.

This allows Violet Defense to expand its distribution network globally selling to a larger international audience. Now, customers worldwide can be protected from pathogens with Violet Defense’s technology.

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Will We Be Ready for the Next Pandemic?

Posted on: March 22nd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

The world must move urgently in 2021 to develop strategies and systems for fighting diseases that could be even deadlier than Covid-19

Fast forward to 2023. The Covid-19 pandemic is largely behind us. Most of the world has been vaccinated, though we have to tamp down occasional flare-ups and people sometimes still wear masks. While we mourn the millions who died, we have entered a post-pandemic world in which most things are more or less as they were before Covid-19. Travel and trade are unrestricted; everything from dinner parties and big weddings to stadium concerts and megachurch services are being held again; and economies are booming to keep pace with pent-up demand.

Then, just as suddenly as Covid-19 emerged, disease detectives discover a fresh cluster of a new, pneumonia-like illness. Testing quickly confirms that it isn’t a variant of Covid-19 but a new influenza virus that jumped—somehow, somewhere—from birds to humans. The new virus is as infectious as the one that caused Covid-19 but four times as deadly. And unlike Covid-19, but like the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic, the new virus is particularly deadly to young adults—and, in this case, also to children.

A horrifying influenza pandemic isn’t the only nightmare scenario that could be worse than Covid-19. Think of the hundreds of thousands of cases of tick-borne Lyme disease in the U.S. each year. In other parts of the world, some ticks spread Ebola-like illnesses, and if these infections spread to the U.S., tick-bites could also lead to a disease with the terrifying lethality of Ebola. Or a highly drug-resistant bacterium could spread rapidly. Or a laboratory could develop an untreatable, vaccine-defying strain of a virus or bacterium and—intentionally or by accident—release it into the world.

The world wasn’t ready for Covid-19. Will we be ready for the next, inevitable pandemic?

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Spintech opens new composites manufacturing division, Hawthorn Composites

Posted on: March 22nd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

New division specializes in manufacturing complex geometry composite parts using novel dry fiber preforming and resin infusion techniques, extending Spintech composite capabilities.

Spintech Holdings, Inc. (Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) announced on Jan. 18 the opening of a new composites manufacturing business division named Hawthorn Composites. This new division extends Spintech Holdings’ composite capabilities beyond the existing Smart Tooling division that provides formable and reusable composite tooling solutions for complex geometry composites.

Hawthorn Composites specializes in manufacturing complex geometry composite parts using novel dry fiber preforming and resin infusion techniques. When appropriate, additional value can be realized through the use of Smart Tooling solutions. According to Spintech, this combination of technologies significantly lowers labor and material costs, while maintaining structural integrity and weight neutrality when compared to conventional prepreg and autoclave-cured components.   

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Two new projects moving through Port of San Diego Blue Economy Incubator

Posted on: March 22nd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

The Port deployed the incubator’s seventh project, ecoSPEARS, which will remove PCBs from contaminated sediments in America’s Cup Harbor; and approved its ninth project, FREDsense, which will provide real-time metals analysis for stormwater monitoring in the bay.

SAN DIEGO—In the same way Silicon Valley made a name for itself in the technology field, some at the Port of San Diego are hoping to do the same for San Diego Bay in the blue economy sector. The Port created the Blue Economy Incubator in 2016 to launch blue tech ventures in the bay and the seventh project to come out of the program was recently deployed and a ninth was recently approved.

“There’s no reason why, just like the Santa Clara Valley came to be known as the Silicon Valley, that the San Diego Bay could one day come to be known as the blue technology bay,” said Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos.

On Dec. 14, ecoSPEARS was deployed in America’s Cup Harbor for a two-year pilot project. ecoSPEARS uses a NASA-developed technology, Sorbent Polymer Extraction and Remediation System (SPEARS), to remove toxic contaminants from sediment and will be used in the harbor to remove Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs).https://ead10ec165f28770de74e2de994cb003.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

“The goal here is to help develop technologies that will result in a cleaner bay,” Castellanos said.

SPEARS uses a scalable mat-liner of plastic spikes filled with a proprietary reagent to reach contaminated sediment around challenging areas such as piers, harbors, pylons, or sensitive wetland areas where dredging may not be feasible. The technology absorbs PCBs like a sponge without the use of any harmful chemicals or byproducts and without harming the aquatic habitat.

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