Sneak Peek: An early look at some new ventures popping up around Philly

Tom Paine

I had reported that Ecount (sold to Citi in 2007, now Citi Prepaid Services) co-founders Matt Gillin and Paul Raden have started Radnor-based Relay Network with backing from First Round Capital, ICG and NewSpring Capital. Now two other Ecount vets, Drew Kese and Kevin O'Nell, are getting back into the startup game with a venture called Orocast. Still very much in a stealth mode, Orocast won't say much about what its doing, though it did have a public coming out of sorts by cosponsoring Philly Scalathon in July. O'Nell said in a phone conversation to expect more news in the 4th quarter; just my guess that some clues about the venture's general direction might be found in its name and the founders' backgrounds.

Terry Williams' new venture, Cross X Platform, announced recently that it had launched and on Friday said that it had launched its website. Cross X (CXP) provides a shared platform of technology and support services for IT consulting and services firms. It may take equity stakes in some of these firms, and conversely the IT firms may participate in CXP's equity. CXP is located in Audubon. Terry founded and later sold the TWC Group, and is co-founder and managing partner of Next Stage Capital.

Zooyan is a Philly-based local shopping/deals site which annnounced its launch in March. Zooyan is operating in Philly only now, though it has plans to expand elsewhere. Its offers goods and services from local merchants broken down by neighborhood.

DoughMain (yes, thats its name) announced it has raised $5 million in Angel funding and launched its site August 1. The Princeton-based venture says that it will "offer a suite of features designed to help families coordinate their lives while empowering them to become better educated about money".

Phiiladelphia-based VITA Products has launched its new product, the VITAband, originally designed with runners in mind. It offers customers a small bracelet on which they can store personal health information, and it can also be used for contactless payment transactions.

CloudMine, a venture with local roots that provides tools for mobile app developers, was one of the first to be accepted into this year's Philly DreamIt Ventures class, according to Technically Philly.

MDconnectMe, a Philadelphia-based company, provides
a mobile app that connects patients with physicians and other healthcare providers in what it says is a HIPAA-compliant way. (The issue of direct electronics communications between physicians and patients has always been contentious.) It reported raising $50,000 in an SEC filing in May.



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