Participated · Seed · Jun 2021

MemoryFox began as a service for families to record memories with pre-dementia loved ones and pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on collecting community-generated content for organizations. After the pivot the company now helps nonprofits across the country gather and store content to build engagement and raise funds. MemoryFox has added notable clients like United Way, and its revenue has risen for three straight quarters. The company raised $380,000 in a seed round that included $100,000 from UB's Buffalo Innovation Seed Fund, plus investments from Z80 Labs, Launch NY and private investors. Management says the funding will enable continued product development and the development of a content marketing ecosystem. The team has also hired a consultant to manage its podcast and plans to invest in hiring and building its team.

Led · Equity · Jul 2014

Empire Genomics offers comprehensive assay services for diagnosing and guiding patient therapeutic treatments. Led by President and CEO Anthony Johnson, the company develops proprietary molecular diagnostics and provides assay services to support therapeutic decision-making. It was created in 2006 from research started at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. In May 2016 the company raised a $1.75M financing led by existing investor BroadOak Capital Partners with participation from Rand Capital Corporation. Empire Genomics will use the proceeds to invest in sales and marketing, automation, and to increase the scale of operations. The company also plans to launch additional proprietary molecular diagnostics to expand its product offering. Empire Genomics develops high-throughput technologies to enable genome-wide analyses aimed at understanding the mechanisms that cause disease, particularly cancer. The company was launched in 2006 at the Roswell Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. It operates a laboratory and plans to expand its test offerings and acquire new technologies. Empire Genomics intends to grow its staff as part of these plans and previously announced a 2012 five-year plan to add 50 employees to offices bordering the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Earlier this year the company was included in a $105 million state-funded genomic research consortium made up of companies in Buffalo and Manhattan. It recently secured financing to support its expansion efforts.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2013

Decision Pace provides a BI web application that generates intelligent data visualizations on demand by linking to existing data sources and creating real-time web analytics from raw data. Users can configure visualizations, generate embeddable code and choose from a variety of HTML5-compatible formats that can be published on dashboards, websites or connected devices as an open web service URL. The company plans to use the new funds to further develop its BI data visualization products, services and technologies. Decision Pace was founded by Jay Moeller and Alan Lash and is based in Buffalo, NY. Financially, the company announced a $1M funding round to support product and technology development.