WHO ARE THE DIGITAL AND GREEN COMPANIES THAT SHARED IN THE $60 MILLION FROM THE NJEDA’S NOL PROGRAM IN 2019?

Esther Surden, New Jersey Tech Weekly

 December 30, 2019  Esther Surden0Clean Tech / Green Tech, Emerging technologies, Innovation, News, NJ Tech Companies, Uncategorized,

In December,  New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) announced that it has approved 46 technology and life sciences companies to participate in the 2019 Net Operating Loss (NOL) Program also known as the Technology Business  Tax Certificate Transfer Program.

The NOL Program has long been heralded as a lifeline for companies going through unprofitable times. The program enables eligible technology and life sciences companies to sell New Jersey net operating losses and unused research and development tax credits to unrelated profitable corporations for cash. The cash can then be used for working capital or to fund research.

The NJEDA and the New Jersey Department of Treasury’s Division of Taxation administer the program. To date, more than $1 billion in funding has been approved for over 540 technology and life sciences companies since the program’s inception.

This year, 46 companies were approved to share $60 million through the NOL Program, the maximum amount of funding allocated for the program. This is the second year in a row that the program has hit its cap.

“Every day, entrepreneurs continue to realize the vast benefits that locating in the Garden State can bring, including our ideal location, talented workforce, and unique funding resources like the NOL Program,” NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan said in a press release. “Governor Murphy has committed to recapturing New Jersey’s role as a leader in innovation, and that starts with connecting entrepreneurs to much-needed capital.”

Some qualifications:

  • Only technology and biotechnology companies whose primary business involves the provision of a scientific process, product or service are eligible
  • An eligible company must own, have filed for, or have a license to use protected, proprietary intellectual property (defined as a patent or a registered copyright)
  • An eligible company cannot have had positive net operating income on either of its last two full-year income statements according to GAAP.   In addition, an eligible company cannot have a parent company with positive net operating income, or be part of a consolidated group of affiliates for federal income tax purposes with positive net operating income
  • An eligible company must have at least one full-time employee working in New Jersey if incorporated or formed less than three years, five full-time employees in New Jersey if incorporated or formed more than three years but less than five years, or 10 full-time employees in New Jersey if incorporated or formed more than five years
  • An eligible company must have financial statements for the two most recent full years of operation compiled, reviewed or audited by an independent CPA firm and prepared according to US GAAP.

This article only covers the digital and clean/sustainable/green companies that received funding through the NOL program. For a complete list of companies, including the life sciences, health and pharma companies that are using the NOL program for funds, see the table here: https://www.njeda.com/nolapprovals2019

Information about the companies came from their websites.

Acreto Cloud CorporationJersey CityAcreto offers advanced security for distributed internet of things systems
   
Arable LabsPrincetonArable has a global solution to managing weather risk and crop health, delivering real-time, actionable insights from the farmer’s field.
   
Brilliant Light Power, Inc.CranburyBrilliant Light Power has developed a new commercially competitive, non-polluting, plasma-based primary source of power from the conversion of hydrogen atoms of water molecules to dark matter, the previously unidentified matter that makes up most of the mass of the universe.
   
CircleBlackKingstonCircleBlack is a wealth management platform that gives a complete financial overview of a client’s portfolio in one simple-to-access location
   
Duet MicroelectronicsRaritanDuet offers top-tier RF semiconductor technology, products, service and support.
   
EOS Energy StorageEdisonEOS is on a mission to accelerate clean energy by deploying storage solutions that can help deliver the reliable and cost-competitive power that the market expects in a sustainable way.
   
Hope Portal Services, Inc. DBA Hope TrustHolmdelHope Trust’s technology enables individuals to develop a comprehensive care plan that can be updated anytime, anywhere. When complete, the plan empowers a team of family members, friends and professionals to provide for a loved one during your lifetime and guide your successors thereafter.
   
InpensaSouth PlainfieldInpensa’s software platform automates and standardizes the process of managing corporate investments. By digitizing a legacy manual process typically managed by spreadsheets and emails, Inpensa helps companies both large and small make intelligent data-driven investment decisions that optimizes their performance and competitiveness.  
   
IoTecha Corp.PiscatawayIoTecha was born at the nexus of two powerful trends; transportation electrification, and smart grid evolution. The company provides highly integrated software and hardware solutions that accelerate time to market. “Our solutions bring Operations Technologies and Information Technologies worlds together by simplifying the development and implementation of Smart EV Charging and EV / Smart Grid integration.”
   
Malbec Solutions DBA MalbekSomersetContract management reimagined
   
MDX Media DBA Sapphire DigitalLyndhurstSapphire Digital reduces health care costs by getting people to the right provider, every time.
MobltyLivingstonMoblty is a recognized leader in Digital Shopper engagement in the retail environment. Moblty provides retailers with advanced and comprehensive tools, technology and intellectual currency to activate and transform today’s shopper experience…with programs that inspire, inform, educate and provide incentives to consumers in real-time.
Nanotech IndustriesAvenelThe company’s focus is R&D of market-ready technologies with an emphasis on advanced, novel materials that provide cutting edge environmental engineering solutions for markets throughout the world.
   
Niksun, Inc.PrincetonUsing time-tested zero-loss full packet capture technology, NIKSUN helps you create a faster, more secure cyberinfrastructure based on the same products that powerfully secure over 1,000 enterprises and governments in over 30 countries.  
   
Ocean Power TechnologiesMonroeOcean Power Technologies (Nasdaq:OPTT) is a pioneer in renewable wave-energy technology that converts ocean wave energy into electricity.
   
Prazas Learning Inc.Kendall ParkPrazas Learning helps students become math champions guides by expert coaches. The program is powered by AI.
   
Solidia TechnologiesPiscatawaySolida is a VC-funded cement and concrete technology company addressing sustainability issues.
   
TrialScopeJersey City” Optimize the efficiency of disclosure activities, maximize clinical trial data transparency, and foster more informed, engaged patients with TrialScope.”
   
United Silicon Carbide Inc.Monmouth JunctionThe company’s mission is to accelerate SiC adoption using its innovative device technology, enabling customers to deliver industry-transforming levels of power efficiency to society’s most advanced applications, particularly in mobility, IT infrastructure and renewable energy.
   

 Tags: Acreto Cloud, Arable Labs, Brillian Light Power, CircleBlack, Duet Microelectronics, Eos Energy Storage, Hope Portal Services, Hope Trust, Impenza, IoTEcha, Malbec Solutions, MDX Media, Moblity, Nanotech Industries, Net Operating Loss program, New Jersey Economic Development Authority, NIKSUN, Ocean Powere Technologies, Prazas Learning, Sapphire Digital, Solida Technologies, Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer, Tim Sullivan, TrialScope, United Silicon CarbidePrevious:In 2020, CentralReach Will Address Industry Trends Its Customers Face in a Complex MarketNext:For 2020, Cross River Bank Says It Will Increase Collaboration to Grow New Jersey’s Fintech Ecosystem

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About The Author

Esther Surden

Esther is the Founder and Editor in Chief of NJ Tech Weekly. This article is reposted here with her permission.

Esther Surden@njtechwkly·

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Delco Today, a local web magazine in Delaware County, PA where SAP’s North American headquarters is located, interviewed Jennifer Morgan, SAP’s new co-CEO, and her husband Michael in 2017. It provides a lot more insight into who Jennifer is and where she came from than I’ve seen anywhere else.

One thing I did not know: Morgan came to SAP from Oracle’s Siebel Systems, and that’s where she met Bill McDermott and later followed him to SAP. She’s from Northern Virginia and attended James Madison University. Morgan is 48 and her fellow co-CEO,  Christian Klein, is only 39. She is from the client side while Klein is from the tech side.

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LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL: COMMVAULT PREDICTS 2020 TECH TRENDS

Esther Surden

NJ TechWeekly

Commvault HQ
Commvault headquarters in Tinton Falls | Courtesy Commvault

LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL: COMMVAULT PREDICTS 2020 TECH TRENDS

 December 5, 2019  Esther Surden0Around New Jersey, Emerging technologies, News, NJ Tech Companies, Tech for Business, Uncategorized,

The folks at Commvault (Tinton Falls) put together this list of tech predictions for 2020, and we thought we’d share them with you. Are we going to be able to eradicate bias in AI algorithms in 2020? Will there be a price war for cloud data? Will we be seeing ‘self-driving’ IT operations? Check out these predictions.

2020 predictions from Nigel Tozer, solutions marketing director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region

Nigel Tozer, Commvault | Courtesy Commvault

The California Consumer Privacy Act will prompt lawsuits in the U.S.: Unlike with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, which saw regulators taking action on consumer protection, the legal system in the U.S. will precipitate some high-profile cases involving the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2020. Even though class actions aren’t allowed under the CCPA, a successful case will have a knock-on effect, opening the door to high numbers of plaintiffs. 

Expect the CCPA to fuel a data collection and processing backlash: The CCPA will highlight data collection and monetization in the U.S., just as the GDPR did in Europe. This will fuel a backlash on data collection and processing in the U.S., especially around political ad targeting during the 2020 election year. Companies such as Facebook and Google will come under greater pressure to distance themselves from this area, and data analysis companies that are now largely unheard of will be in the news for the wrong reasons. 

There will be an increased focus on eliminating artificial intelligence (AI) bias: With AI creeping into more areas of our lives than ever, companies in this space will have to double-down on eradicating, or at least minimizing, any bias embedded in their AI products. This will mean the preprocessing and profiling of data prior to using in AI systems. So, once again, data quality will take center stage, but for different reasons from those in previous years. 

AI technology and privacy concerns will drive healthcare data anonymization: We know that AI works better with more data, and we all want its benefits when it comes to healthcare. IT companies moving into health data (such as Google buying Fitbit), combined with a heightened awareness of privacy issues, will force governments around the world to enact anonymization laws that encourage the collection and use of health data for the greater good, without compromising patients’ privacy. 

Cloud companies may be hit by a major zero-day malware exploit: We may see the first zero-day exploit using malicious code that has a significant impact. Public cloud companies will be affected, with a major ripple effect on those who rely on them. 

There will be a public cloud price war: There will be a backlash against the cost of public cloud services, resulting in a slight, but impactful slowdown in public cloud growth. It will result in cloud companies cutting their prices and bringing more services to market, and in the big cloud players getting more acquisitions, as they attempt to be more competitive. This price war is happening already, but it will intensify over the coming year and make more headlines. 

2020 predictions from Matt Tyrer, technology evangelist 

Matt Ryrer, technology evangelist, Commvault | Courtesy Commvault

IT is leaving on a data plane: We will see an increased level of abstraction within IT, with businesses focusing more on data and less on this data’s underlying infrastructure. Hypervisors, clouds, containers and platforms in general will form a data plane that will enable a more fluid movement of data between each tier, as businesses focus on moving data to where they need it to be. Data security, privacy and protection will be layered on top of this plane to provide businesses with the data management functionality they’ll need to keep their data safe and available. 

Data analytics will move to the top of the companies’ priority lists: Data volumes continue to grow, but we’re knowing less and less about that data — which poses a huge risk. In 2020, the focus on analytics will be driven by increased regulatory and compliance pressures, risks from data breaches and ransomware, and the need to properly classify data for AI and machine learning (ML) projects.  Without “clean” data of value, these AI and ML projects will stumble. Data analytics will support intelligent decision-making, feed AI and ML initiatives and strengthen compliance stances within organizations. Expect more businesses to be hitting this point in their data maturity, where analytics projects take priority. 

AI and ML enable more “self-driving” IT operations: With more complexity in IT, it is becoming more of a challenge to maintain the various interdependent systems in this age of hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Data and infrastructure management solutions will likely continue to expand their use of AI and ML technologies to deliver companies more self-driving IT operations. These self-driving IT systems will not only manage more day-to-day tasks, but will proactively augment policies and send alerts that anticipate and respond to potential security threats and other changes to companies’ IT environments. 

2020 predictions from Penny Gralewski, solutions marketing lead 

Penny Gralewski, Commvault | Courtesy Commvault

Multi-cloud adoption will increase demand for more diverse data protection capabilities: As organizations adopt more clouds for different organizational requirements, the need for fast, flexible data protection — able to protect a diverse set of data workloads — will increase. Organizations are choosing different clouds for different use cases, so today’s data protection platforms need to accommodate a wide variety of cloud use cases, including Platform as a Service (PaaS); containers; and massive databases like Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Splunk, SAP HANA and Oracle. 

The IT hiring gap will drive a greater adoption of automation, AI and other emerging technologies: Highly skilled, qualified IT leaders are difficult to find in the current job market. That means that IT professionals looking for a new career will take a hard look at an organization’s technology before accepting a job. Today’s job seekers do not want to do remedial work, like touching thousands of servers with each upgrade. They want modern data protection, analytics, security and other solutions with cutting-edge technologies such as automation and AI. New hires will likely bring in new technologies like these to speed the work of data protection, security and other operations across their organizations.  

The cloud data-center race will drive greater data migration to, from and across clouds: Cloud vendors are quickly expanding their regional data-center availability. There are currently 54 Microsoft Azure regions, 22 Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions and 20 Google Cloud Platform regions. Oracle Cloud just announced its goal of making 36 regions available by the end of 2020. For Oracle customers, that means a new availability region every 23 days. This will provide organizations with more choices, as they determine how to support worldwide offices, call centers and manufacturing organizations with cloud regions located close to these facilities. However, this will also require them to find data protection solutions that give their global IT teams visibility into where all their data is located and how it’s managed, especially as country- and region-specific data governance requirements change. 

Weather-related natural disasters will drive greater demand for recovery readiness: Increasingly warm weather around the globe is leading to more intense natural disasters, such as wildfires in California, historic flooding in Venice, and drought in Africa. If we can learn one thing from these headlines, it’s that weather is becoming more unpredictable and damaging — for communities and enterprises alike. This means that enterprises need to be ready: ready to recover from a flood, ready to transfer backups of mission-critical applications over to another cloud region, ready for unexpected power outages that require them to put their disaster-recovery plans in motion. 

Esther Surden

Esther Surden is the Founder and Editor in Chief of NJ Tech Weekly. This article first appeared on her site, and js republished here with her permission.

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Health Union, growing rapidly, explores sale

Tom Paine (@Phillytechnews)

The Wall Street Journal’s Pro Private Equity report (special subscription required) reported earlier this month that Philly-based Health Union LLC was exploring a possible sale, and had hired the investment bank Lazard Ltd. to assist in the process.

Health Union is a strong competitor in the emerging market for online healthcare communities, in which users join forums geared to their specific healthcare conditions. Founded in 2010 by two former GlaxoSmithKline marketers, CEO Olivier Chateau and President Tim Armand, Health Union today has 25 different communities ranging from Migraine.com to MultipleSclerosis.net.

It was ranked #906 on this year’s Inc. 5000, with 2018 revenue of $29.6 million versus 2017 revenue of 17.9 million. Employment was 126 at the beginning of this year. A Health Union spokesperson tells me that the company is fully private and not funded by any VC or PE. Its owned by the two co-founders.

Pharma companies can use the site to target messages to specific communities for product advertising, getting feedback, surveys, and recruiting for clinical trials.

Health Union has been sending around information to potential buyers since October, the Journal reports.

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Boomi had only 30 employees when Dell bought it in 2010, writes @PhillyJoeD in the Inquirer. It was just a tiny outfit. I used to read about it in some blog which seemed like the only source to cover it at the time.

Dell Boomi now has over 1000 employees, almost half at its Chesterbrook HQ and its small Philly satellite office. That likely translates into revenue of more than $200 million.

Michael Dell demonstrated great insight and persistence from the start in grasping the potential of Rick Nucci’s creation and giving it plenty of runway to grow within Dell. Most huge companies crush small acquisitions, quite frankly. But Boomi has continued to prosper under Chris McNabb’s leadership. The Cloud has been key to its growth, be it linking one cloud app to another or (importantly for Boomi) cloud to legacy app.

Boomi made its second and largest acquisition, Unifi Software, last week. The Bay Area company has 78 employees. Terms weren’t disclosed. Or as Peter Key, formerly of the Business Journal, once noted, “they never are.”

Unifi specializes in discovering, cataloging and prepping a company’s data, typically the kind that is unstructured and previously not interpreted by its systems. Unify says this is often two thirds of a company’s data resources. The transformation of this data usually depends on AI.

The IPaaS (Platform as a Service) market, which is led by Dell Boomi and MuleSoft (acquired in 2018 by Salesforce for $6.5 billion) is still in a hypergrowth stage. The market is incorporating a broader range of related skills and tools into its space. At least 10 other companies are coming at Boomi and Mulesoft from different angles. Boomi is trying to lead the industry in defining the future shape of the market.

The next question may be is there a larger acquisition that Boomi should consider to further strengthen its market position?

.