Tech Startup Gets $1.85 Million in Funding

Cincinnati Enquirer - April 2009

Cincinnati Enquirer
Laura Baverman

Montgomery-based technology start-up ThinkVine LLC closed a $1.85 million funding round this month as venture capitalists around the globe slowed their investment and fundraising activities.ThinkVine uses a Web-based simulation technology to predict the outcomes of media and marketing campaigns for advertisers. Gartner Inc. called the firm one of four "cool vendors" for consumer goods companies in 2009.

The technology was first introduced to the armed forces as a way of predicting the impact of military actions during combat, said Jeff Mills, ThinkVine's vice president of marketing. The firm uses it to factor market and sales data along with customer profile information, in order to quickly generate the return-on-investment potential of pumping dollars into certain media outlets, including social media.

"Consumer packaged goods are now in this complex ecosystem where the past doesn't necessarily equal the future," Mills said. ThinkVine can generate a report of possible outcomes in five days. Traditional market research studies and focus groups often took six to 12 months to complete, he said. The investment is meaningful as venture capitalists have become more conservative in recent months, said Bob Coy, president of CincyTechUSA, a regional technology initiative that provides seed funding to start-ups.

A study by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters found that fundraising at venture firms fells more than 39 percent from the first quarter of 2008, reaching its lowest level since 2003

Coy attributes ThinkVine's success to the potential of its technology, business model and leadership team. CincyTech invested $250,000 in the round and was joined by downtown-based firms Draper Triangle Ventures and Fort Washington Capital Partners, and Chicago-based DFJ Portage.

The round will allow ThinkVine to double its staff of 14 by mid-2010 and begin to market the technology internationally, Mills said.

 

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