Assurex Health, a personalized medicine company dedicated to helping clinicians find the right drug and dose for individual patients, was named a 2013 Venture of the Year Finalist by the Ohio Venture Association.

Ohio-based companies that received one round of professional capital, or exited in the last 12 months, were eligible for nomination.  The voting committee then considered factors including growth, milestones met, partnerships, job creation, progress and national recognition.

Current OVA president Jim Weisman said, “In Assurex, we saw a company that wasn’t just poised for healthy growth, but also a company that has a great impact on the biosciences and on the lives of people.”

“We are thrilled with the Ohio Venture Association honor,” said Assurex President and CEO James Burns.  “The selection of Assurex as an OVA finalist is a testament to all of our Assurex colleagues who are making state-of-the-art personalized medicine products available to help clinicians individualize the selection of medications for patients with neuropsychiatric and other disorders.”

Pingage, a Pinterest-focused marketing optimization startup, has changed its name to Ahalogy, and has launched a pins-based platform called Content Network.

In a blog post, the company’s president and co-founder Bob Gilbreath explains the new name better communicates the company’s mission.   “In the ten months since launching Pingage and serving over 1.5 billion impressions on the Pinterest platform, we have seen how people use the tool to discover ideas and inspiration that they never would have found otherwise.

“Most users would agree that Pinterest itself is about the delight of discovery and inspiration. We, in turn, use data to uncover when, where and why delight and discovery happen, then we help brands and content creators better deliver those “Aha!” moments. We have become “Ahalogy” to better capture what makes Pinterest and our service special.”

The Ahalogy Content Network launched with more than 100 content creators, which will receive free access to Ahalogy’s optimization tools.  In return, content creators allow paying Content Network customers to source their pins and re-pin them on marketing clients’ accounts.

As Pingage, the company secured $1.6 million in funding in seed rounds  led by CincyTech.

Akebia Theraputics has closed a $41 million Series C financing round.  This represents the largest single round for a CincyTech portfolio company.  Akebia is a Blue Ash-based biotech company focused on developing and commercializing small molecules to treat anemia and cancer.  Akebia will use this funding to complete clinical studies and further develop its leading clinical compound, known as AKB-6548, preparing the drug for Phase 3 studies.

Satter Investment Management, LLC led the round and was joined by Novo A/S as co-lead as well as existing investors Novartis Venture Funds, Kearny Venture Partners, Venture Investors LLC, Athenian Venture Partners, Triathlon Medical Ventures, AgeChem Venture and Sigvion Capital Fund.  CincyTech invested $1.6 million in the round.

“We firmly believe in Akebia’s approach for the treatment of anemia, which could provide a safer and more convenient option for patients with anemia secondary to chronic kidney disease, but also has the potential to address the broader anemia market,” said Muneer Satter of Satter Investment Management, LLC and co-chairman of Akebia’s Board.

“The current Phase 2 dataset on AKB-6548 is very promising and the drug represents a potential breakthrough for treating anemia,” stated Jack Nielsen, Partner, Novo A/S.  

WorkFlex Solutions LLC, a leading provider of intraday management solutions for call centers, has announced the appointment of Joseph (Joe) D. Gaudette as Director Sales and Channel Development.  Gaudette brings more than 25 years of global contact center sales and business management experience to WorkFlex and deep workforce management domain expertise,  including senior sales and channel management positions at NICE Systems, Noble Systems LLC, Envision Telephony Inc. and Contact Center Systems LLC.

“We are pleased to have Joe join our company” said WorkFlex Solutions CEO Larry Schwartz.  “Our industry-leading intraday automation and optimization technology is already enjoying broad acceptance with major call center service providers and business process outsourcers.  The appointment of Joe will help us accelerate sales of WorkFlex through both direct and indirect channels”.

About WorkFlex Solutions

WorkFlex Solutions LLC is Cincinnati-based software company specializing in SaaS-based workforce auto-optimization solutions.  Its award winning technology is designed to easily integrate with existing workforce and performance management systems, enabling clients to leverage their existing enterprise software investments and quickly generate a positive ROI.  WorkFlex clients span multiple industry sectors including communications, financial services, and healthcare.

CincyTech is pleased to announce the hiring of Peg Rusconi as director of communications.

Peg will be responsible for all communications and marketing activities at CincyTech.  She will assist our portfolio companies with media relations and strategy and will help them share their stories with private investors, the business community and a wider audience.

Most recently, Peg spent 14 years in Boston as a journalist at CBS-owned WBZ-TV, reporting on a wide variety of local, national and international stories for Boston and the CBS network. Her work received multiple Emmy nominations. While in Boston, Peg sat on the board of directors at Raising a Reader MA, an early literacy non-profit, co-chairing the PR and marketing committee.

Peg was a reporter at WKRC-TV in Cincinnati prior to moving to Boston.

Peg is a graduate of Syracuse University.  She received a BS degree in Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and a BS degree in Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.