Chicago Announces 2013 Moxie Award Winners

Built in Chicago held their second annual Moxie Awards on Thursday night at the swank Park West. Over 800 entrepreneurs, techies, and local dignitaries packed the ballroom for the awards, which highlight the city’s rapidly growing tech scene.

Chicago’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who has been in the spotlight lately for his city’s climbing crime rate, took a break from the negative to highlight the positive. The event comes just a week before the national tech spotlight shines on Chicago Tech Week.

“The Chicago technology economy is vibrant and thriving,” said Mayor Emanuel, according to Built In Chicago. “The entrepreneurial spirit and innovation we see is creating jobs and opportunity now and will have an impact on the city for years to come. I look forward to working with all of these companies as they grow and evolve.”

Next week’s Tech Week event is expected to draw a crowd of a few thousand to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, home to 1871. TechWeek will feature an exhibition area, several panels, and speakers including the creator of CRM, Mike Muhney, and the boisterous founder of MegaUpload, Kim Dotcom via video feed (Dotcom can not currently travel into the United States).

Here are the 2013 Moxie recipients, reported by Built In Chicago..

Best Consumer Web Startup: SpotHero

Best B2B Startup: Belly

Best Healthcare Startup: GiveForward

Best Education or Recruitment Startup: eSpark Learning

Mobile App of the Year: iAnnotate – Branchfire

Best Civic App: Chicago Bike Map App

Best Bootstrapped Startup: Branchfire

Best Startup Founders/Co-Founders: Marc Kiven, Mike Sands and Eric Lunt (BrightTag)

Best Service Provider: SurePayroll

Digital Agency of the Year: Rise Interactive

Mentor of the Year: Chuck Templeton (Impact Engine)

Investor of the Year: J.B. Pritzker (The Pritzker Group & New World Ventures)

Tech Woman of the Year: Shradha Agarwal (ContextMedia)

CTO of the Year: Harper Reed (Obama for America – 2012)

Best Beard: Jim Shea

Best Company Culture: Centro

Best Software Company: Sprout Social

Best Corporate Digital Innovation: Guaranteed Rate

Startup of the Year: Belly

Breakthrough Digital Company of the Year: Braintree

CEO of the Year: Mike Sands (BrightTag)

Nibletz is using Chicago startup Centup find out more here.

Omaha Prepares For Inaugural Class At Straight Shot Accelerator

Omaha Nebraska is no stranger to startups. Regional mega blog Silicon Prairie News is based there, and they’ve been holding the Big Omaha startup conference for the last five years. Earlier this month SPN welcomed even more startups to the Silicon Prairie with the announcement of the inaugural class of startups for the new cohort based accelerator program beginning July 8.

The accelerator has a focus on e-commerce with a variety of startups going through the first class. There are 14 founders in all and 7 startups. Four of the startups are from outside of Omaha and are starting to get settled in now before the fourth of July holiday.

According to SPN Hayneedle founder Mark Hasebroock is the brains behind Straight Shot. In the early part of the new millennium Hasebroock helped found hammocks.com an online site to buy hammocks. He helped grow the company into Hayneedle, one of internets largest retailers of outdoor goods, decorative items and items for the home.

Hasebroock is now the Managing Partner for Dundee Venture Capital, the firm that’s backing Straight Shot. But Hasebroock didn’t want to just create a startup accelerator because it’s the in thing to do in 2013. He has set a goal of growing 100 viable companies throughout the next 10 years. Hasebroock is no stranger to the accelerator, he’s currently a mentor in 3 accelerators, The Brandery in Cincinnati and Techstars Boulder and Chicago.

As with other accelerators, Straight Shot will be fueled by money, mentors and a mission to get the startups to an investible story by the end of the session. Local Omaha entrepreneurs are very excited about their newest entrepreneurial endeavor. Jake Stutzman the founder of elevate.co a local design firm that specializes in startups, is serving as a mentor for this first class and told nibletz.com that he’s been scoping out the startups and has already started informally working with some of the startups that are local to Omaha.

The program runs from July 8th to October 3rd and will culminate with an investor demo day at the end of the session. Straight Shot received 367 applications for it’s very first class. Silicon Prairie News reports that these are the startups selected:

	CardioSys (Omaha) “CardioSys is still developing the full SaaS model,” Larson said. CardioSys combines advanced mobile and wireless technologies along with predictive analytics in order to provide a real-time monitoring platform for patients with acute or chronic illnesses.
	Crateful (Omaha) “Crateful still has further product development but they actually have active DJs who are utilizing the product they’ve developed,” Larson said. Crateful uses advanced audio and data analytics techniques to make tools that help music enthusiasts with their No. 1 problem: finding the best music for the moment.
	BuyNow (Omaha) “BuyNow is out pitching, they have a trademarked product and are in the middle of their sales campaign,” Larson said. BuyNow is a mobile-commerce app that enables consumers to instantly purchase advertised products/services off of any multimedia ad by sending an SMS text message.
	Huntforce (Louisville, Ken.) “Huntforce is currently in the prototype phase for a hardware component that it’s developing,” Larson said. With HuntForce, hunters can view, organize, manage and share photos of their property and game from their mobile devices.
	Cosmic Cart (Durham, N.C.) “Cosmic cart has signed up retailers, actually active publishers and has some commerce that’s being transacted,” Larson said. Cosmic Cart adds convenience and security to online shopping by allowing users to add products into one shopping cart from anywhere online.
	Cympel (pronounced “simple”) (Minneapolis, Minn.) “Cympel has had pilot companies and is in final product development stages,” Larson said. Cympel delivers interactive advertisements and the ability for a customer to immediately purchase the product without redirection.
	Business Exchange (San Francisco, Calif.) Through the Business Exchange platform, businesses can provide feedback, insight, recommendations, reviews and ratings to one another based on real-world transactions.

This startup conference is all about startups everywhere else. Do you have our ticket?

Truckily Connects Food Trucks & Fans, Closes Seed Round

Food trucks are becoming popular in cities across the nation. Hot food–often gourmet–out of a truck? What’s not to love?

Well, for one thing, you can never find them. Seriously, never. No matter how closely you watch Twitter or Facebook, you always seem to just miss the truck you’re craving.

That’s what happened to Truckily cofounders Derek Kean and Matthew Berkland on a trip to San Francisco. Their frustration with downloading several apps, watching trucks drive by, and STILL not being in the right place at the right time led them to dream up a one-app stop for food trucks and their fans.

Enter Truckily. For $30 a month, trucks can use the service to update their location just once. Then, the new location appears on the Truckily map, Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare. The app is free for users, and when they open it up, they see a map of where all the food trucks are parked.

We talked with Truckily back in September. They were fresh from their time with the ARK Challenge and credited that experience with the ability to focus on the business and make important connections. At that point, their next step was to raise funding to continue building their product.

Now, according to Silicon Prairie News, they’ve done it. This month Truckily closed a seed round of $120,000. The round includes Gravity Ventures and Kea Ventures. The money is technically invested in RTF Logic, but the founders will use it to build out the Truckily platform.

Cofounder Derek Kean gave Silicon Prairie News a hint about what they’ll do with their new funding.

Once our team is comfortable with our progress, we will begin expanding the platform into other areas that are currently identified, while keeping our ears open for markets that are open for growth. We are ramping up our efforts once we iron out any remaining ‘face-palm’ errors.

When Truckily launched its public beta for iOS in April, they focused on the Midwest. According to their blog, they are also seeking to expand into the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. They hope to be available for Android by the end of the summer.

You can check Truckily on their website.

SocialRadar is 8 Weeks Old, Raises $12.75 Million

The 10-person team over at SocialRadar is asking, “What Series A crunch?”

Eight weeks after formally founding the Washington D.C.-based company, they are now announcing a $12.75 million round, led by New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, and SWaN & Legend Ventures. Notable angel investors such as Dave Morin, Steve Case, Kevin Colleran, Ted Leonsis, and others are also joining in.

So, what is SocialRadar? The company’s website describes it like this:

Today over 1.1 billion people have smartphone devices that can broadcast their locations. Over 2.8 billion people have social profiles online. In the future, the power of your smartphone’s location will inevitably be combined with your social network – allowing you to walk into a room and already be aware of the people around you and how you are connected to them.

SocialRadar believes they are building this technology now.

At the 2013 CTIA expo, CEO Michael Chasen explained that they first developed technology that monitored all the top social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. Then, when a SocialRadar user walks into a room, the GPS on their smartphone will locate all the people they might know and explain how they know them. No more standing around awkwardly in a bar, only to realize your best friend from college is sitting just a few seats over. When you enter the bar, your phone will let you know who’s there.

What differentiates them from other “people finder” apps is privacy. With SocialRadar users control who–if anyone–can locate them.

The company is preparing for their beta launch, coming soon to iPhone and Android. They’re also building a version for Google Glass, which seems to be a perfect fit.

Chasen was formerly a co-founder and CEO of Blackboard, the online learning platform that sold in 2011 for $1.7 billion.

You can sign up for the public beta on SocialRadar’s website.

Montana Tops Nationwide Startup Index

When Big Bang Theory‘s Sheldon Cooper ran off to Bozeman Montana in an episode where his apartment had been broken into, he may have been onto something. Cooper very quickly abandoned the idea of staying in Bozeman, but according to the latest Kaufman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, Montana is a hub of technology startup activity.

CNN Money reported on Monday that Montana topped the latest Kaufman report highlighting startup activity nationwide.

In the previous year Montana had ranked 17, but in 2012 they moved up to the number one spot with 530 startups per 100,000 adults. According to the report many startups are sprouting up near Bakken fields in support of it’s oil industry.

Montana State University is a driving technology hub of activity in Bozeman, Montana, where startups have found funding opportunities and incubators.

With a little help from startup guru Brad Feld, Montana held their first Startup Weekend event back in December in Missoula, Montana. We also got to meet Sri Vellanki, a Montana woman who abandoned her career to launch a startup called TechTips, which was featured in the Eureka Park section of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) back in January.

Entrepreneurs are attracted to Montana because it has no local sales tax and a low cost of living.

Check out this Florida startup which can tell you how high you jumped.

MassChallenge Startup ZoomTilt Announces New Analytics Product

Anna Callahan is a bad-ass startup chick. First she was a hackstar for Techstars Boston, but she got the startup bug herself and decided to apply to Boston’s other mega-huge startup accelerator, MassChallenge. It was there that she grew her startup ZoomTilt, which was named a finalist in last year’s MassChallenge program.

But what is ZoomTilt?

Well, think 99designs for film. Callahan loves film making; in fact it was reading a script while working as a Techstars hackstar that made her decide to take the plunge and launch her own innovative idea. The idea: link filmmakers to people who want to build a brand using short films, mini TV shows if you will. If you’ve got a brand and want to see film and TV stars in a video featuring your product, ZoomTilt is the answer. If you want to have an engaging YouTube miniseries or Facebook page video series that highlights your brand, ZoomTilt is the answer.

Callahan tells Nibletz that they’ve got hundreds of filmmakers waiting for the chance to work on your brand’s short video project. By leveraging the talent and creativity within their network ZoomTilt is able to offer unparalleled engaging video marketing solutions without a gigantic budget.

Callahan joined forces with cofounder Chris Bolman and ditched their first name, CrewTide, which Callahan says made people think they sold nautical supplies. Then they hunkered down over the summer as one of the 125 startups in MassChallenge and emerged as a finalist.

On Wednesday Zoomtilt announced ZoomTilt Analytics. It’s the first of its kind A/B testing platform for video.“The information our analytics will provide for brands, agencies, media companies, and content creators will allow [them] to make better audience targeted content, quickly identify areas to improve upon allowing for [their] videos to be more effective, engaging and shareable,” Bolman said in a statement.

The software allows for the online video marketing community to lessen the pressure to create a video that will “go viral” and increase their video marketing return on investment (ROI). ZoomTilt Analytics makes this possible by generating fast feedback directly from target audience members.

Callahan adds: “When using video on the web, [advertisers] must create entertainment – too much money is spent on videos that get low viewership and have no impact. Our analytics tools help you understand which of your videos really engages your target audience. With this you can make better decisions about which videos are right for you to promote.”

ZoomTilt has been helping brands obtain affordable, crowdsourced content from independent filmmakers since early 2012. Besides being a 2012 MassChallenge finalist, they were also members of the 2013 Betaspring class and participated in the 2013 SXSW Interactive Accelerator, where they were featured as a finalist in the entertainment and gaming industry.

You can check out the ZoomTilt dashboard here.

Now read what Drive Capital’s Mark Kvamme thinks about the Brandery.

22-Year-Old New York Entrepreneur Launches EdTech Startup In London, Raises $1.7M

22-year-old Summer Murphy created a video library startup with access to thousands of curated educational videos on a variety of topics. Unlike many entrepreneurs, though, this native New Yorker decided that he wanted to see if his luck would fare better across the pond in the TechCity incubator in London.

Growth Business UK reports that it has. Murphy’s startup Mobento has raised $1.7 million, which has been reported as the biggest investment for any education-focused tech startup in the UK. It’s also been reported that it was one of the biggest seed rounds of any UK tech startup.

Murphy told The Next Web that the company would use the money to grow the business and bring “educational technology up to speed with the advances made elsewhere in business, social networks, and mobile”.

When talking about the platform itself, Murphy told Growth Business UK : “It slots right into the behaviour and customs of contemporary students and is a democratising and liberating force within education because it enables the world’s best educators to reach out to students all over the world.”

New York has a thriving startup community, so relocating to London to launch Mobento was a testament to Tech City. “Mobento’s decision to base themselves here is further proof that Tech City is the ideal location to scale and grow a successful digital business. Quick access to Europe and our heritage of creativity and innovation make London attractive for digital media and tech companies. Whilst the blend of creativity and innovation that exists in East London with easy access to the financial centre of the City is also a major advantage,” Benjamin Southworth, deputy CEO of Tech City, said.

Check out Mobento at mobento.com

Check out this infographic, a programmer’s guide to getting hired by a startup

Brooklyn Startup Makerbot Acquired in $604 Million Dollar Deal

Makerbot, the Brooklyn startup that came on the scene in 2009 and made 3D printing a household name, has been acquired in a $604 million dollar deal.

Makerbot developed the first desktop 3D printer, dubbed the “Makerbot” and quickly sold out of the initial 20 printers they had ordered. Fast forward to just two weeks ago, the company opened up a 50,000 square foot factory in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. In addition to the 3D printers, Makerbot has a consumer facing web platform called Thingiverse that allows people to upload their 3d printer plans and have them printed by the company.

Almost immediately after the opening of the new factory rumors started swirling that Makerbot had put themselves on the market. This afternoon those plans materialized with the announcement that industrial 3d printing giant, Stratasys, acquired the company in a deal worth up to $604 million dollars.

Many tech sites, including CNet, reported earlier in the day that the all stock deal was worth $430 million howeverThe Verge reports that the initial 2/3 of the deal would happen when the deal closes with the remaining 1/3 of the deal contingent on Makerbot’s performance.

Stratasys has been a mainstay in the industrial 3d printing space. While their printers print molds and parts for several industries, they came into light earlier this year when Defense Distributed used one of their high end printers to print a 3D gun that actually worked.

3D printing continues to explode. While the original Makerbot desktop printer sold for over $2,000, back in April there was a desktop 3d printer featured in the SkyMall magazine for under $1000. We saw that advertisement on the way to TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 where we got a chance to see 3DLT pitch their platform which is like 99 designs for 3D templates.

Makerbot is also working on a 3d scanner so that users can scan objects and then print them using a Makerbot printer.

This acquisition will give Stratasys a firm footing in the consumer 3D printing space. Early adopters are seeing an approaching time when people will be able to print shoes, sunglasses, cups, bowls and just about any household item from their home. 3D printing could end up being the alternative to same day delivery from giant retailers like Walmart, at least for goods that can be 3d printed.

Just last month NY had another huge exit with Tumblr.

StartCo & FedEx Institute Of Technology Bringing NewMe To Memphis, Discount Codes Available

The NewMe accelerator program is a critically acclaimed accelerator in San Francisco that specifically targets women and minority startups and founders. They launched their Silicon Valley program in June of 2011, and recently announced an abbreviated “pop up” accelerator tour, coming to cities across the country.

The NewMe pop accelerator will make it’s way to Memphis June 28-30 and be housed at the FedEx Institue of Technology, on the campus of the University of Memphis.

The three-night event June 28-30 features one-on-one coaching from NewME experts, a two-part workshop titled “The Art of the Pitch” that will provide the secrets to a perfect pitch and standing out among other founders. The weekend culminates with “Demo Day,” a night where startups will network with key players in Memphis’ tech scene, special guests from Silicon Valley, and ultimately pitch their idea to a panel of judges that consists of local and Silicon Valley investors.

They’ve already held the pop up program in Miami and Washington DC. In fact, Zoobean, the Washington DC pop up winner, has closed a $500,000 seed round led by Mitch Kapor.

In addition to Memphis Tennessee, the NewMe Popup accelerator will also be held in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Durham, Austin, New York, Kansas City, Los Angeles and Oakland.

Participants in the NewMe popup accelerator in Memphis, or on any other city stop will get one-on-one coaching from Silicon Valley business leaders, hands on workshops, and the opportunity to pitch their idea to local and Valley-based investors with the chance to win $45,000 worth of prizes from our sponsors and the opportunity to participate in the NewME Accelerator in San Francisco.

“We’re excited about NewME’s mission and the important work they are doing to accelerate entrepreneurs across the country. Our mission with Google for Entrepreneurs is to grow entrepreneurial communities and equip them with the resources and technology they need to tackle big ideas and build amazing companies,” said Mary Grove, Director of Global Entrepreneurship Outreach at Google one of the key sponsors for the NewMe Accelerator. “We’re truly excited to be teaming up with NewME to bring this series to Memphis and can’t wait to see the big ideas that come from the teams here.”

Start Co. is eager to welcome NewME to Memphis. “We’re excited that Memphis was selected for this exclusive opportunity,” said co-president and CEO Eric Mathews. “It’s a privilege to participate as their local community partner.”

Find out more and register here for the NewMe popup accelerator in Memphis.

Use discount code MEMPHISEDU for huge discount

Are you working on your pitch deck? Check out this Pop!

Columbus’ 10x Startup Accelerator Now Taking Applications For Fall 2013

Columbus’ cohort-based startup accelerator, 10x, is gearing up for their 2013 fall session. The accelerator, started in 2011, has successfully accelerated startups like UFunded, Ribbon, and LaunchGram, which was acquired in February by Referly.

10x takes 10 startups for 10 weeks and seeds them with $20,000 in seed funding, office space, and a strong mentor network. The class will “graduate” at the end of 10 weeks with an investor day held in Columbus.

“Perhaps the greatest value teams will receive from the 10x program is the mentor network comprised of successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, VCs, and business veterans from the startup world,” Brooke Paul, Founder of Founders Factory and a director of the 10x program told metropreneur.com. “10x alums have effectively leveraged our mentor network for follow-on funding, access to customers, and more.”

10x’s mentor network includes people like Eric Corl, founder of Fundable, Ben Blanquera, founder of TechLife Columbus, and Mark Kvamme founder of Drive Capital. 27 startups have gone through the 10x program and have collectively raised over $9.4 million in follow on funding.

The next session begins September 4th and will run for 10 weeks. Startups interested in applying can use this application. The application deadline is July 14th.

Find out more about 10x here.

Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of ethernet, is speaking at this accelerator demo day in Chattanooga.

Michigan’s Newest Accelerator, Coolhouse Labs, Launches Tomorrow

Michigan’s new startup accelerator is launching its first cohort tomorrow. It’s not in Detroit, Pontiac, or even Ann Arbor. The Coolhouse Labs accelerator is based in a resort town off Lake Michigan called Harbor Springs, the hometown of 27-year-old Jordan Breighner, co-founder and Managing Director of Coolhouse Labs.

Harbor Springs is a small town with under 2000 year-round residents. It was once a popular summer destination for autoworkers, the life bread of Michigan’s economy. Like many others, Breighner sees the path to improving an economy is through entrepreneurship and startups.

Although he has no “formal” entrepreneurial experience, Breighner has a diverse background, including a stint working for the Obama administration and going to college in Utah to become a ski racer. His vision, passion, and tenacity to get things done has helped him secure the seed investments for the first five teams in this first cohort. He’s also stocked his team with a Program Director, Resident Designer, and Resident Developer. Breighner has also been able to attract a top notch advisory board.

Now, just four months after launching the idea, the first cohort is ready to move into Coolhouse Labs. Coolhouse has attracted teams from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Taiwan. 3 out of the 5 teams have a female co-founder, 3 out of the 5 teams have an international co-founder, and the average co-founder is traveling over 2700 miles to be part of Coolhouse Labs.

Here are the five teams.

Every Last Morsel – Every Last Morsel is a community marketplace for locally grown food – like an Etsy for small farms and backyard gardeners. It provides growers with web-based record-keeping tools and easy-to-use sales outlets that allow farms to focus on doing what they love: growing good food.

Lorious – Lorious is an online marketplace for expertise, where users can buy and sell one-on-one live video chat consulting services, at any time and from any location. Lorious empowers people to gain skills, from crafting to accounting, and to take ownership of their professional identities in response to this ever-changing economy.

Novi Times – Novi is aiming to redefine mobile news discovery through search. They have developed an editor-guided algorithm that helps users discover news through topics they want to follow.

QuickFixNow – QuickFixNow delivers fast and reliable home repair, connecting consumers with contractors on-demand through a mobile and web-based platform.

TRNK New York – TRNK New York is the online shopping destination for the discerning male who seeks an inspired and character-filled home.

Find out more about Coolhouse Labs here.

See what accelerator Drive Capital’s Mark Kvamme said was “One of the best outside Silicon Valley”

Google’s New Wifi Technology, Nina Wrote A Song About It

Ok, so it’s not 99 red balloons, but today Google announced that they are beta testing a program in New Zealand that, according to The Washington Post, will connect billions of people to the Internet. The Internet giant has released 30 giant helium filled balloons into the skies over New Zealand. They have 50 people on the ground testing out WiFi that is being beamed from the balloons.

The balloons will move across the stratosphere along the 40th parallel in the Southern Hemisphere where the beta testers will hopefully be able to receive the signal and actually use the Internet.

The balloons were released earlier this week and are said to be transmitting WiFi signals comparable to those found on 3G data here in the U.S.

Partly because the idea is so crazy and partly because it involves balloons, the project coming out of Google’s Project X labs has been appropriately dubbed “Project Loon”.

According to this TechCrunch report, Google engineers will remotely control the balloons using data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help predict the ballons flight paths. The engineers will be able to move the balloons up and down to catch the right winds and keep the balloons on their correct flight path.

The main goal behind Project Loon is getting Internet access to the two thirds of the people that don’t currently have it. In fact, in the introductory video (below) they start off by saying that for every one person that has Internet access, two don’t. Google is hoping that Project Loon will bring access to remote areas as well as areas where terrain and other factors prohibit more traditional Internet infrastructure. Some examples maybe jungles, rain forests and even deserts. TechCrunch also speculates that Project Loon could help make the Internet affordable to those areas as well.

You can find out more about Project Loon here and by watching the introductory video below.

Is Itunes Radio the Pandora Killer?

Pandora Is Buying A Radio Station In South Dakota, Here’s Why

We know from previous industry experience that buying and selling radio stations is a long drawn out process. However, Pandora has picked a very opportune time to announce that they’re buying a terrestrial radio station in South Dakota.

This news comes fresh off the heels of the announcement from Apple about iTunes Radio. One of the things that was touted during and after the WWDC keynote on Monday was the fact that Apple has negotiated some great licensing rates with the major record labels. Licensing is one of the things that’s been plaguing Pandora and making it an extremely tough market for them.

We’ve learned from multiple sources, including radio industry trade site allaccess.com that Pandora is in the process of buying HOT AC, Hits 102.7 KXMZ in Elder-Rapid City South Dakota from Connoisseur Media.

The executives at Pandora didn’t just up and decide to buy a “real” broadcast radio station for fun, or to see how it was done in the “old days”, rather this is a very strategic business move for the internet radio giant. Pandora is purchasing the radio station so that they can get lower licensing rates, the rates that terrestrial broadcast stations get, for streaming. It’s these lower rates that make it possible for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment to offer so much with their iHeartRadio platform.

San Antonio based Clear Channel owns over 500 stations nationwide and broadcasts most of them via their iHearRadio app. Pandora’s General Counsel, Christopher Harrison, took to an op-ed piece in The Hill to explain their move and how they are treated unfairly, specifically in regard to iHeartRadio.

Pandora has filed a motion in it’s legal proceedings against ASCAP alleging “discriminatory treatment of PANDORA and other Internet radio companies by ASCAP and their publishing industry members”

The radio station that Pandora purchased currently plays a Hot Adult Contemporary (Hot AC) format which is a mix of top 40 hits and familiar favorites. It’s unclear what direction Pandora will take with the format of the station, but one industry executive we spoke to suggested that Pandora will have to play a “we play everything” format in order to take full advantage of the loophole they’ve climbed through with the purchase of the radio station.

It’s also unclear as to whether or not Pandora will purchase more traditional radio stations. Harrison said in regards to the purchase: “This acquisition allows us to qualify for the same RMLC license under the same terms as our competitors,” adds HARRISON. “While this might seem like an unexpected move for PANDORA, it makes sense even beyond the licensing parity. PANDORA excels in personalizing discovery and terrestrial radio is experienced in integrating with a local community. We look forward to broadcasting our personalized experience to the community in RAPID CITY, an area where over 42,000 residents already use PANDORA. And we will apply PANDORA’s insights about listening habits to program music that accurately reflects local listeners’ evolving tastes.”

So is this move in response to iTunes Radio?

image: hitz1027.com

Cincy Startup Pingage Changes Name To Ahalogy

2011 Brandery graduate Pingage has picked up a lot of steam. Since their graduation, from Cincinnati’s prestigious branding-focused accelerator, the Cincinnati Business Journal reports that the startup that helps people get the most out of Pinterest has scored Proctor & Gamble as a client and secured an $850,000 seed round led by CincyTech.

So with all of this traction in such a short period of time, the cofounders decided to change their name from Pingage to Ahalogy. Ahalogy is a made up word that, according to the company, allows us to better communicate our unique positioning and vision. Ahalogy gets its name from that “Aha!” connection made by the company’s new Ahalogy Content Network.

Ahalogy has created a content network that gives leading content creators free use of the company’s Pinterest management tools. In exchange leading brands repin their content on their own Pinterest accounts. This two way content sharing network gets brands great content and content creators awesome tools and additional traffic.

Ahalogy cofounder Bob Gilbreath told the Cincinnati Business Journal: “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.”

“Branded content and pins are important, but authentic blogger content is often much more effective in driving engagement,” Gilbreath, said in a statement. “In addition to providing the much-needed content volume brands are seeking, the Ahalogy Content Network also provides a way for brands to engage with Pinterest users in a more genuine way, while delivering win-win benefits on both the brand and the content owner side.”

Are you a content creator? Check out Ahalogy here.

See how this Cincinnati startup went from Startup Weekend to the TechCrunch Battlefield.