Edison Partners, a Princeton-based growth equity investment firm, recently announced that it had exited from its investment in Northpass (Parsippany) via a sale to strategic partner Gainsight (San Francisco), a Vista Equity Partners ( Austin, TX) company.  Northpass has a training platform that powers customer-education programs for enterprise and midmarket companies. Its founder and CEO was Stephen Cornwell. NJTechWeekly.com spoke with Kelly Ford , general partner and COO at Edison, who sat on Northpass’s board, about the VC firm’s investment journey with Northpass. ES: Edison has been i ..read more

We caught up with Mike Rizkalla, cofounder and CEO of Snorble (Skillman), a tech company focused on child development, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month. Snorble was one of a handful of featured companies to have a suite to themselves several floors above the Venetian Resort’s two levels of conference trade-show booths. Numerous other startups were showcased at the adjacent exhibition space called “Eureka Park.” Thousands of companies from all over the world descended on Vegas to show off their tech-related businesses to a global audience estimated at 115,0 ..read more

The June 1 Founders & Funders event, sponsored by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority  (NJEDA), brought together New Jersey startup founders with angels and venture investors in 10-minute meetings. Founders got to know investors and, in many cases, took home good advice and sometimes a promise of a follow-up meeting. NJTechWeekly.com has been following these Founders & Funders events since their inception, and we believe this event is one of the best ways for founders to make multiple connections for fundraising. In part 2, we feature interviews with three of the women t ..read more

One New Jersey tech startup showed off its patented headphones that use “bone conduction technology” to allow listeners to both hear and feel the music. Another startup talked up a low-cost method for recycling lithium-ion batteries, addressing a growing demand for vital metals in the auto manufacturing industry. And a third startup showed the benefits of combining socially conscious causes and volunteerism at schools, organizations, businesses and communities. These startups were the top three selected by the judges from a pool of 24 businesses vying for $10,000 in professional services in th ..read more

During the pandemic, many edtech startups were launched to cope with the problems brought on by the sudden proliferation of online learning. One of the major problems that came to light was the inability to ensure that the person taking an exam was the intended test taker. Also, it was almost impossible to figure out if students were cheating, perhaps looking at crib notes or their phones. Another issue to be solved: how to make the test-taking experience equitable for all involved. Many schools and test-giving organizations began looking for technologies to help them solve this problem, and s ..read more

STOPit Solutions (Holmdel) is on a mission to keep students safe at school, one school district at a time, said CEO Parkhill Mays in a recent interview. “We do that by developing engaging technology. In recent years we’ve added important emergency and crisis services leading to a more engaged customer experience. What that allows us to do is attract bigger districts whose staff are busier than ever, and who stay with us for longer periods of time,” he noted. STOPit Solutions offers a two-way anonymous reporting tool called “STOPit.” Students can use the tool to report school safety issues, or ..read more

This is the first in a series of articles that New Jersey Tech Weekly is publishing on the tech and cleantech companies supported by the New Jersey SBIR/STTR Direct Financial Assistance Program, administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology. The program aims to enhance the innovation economy in New Jersey through financial support to local small businesses seeking to or participating in the federal SBIR/STTR program. The first startup in the series is MindPrint Learning, a Princeton-based edtech company built on intellectual pr ..read more

By Steve Sears Students in the fifth and sixth grades from the Sandyston-Walpack Consolidated School District, in Sussex County, recently won the SuitUp Business Competition for the second consecutive year. With a nod towards learning financial literacy at a young age, they may also be looking forward to future in technological entrepreneurship. “We’re happy for them, very proud,” said Harold Abraham, principal of the Sandyston-Walpack School, in Layton. “The students took part in that competition, and the winning team developed a kid-friendly financial planning app concept for Morgan Stanley ..read more

The New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology (CSIT) announced that 37 early-stage companies were awarded a total of $1,075,000 in funding as part of Round 3 of the Direct Financial Assistance Program (phases I and II), involving the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant programs. And these are some very interesting startups. Look at our blurbs below for information about them. CSIT has awarded a total of $1.9 million to 66 Garden State companies during the program’s three funding rounds. Each of these early-st ..read more

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) has a web page that shows the funding that has been received by New Jersey startups at all stages of growth, as well as the mergers and acquisitions that have been happening all over the state. It’s good to see how many startups in the Garden State are receiving backing. In October, for example, more than $545 million in investments were raised by 11 companies in the Garden State. Most of these investments come from out-of-state angels, venture funds, private equity, family offices, strategic investors, etc. NJTechWeekly.com has decided to ..read more