The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) approved a $1 million investment through the state's Edison Innovation Fund to assist in the expansion and growth of VELOX Semiconductor Corp., a Franklin Township-based manufacturer of gallium nitride transistors and diodes. The Edison Innovation Fund was created to support technology and life sciences companies throughout their discovery, development and commercialization stages.

The funding was made for five years at a fixed interest rate of 4 percent, and will help support the completion of device qualification, the initial pilot production and employee salaries. As a result of the investment, the company will build on its current work force of 15 and create between 30 and 40 new jobs during the next two years.

“The Edison Innovation Fund loan combined with the matching funding from our investors will allow Velox to accelerate the roll out of our GaN-based diode and transistor products,” said Thomas Hierl, president of Velox Semiconductor. “Customer demand has been very high based on our initial samples.”

VELOX Semiconductor is a spinoff of EMCORE Corp., a manufacturer of optoelectric components and solar cells. VELOX was formed to develop and commercialize Gallium Nitride semiconductors that address problems of size and efficiency in the power supply industry.

The EDA, in collaboration with the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, is responsible for managing the $150 million Edison Innovation Fund, which leverages $350 million in private capital and increase access to early-stage capital and provide specialized assistance to existing mid-sized and large technology and life sciences businesses.

Numerous early-stage companies have benefited from investments from the Edison Innovation Fund, including myLEADERBOARD Inc. and ClassLink.

With the goal of enhancing the tournament experience, myLEADERBOARD has created a service utilizing hand-held devices for spectators at professional golf tournaments that electronically transmits real-time event information, including golf scoring for all players, the location of players on any hole, player biographies, past round information, and course data and real-time statistics. The company also provides a new medium for advertisers to reach a sought-after demographic (the golf enthusiast) resulting in a highly interactive, consumer- determined experience.

“As a young but rapidly growing company, we were looking for a business environment that provided support and access to the right resources to enhance our growth,” said John Geary, president and CEO of myLEADERBOARD. “A move to the Waterfront Technology Center at Camden fit the bill perfectly.”

The EDA financing will help support the commercialization of the myLEADERBOARD, salaries of new employees and the purchase of hardware. The five-year investment was made at a fixed interest rate of 4 percent with no payments or interest due in the first year As a result of this investment, the company estimates that 21 new jobs will be created.

The company will be located within the Rutgers Camden Business Incubator in the Waterfront Technology Center before it moves to the 2,000 square foot space it has leased on the first floor in the facility.

The Waterfront Technology Center at Camden is a five-story, 100,000 square foot facility developed by the EDA along the Camden Waterfront to accommodate businesses in the technology and life sciences sectors. The facility opened last year, and its current tenants include Gestalt, ACIN's Camden Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology and the Rutgers Camden Technology Campus.

ClassLink, a software and services provider for the kindergarten to 12th grade education market, will receive a $750,000 investment through the Edison Innovation Fund.

The decade-old company offers students and teachers the ability to interact and access educational software and technology resources. Additionally, its products can provide school administrators with a measure of the learning return on their software purchases.

The state investment was made for five years at a fixed interest rate of 6 percent, with interest-only payments due after the first six months. As a result, ClassLink, Inc. estimates that more than 20 jobs will be created in New Jersey within two years.

“The EDA has always been there for us,” said Berj Akian, CEO of ClassLink. “They have done an excellent job, and we know we can count on them to support our growth and commitment to improving technology access in education.”

Agilence Receives Funding Boost

NextStage Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on Mid-Atlantic technology companies and supported by a $10 million investment from the EDA, announced that it has led an investment in Agilence Inc.

Agilence, based in Mount Laurel, is a provider of event-based video analytics (eVA) solutions. Agilence intends to use this first institutional round to build upon its initial success by adding resources to further expand and deploy its eVision suite of products.

The Agilence eVision platform synchronizes point-of-sale (POS) transactional data with digital surveillance video to offer store operations and security professionals a powerful way to combat inventory shrinkage because of cashier fraud and employee error. According to the National Retail Security Survey of 2005, this problem costs retailers more than $37 billion annually.

“We look at NextStage Capital as the perfect fit in our early stage efforts in building our business for the future,” said Tom Bernetich, executive vice President of sales for Agilence. “NextStage brings a blend of guidance, networking and experience that can help us build the necessary infrastructure and corresponding successes necessary to get us to the next level of maturity. They have been there before and can help us take the necessary steps for growth. We truly see them as a partner in our journey.”