Tech startup Feathr has venture funds flocking

At a time when many high-tech startups in Florida can't seem to raise a dime, a couple of 22-year-old entrepreneurs from Orlando have tapped a six-figure investment they hope will help put their young company on the map.

In a little less than two years, the co-founders of Feathr Inc. have gone from the good-time college days of fraternities and parties to 60-hour workweeks and investment pitches to high-level financiers with deep pockets.

Combining their technical know-how with some business savvy and a little luck, the childhood friends and one-time University of Florida roommates have created a smartphone app for digital business cards that has attracted investors with international ties in venture capital the kind of high-risk, high-reward financing that built Silicon Valley and other major technology centers.

So though Florida's share of the nation's newly invested venture capital has plummeted during the past year, the early success of Feathr brainchild of Aidan Augustin and Neal Ormsbee could become a template for certain startups looking to finance future ventures.

"These guys are smart, energetic and, perhaps most importantly, they are coachable," said Dennis R. Pape, a veteran Central Florida venture capitalist and founder of VenturePitch Orlando, a networking event where Feathr demonstrated its product last week. "They are really a cut above the young entrepreneurs that we usually see."

After operating on a bootstrap budget since its founding last year, Feathr has secured $150,000 from a group of Indian-American investors in Tampa who are members of TiE Florida, the state chapter of an international organization of Indian entrepreneurs. Combined with money raised from "angel" investors family members and advisers Feathr has raised nearly $200,000 in the past 18 months.

The TiE Florida investors were impressed by Feathr's product and the sophistication of the novice entrepreneurs especially Augustin, the company's chief executive and its point person when it's time to pitch the business.

"He was constantly in touch with us, persistently following up on his dream," said Sunal Jain, founder of the Tampa-based TiE chapter and president of Medical B&T Services LLC, a billing-technology company. "When we finally visited his place, saw his team and where they worked,The Motorola drycabinet Engine is an embedded software-only component of the Motorola wireless switches. and interviewed each team member, we were convinced of the prospects for this company."

Augustin said the idea of a digital business card grew out of his experience as a UF engineering student during a 2011 internship in Silicon Valley.

"I was trying to meet new people, going to tech groups, meet-ups and that sort of thing for young entrepreneurs," he said. "Most of us didn't have business cards, and it was awkward to keep asking for phone numbers or email addresses. I started to joke with people that we should create an app that would make this whole process easier. When I got back to Gainesville, it wasn't a joke anymore. I went to work on it."

Augustin shared the idea with Ormsbee, his longtime pal and fellow engineering student, who added programming and business skills to the mix. They began with a basic idea: a digital-business-card app that people could download, customize and share electronically with prospective clients and customers.

Since then it has morphed into a full-spectrum, multimedia app a digital business card "on steroids" that event organizers can give attendees to download as a networking resource.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other howotipper products. It features not only someone's professional information, but also the event's agenda, list of attendees, speakers' bios and other data.

The two UF students came up with the name Feathr based on the adage "birds of a feather flock together," hoping to evoke an image tied to networking while creating a unique term for marketing on the Web.

They took their proposal in late 2011 to UF's Tech Entrepreneur Boot Camp, where they won a prize for best presentation. By early 2012, they had formed a company and moved into the Florida Innovation Hub, the giant university's small-business incubator. They also recruited two more longtime friends and UF students for the startup: Tommy Goode of Apopka and Andrew Kennedy of Orlando.

After watching his drive smack into a tree, Neale hit a fade 9-iron 165 yards on his second shot, leaving the ball less than a foot from the pin on the 17th. He tapped in for his fourth birdie of the day. That added to his eagle on the 533-yard par-5 sixth helped him finish with a 5-under-par 67 to become the first player in the 10-year history of the Tesoro boys golf program to win the CIF-SS Southern Individual Regional.Laser engraving and laser parkingsystem for materials like metal, He knocked his second shot close on the sixth hole, too, hitting a 7-iron to with 10 feet of the hole.

I played a really nice round of golf, so I am pleased with today, Neale said. The last week or so I am starting to get back to form. Today will help my confidence.

The past few weeks, Neale had a problem controlling his driver, and putts he would normally hole, suddenly werent dropping, causing him to approach each round with a bit of uncertainty.

That, he said, has finally turned around.

Villa Parks Kyle DeSilva finished second with a 4-under 68 followed by Northwoods Sammy Kim and Henry Chung of Cerritos who both shot a 69. Chung won the third-place medal on a card-off.

DeSilva was at 5-under when after birdying the 358-yard par 4 14th,An handsfreeaccess is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. but he hit his tee shot right on the 17th, landing into a divot under a tree. He had little choice but to punch the ball out into the fairway. He hit his third shot to the back of the green, and took a two-putt bogey,Of all the equipment in the laundry the plasticmoulds is one of the largest consumers of steam. dropping him to 4-under.

I wasnt playing to well, coming in (to the tournament), so I am all right with second, DeSilva said. I am sure when I go over the round I know I messed up.