#crossroads pr

Have you seen Crossroads PR clients in the news lately? Here’s the scoop on their announcements in January. 

Clinipace

Clinipace announced significant innovations to its proprietary TEMPO eClinical platform.  This most recent release of TEMPO also marks the first time the platform has been offered on a Shared Component Framework (SCF), which allows the company's clients to manage multiple trials supported by TEMPO. Additionally, Clinipace is introducing the concept of Configurable Modules, which are a set of predefined workflows, forms, and reports bundled together as a unit on the same platform within one database.  

FORBES named Clinipace One of America’s Most Promising Companies, ranking the company #36 in a list of 100 most promising companies. The publication hits newsstands on February 13.  In the interim, the online story can be found at http://www.forbes.com/companies/clinipace/.

Square 1 Bank

Square 1 Bank made two announcements in January. The company provided a $5 million debt facility to new, San Jose-based client, Kovio, Inc., whose investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, and Tyco, among others.  Proceeds of the credit facility will be used to support the company’s growth.

Halcyon Healthcare, a company formed to deliver the next generation of home health and hospice care solutions, also received a credit facility from Square 1 Bank to support the company’s organic growth, and provide working capital to fund future acquisitions.

Syncfusion

Syncfusion, Inc. announced it achieved continued customer growth and product innovation throughout 2012.  Licenses grew by over 55 percent (when compared to 2011) and Syncfusion’s customer retention rate remained at over 80 percent.   Additionally, three new products were released to meet the changing needs of Windows developers: Orubase, a cross platform mobile application development tool, WinRT Suite, an expansive XAML toolkit and Metro Studio, a free suite of more than 1,700 vector-based Microsoft Design Language icons.

If you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk. We encourage our clients to share their customer success stories.  This time, it’s our turn. 

Since launching Crossroads PR in 2003, we’ve customized PR strategies in support of each client's unique story and corporate objectives. Recently, we started “Operation Revamp Case Studies” to provide better snapshots of how we enabled our past and current clients to achieve their goals.

But, it’s not enough to just tell your story. Sometimes it’s about how well you portray it. We realized it’s easy to get lost in a bunch of boring text so this time around we are providing a more visual experience with downloadable one-pagers.  

So, why are case studies important? Case studies shed some light on the types of customers you serve, let people know the benefits of your products or services, and most important of all – attract new business.

Without further ado, here are some of our shiny, newly updated case studies:

 6fusion - We educated the marketplace on 6fusion’s unique cloud metering algorithm.

 Accipiter - Crossroads PR helped establish Accipiter as innovative new media market leader, contributing to a $30.3M acquisition by Atlas/Microsoft.

 Ajinomoto Amino Acid Technologies- Crossroads PR introduced a veteran pharma to the power of integrated marketing, public relations, and social media.

 Amino Vital – We elevated Amino Vital as the go-to resource to learn about amino acids and reframed the company and its products to generate sales.

  Clinipace - Crossroads PR defined a new category, digital CRO, and drove sales for Clinipace.

FM:Systems - Crossroads PR established FM:Systems as the go-to resource for BIM + FM through social media, global PR initiatives and a significant number of speaking placements.

 Inlet - Crossroads PR established Inlet Technologies as “de facto” provider of ABR and iPhone encoding technology. Our efforts contributed to its $95M acquisition by Cisco. 

 StepLeader - We established StepLeader as a role model for delivering mobile marketing solutions and asserted thought leadership. 

 Valencell - Crossroads PR created B2B buzz for its licensable mobile fitness and health technology.

Have you seen Crossroads PR clients in the news lately? Here’s the scoop on their announcements in October.

Ajinomoto Amino Acid Technologies

Ajinomoto Amino Acid Technologies had a byline featured in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News discussing antibody-drug conjugates, which can be made from antibody fragments. In “Options for Producing Antibody Fragments,” Joel White, business manager for Ajinomoto North America, shares advice on how to produce the fragments themselves.

Centice 

Centice announced they would demo its narcotics identification system, the Mobile Field Lab-3000 (MFL-3000) at the Enforcement Expo (booth 347).  The annual meeting for law enforcement professionals, which is produced by Cygnus Expositions, runs alongside the EMS World Expo. The conference took place October 31-November 2 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Clinipace Worldwide 

Clinipace Worldwide raised an additional $9 million of funding. The announcement was covered in Healthcare Finance News, WRAL Techwire, MedCity News, Fierce CRO and other outlets. This news comes on the heels of Clinipace Worldwide’s acquisition of Paragon Biomedical in September, doubling its size and further expanding the company’s therapeutic expertise, site management capabilities, and global footprint.

FM:Systems

FM:Systems announced the upcoming release of Version 8.2 of its Web-based FM:Interact Workplace Management Suite. FM:Interact 8.2 offers a compelling set of new tools for facilities professionals helping them to better plan, optimize and manage their facilities. FM:Interact 8.2 provides FM:Systems customers with an opportunity to access several new capabilities including powerful new features specifically built for space and occupancy scenario planning, a new add-on module that extends the power of FM:Interact into the field on mobile platforms such as on Apple® iPad® and iPhone® devices as well as enhancements to existing FM:Interact capabilities.

Media Excel

Media Excel swept the South Korean Telco industry by winning the large-scale multiscreen transcoding projects of the three largest Telcos in South Korea. SK Telecom, Korea Telecom, and LGU+ utilize Media Excel’s HERO platform to prepare, package and deliver more than 120 HD live channels over wired and 4G/LTE-wireless networks to all connected devices, ranging from smartphones and tablets to PCs and connected TVs. Media Excel received coverage in leading industry publications including Broadcast Engineering, Total Telecom, Light Reading, and Video World insider.

Square 1 Bank

Square 1 Bank announced strong momentum in Silicon Valley including new key hires, client wins and key partnerships with local startup incubators. Benjermin Colombo, senior vice president of life sciences,  Philip Korn, senior vice president of venture capital relationships/banking and Timothy J. McDonough, vice president of venture banking. This hiring corresponds with an increase in new banking clients including Credit Karma, Mixbook, and Vitapath Genetics. Square 1 Bank also continues to support the startup ecosystem through sponsorships and partnerships. Square 1 Bank is the official banking partner of Greenstart and a resource partner for StartX.

The company also announced a $20.6 million capital raise to support Square 1 Bank’s continued strong growth and for other general corporate purposes.

Crossroads PR’s Kristi and Shawn are excited to attend Startup Summit and Internet Summit on November 6th, 7th and 8th. This is going to be a great time to meet new people, get insight from speakers and check out (first the first time at Internet Summit!) new local startups and entrepreneurs.

Crossroads PR has a special announcement regarding Startup Summit and Internet Summit on Thursday, November 1st – so stay tuned!

We'll be live tweeting from the show so make sure you're following @CrossroadsPR and the hashtag for the event #ISUM12.

Have you seen Crossroads PR clients in the news lately? Here’s the scoop on their announcements in September. 

Amino Vital 

Amino Vital announced a Fall Endurance Promotion targeting pro and everyday athletes. During this two-week promotion, athletes had the opportunity to purchase Endurance and Pro products at a 20% discount until October 1st. Each Endurance and/or Pro order will shipped with a free knapsack as an additional benefit. 

Centice 

Centice announced the development of a new low-cost deep ultraviolet (UV) coded aperture Raman spectrometer. The current version enables trace analysis of surface chemicals and contaminants. The UV Raman Spectrometer is an instrument for detecting chemicals on surfaces. Centice’s UV Raman Spectrometer can be employed by first responders, hazmat investigators and military personnel to detect and identify hazardous material or trace explosives. Centice’s technology is also applicable to crime lab and forensic analysis when trace material identifications are critical to case investigations. It is also well suited for biological applications.

Clinipace Worldwide 

Clinipace Worldwide and Paragon Biomedical, Inc. jointly announced a definitive merger agreement under which Clinipace Worldwide has acquired all outstanding shares of the privately-held, Irvine, CA-based company and its subsidiaries. The merger will significantly expand Clinipace Worldwide’s therapeutic expertise, site management capabilities, and clinical operations.  

Bringing these organizations together strengthens Clinipace Worldwide’s already strong oncology franchise with additional therapeutic expertise in the areas of cardiovascular, immunology, infectious diseases, central nervous system, respiratory, dermatology, and medical device clinical research services.  Clinipace Worldwide also greatly expands its global footprint with a total of 12 offices in eight countries.

StepLeader 

StepLeader announced the availability of Pro-roll video advertising designed to provide an engaging, interactive digital media experience. Support for Pro-roll video ads is currently available for iOS platform devices; Android platform support is expected in Q4 2012. StepLeader’s advanced Pro-roll video ad capabilities build upon the company’s current pre-roll video offering (launched in 2007) by enabling advertisers to reach hyper-local audiences and increase incoming revenue and sales potential.

Crossroads PR is proud to welcome new team member, account coordinator, Christie Montague, to our growing team!  Christie first came to the agency as an intern over a year ago while a student at N.C. State University.  She has been a valuable asset to the agency and we're thrilled to make her a permanent member of the team!

As an Account Coordinator, Christie will support day-to-day activities for our expanding roster of clients as well as contribute towards communications and social media efforts for the agency itself.

Christie brings expertise in multiple social media platforms as well as research skills that will be beneficial not only to the agency, but in helping clients achieve their public relations objectives. Prior to joining Crossroads PR, she participated in two consecutive summer marketing internships at the global B2B software company, SAS. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Marketing from North Carolina State University.  Go Pack!

David Ranii published a story in this morning’s News and Observer detailing how venture capital raised in the third quarter was down compared to recent quarters.  Quick recap of the N&O article:  Data released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association shows a total of 10 Triangle companies raised $43.9M in venture capital in Q3.  The largest deal in the third quarter was Crossroads PR client, digital CRO, Clinipace Worldwide (which raised $15M).  A second Crossroads PR client, 6fusion, also made the list, having raised $7M in the third quarter.

Having worked with many early- and mid-stage entrepreneurial companies, we see the ebb and flow of VC financing firsthand.  Ranii’s observation is that dozens of Triangle businesses, especially young biotech, medical device, and IT companies, rely on VC funding to add resources, expand product pipelines, and boost marketing and sales efforts.  As Ranii points out, “a single big deal – or lack of one – can make a huge difference.”

Agreed.  Expanding our agency’s biotech and healthcare practice has been a large priority, especially over the past year.  No doubt it’s a tough time to raise capital, but clients like Clinipace, Ajinomoto AminoScience, and others are in a really hot sector right now. 

Clinipace, in particular, has (luckily) not seen much of an effect from the economic downturn.  In fact, the state of the economy has created a bigger need from emerging and mid-market biopharma and medical device firms frustrated by traditional approaches to clinical development programs and looking to outsource studies.