News

The year kicked off with Web.com’s acquisition of Yodle, a digital marketing company. The acquisition, a plan by Web to continue diversifying its offerings and bring on new technology, was for $300 million.

OnPay Solutions, a financial services company, had a big year, with the debut of their cloud platform in early 2016. Since then, the company has participated in Florida Venture Forum’s presentations to investors.

Over the summer, Feature[23] started having major success with the launch of their software governance product Docio. The Downtown Jacksonville company was spotlighted in Forbes Magazine. The product is poised to be a game changer when it comes to company’s managing the software they use.

Healthcare tech companies also did well. Both Forcura and Medical Tracking Solution s made announcements, with Forcura even launching a new secure messaging service specifically aimed toward medical professionals sharing patient information. Biotech company Espero Pharmaceuticals got FDA approva l for a drug aimed at patients with angina, and BioFlorida was held in Jacksonville.

Data centers also did well in Jacksonville. TierPoint brought on major First Coast talent in the form of general manager Robert Lupo and regional VP of sales Tyler Holley. The Jacksonville Network Access Point expanded. Data Centers also did well in the form of disaster recovery, getting major business during Hurricane Matthew.

New companies also launched this year. One of those, IntoGo, an app that finds fun things to do in your city, is seeing success in the app store.

In late summer, rumors swirled that Google Fiber would be pausing any installation in cities it had been considering, including Jacksonville. That turned out to be true.

And after taking a hiatus most of the year in Jacksonville tech, following his resignation from One Spark, Elton Rivas partnered with other tech entrepreneurs in the country to launch Startup Rocket, aimed at helping other startups launch their business by giving them a guide.

Finally, the year ended on a high note for Jacksonville tech, with the launch of NLP Logix’s — a longtime successful Jacksonville company in the field of machine learning — first spinoff. Wise Eye AI is marketing to health care providers algorithms that can help detect cancer.

Source: Jensen Werley, Reporter      Jacksonville Business Journal

12/20/16