A semi-regular roundup of news in Buffalo
Open Beats moves forward
Ryan Dils and Dennis Fedorishin came away with a coveted prize recently at the New York Business Plan Competition: their startup, Open Beats, won first place in the media, art and entertainment segment of the competition.
The University at Buffalo students were initially building a digital music production tool. They are in the process of pivoting into a more specific niche: a mixing and mastering app that allows musicians to drag and drop tracks and create a final composition.
Dils said the company is in UB’s Cultivator accelerator program and in talks with other startup support groups. He said Open Beats is hoping to raise a round of pre-seed funding this summer.=
“There’s a lot on our roadmap,” he said. “We are happy with where we’ve been able to get the product with minimal resources, and while we have customers who’ve said they’d pay for it right now, I would personally like to improve on it before we start doing that.”
Swift Rails
The Swift Rails team proved again that it is adept at equity crowdfunding – raising about $250,000 on WeFunder in the weeks after the company's new campaign opened.
Kevin Neumaier, co-founder and CEO of the Buffalo-based startup, told Business First in April that he is hoping this year or next to begin installation of a Swift Rails raised-track, rapid transport system.
Swift Rails is the 14th local startup to confirm a growth-oriented capital raise this year. The others are Circuit Clinical ($29 million), PostProcess Technologies ($5 million), VeriTX ($4.5 million), HELIXintel ($3 million), ShearShare ($2.3 million), Azuna Fresh ($2.5 million)k Patient Pattern ($2 million), BetterMynd ($1 million), Cahill Tech ($375,000), AireXpert ($125,000), Arbol ($110,000), Timberhut (undisclosed) and Ognomy (undisclosed).
Peter Burakowski
Peter Burakowski’s new role won’t be taking him very far away.
Burakowski, a co-founder and former executive at HELIXintel, announced last month that he has taken a new job as associate director, startup ventures within UB’s Business & Entrepreneur Partnerships group.
