The Launch Place commits $250,000 to CirrusWorks to expand its technology

DANVILLE, Va. (Monday, Feb. 24, 2014) – The Launch Place,the Dan River Region's leading entity to recruit emerging and serial entrepreneurs, announced today it will invest $250,000 in CirrusWorks Venture, LLC, specifically $75,000 now and $175,000 upon securing additional capital from private investors.

As part of the investment requirements, CirrusWorks will expand its operations to Danville’s River District to increase the production and delivery of its signature technology to eliminate network congestion, employing 21 high skilled individuals by the end of 2016. The company, in addition to receiving a $250,000 investment from The Launch Place, will also use the organization’s entrepreneur wrap-around services of mentoring, training and coaching and business consulting services.

New hires will be assemblers, inventory managers, information technology (IT) administrators and programmers and hardware designers with an annual salary range between $35,000 and $85,000.

“All networks have congestion, but CirrusWorks’ patented technology detects and corrects congestion as it occurs up to 50,000 times per second,” said CirrusWorks CEO David Giannini. “Our software monitors the effective size of the Internet pipe, re-prioritizes user data flows, and manages oversubscription during peak loads…the bottom line is our technology offers faster and more efficient Internet networking that is easy to install and very affordable.”

Richard Sternitzke, Chief Technology Officer/Chief Operating Officer of CirrusWorks, stated, “Our partnership with The Launch Place will help bring innovative products to a global market.  We look forward to building a team and facility in Danville, leveraging The Launch Place’s affiliations with higher education to recruit talented people into our organization, fueling the growth of our business and the region.”

The Launch Place assists with business development, and job creation and retention region-wide through its business consulting services, while having a dual responsibility to recruit and retain entrepreneurs to the Danville region due to a $10 million grant award over five years by the Danville Region Foundation. A $4 million seed fund was established with this grant to invest in start-ups and serial entrepreneurs.

 “CirrusWorks is going to have a significant impact on the region with its projected new hires and helping us to create a strong IT industry cluster,” said Eva Doss, President & CEO of The Launch Place. “They have the potential for exponential growth.”

CirrusWorks management team will be arriving in Danville in the next few weeks. Upon arrival, a public announcement event will be held at The Launch Place, giving the region an opportunity to meet CirrusWorks officials and to hear first-hand their expansion plans in Danville.

This is The Launch Place’s second announcement. Last month, it announced investing $250,000 and recruiting to Danville’s River District KSI Data Sciences, LLC, to develop and bring to market a new technology designed to give police, fire and first responders the tools necessary to share information quickly in order to save lives.

As a 501 (C) 3 nonprofit organization, The Launch Place strives to energize and diversify Southern Virginia’s regional economy through entrepreneurship development and business consulting services. For more information, go to www.thelaunchplace.org.

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