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Three young Tulsa-area companies made their cases to investors Thursday during the 2007 Bricktown Capital Conference.
The companies are Oklahoma Digital Forensics Professionals Inc., an investigator of computer and digitized evidence; Coastal Hydrogen Energy Inc., the developers of a new way to harvest hydrogen from water; and Immortal Space, a new networking Web site with an emphasis on recording and preserving personal and family information. Gavin Manes, president and director of research with Oklahoma Digital Forensics, said his presentation immediately got the attention of potential "angel" investors. "I've already got some offers on the way out, so it was the right audience," he said. The companies in attendance all rely on emerging technology, though it's put to widely varying goals. Bryan Noland, CEO of Immortal Space, wants to provide customers with a simple, secure way of preserving knowledge forever. "People will use this site for their entire lives, and even beyond," he said. The site, which can be accessed at cf,helcb www.tulsaworld.com/immortalcf,ceno , invites users to post information about themselves, including pictures, videos and blogs. It also shows the person's as sociations, such as families, co-workers and friends, in a "life matrix." But unlike traditional social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, Immortal Space is geared toward preserving information for years, rather than presenting news of the moment. Noland said the emphasis on permanence will keep its user base permanently loyal. "If you look at MySpace and Facebook, there's nothing underlying there that keeps their members to the site," he said. "They jump from one network to another." The beta version of the site launched in July, and Noland hopes to have a final version ready by March. Coastal Hydrogen Energy, on the other hand, hopes to generate a clean, renewable and cheap alternate fuel, said Jonathan Neff, president of the company. To that end, his partner, Gary Austin, has developed a way to harvest hydrogen from water by using photocatalyst and microwave energy to split water molecules. "About 95 percent of hydrogen that's used in the world today comes from natural gas, which can produce carbon dioxide," he said. "Our process doesn't, and we expect to bring the cost for generating hydrogen from water below natural gas." Though hydrogen is most often used for processing certain types of food, Neff said vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells will go into production next year. Coastal Hydrogen is in the final stages of development and testing, and hopes to raise money for the engineering of production equipment. If all goes well, the company will have hydrogen harvesting machines ready in one or two years, he said. Oklahoma Digital Forensics Professionals has narrowed its focus to the collection and investigation of computerized evidence, though Manes said the company wants to expand its reach. "We'll use investments to put some storefronts in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma City," he said. Though his company has only established a Tulsa office, growth is coming from beyond state lines. Manes said 75 percent of revenue now comes from outside of Oklahoma. Furthermore, when the company set up an Oklahoma City number to forward calls to the Tulsa office, it picked up many new clients. "Lawyers need to feel like they can walk into someone's office," he said. Manes said he's hoping to raise $500,000 to establish and market the planned expansion. |
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