Zmags announced today it has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring’s Top 100 Americas award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across North America. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list a valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

“Tablets, smartphones and social media are transforming commerce and the way consumers are discovering and purchasing. Yet existing models for ecommerce are struggling to keep up with the demands and desires of the connected consumer,” said Michael Schreck, president and CEO of Zmags.

“Using Zmags, forward-thinking retailers and brands are creating completely new kinds of digital shopping experiences that stimulate customer engagement and brand loyalty across all channels, driving unmatched engagement and revenue uplift. Our brand clients are experiencing up to a five times increase in page views, a 40 percent increase in order values and a 2x lift in conversion rates.”

Zmags was a proud winner of the Red Herring 100 Europe in 2009, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

“This year was very rewarding,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and chairman of Red Herring. “There are so many great companies producing truly innovative and amazing products and technologies. We had a very difficult time narrowing the field and selecting the Finalists from such a group of future stars. Zmags shows great promise therefore deserves to be on the short list. Now we are faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners.”

Finalists for the 2012 edition of the Red Herring 100 Americas award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, life sciences, cloud, mobile and other sectors completed their submissions to qualify for the award.

The Finalists are asked to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Americas Forum in Santa Monica, California, May 21-23, 2012. The Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony the evening of May 23 at the event.

About Zmags

Zmags is redefining the online content and shopping experience across web, tablet, mobile, and social channels with our cloud-based rich-media marketing platform. We provide marketers and e-commerce teams from many vertical industries with a deeply engaging and fluid online presentation capability that lets them tell highly captivating stories through curated digital experiences, such as digital catalogs.

With Zmags, leading brands have measurably and dramatically increased customer engagement, conversion rates, order size and brand loyalty without the burden of IT constraints. Zmags is among the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking #70 on the Deloitte 2011 Technology Fast 500. Zmags is headquartered in Boston, MA. with European offices in London and Copenhagen. For more information about Zmags, please visit www.zmags.com.

 

Kareo, Inc., the leading provider of easy and affordable cloud-based practice management and medical billing software for US physicians, announced today the release of advanced claim scrubbing technology designed to streamline the billing process and improve cash flow for physician practices.

This new feature will help practices eliminate medical claim errors and expedite payment from insurance companies. The enhancement is immediately available to all Kareo customers at no additional charge.

“Claim scrubbing technology has been around for years, but often seen as a luxury available only to large practices and hospitals,” says Dan Rodrigues, the founder and CEO of Kareo. “But small practices face many of the same billing complexities as larger organizations, yet they do not have the time or resources to devote to fixing claim errors.  So we have introduced advanced claim scrubbing technology bundled with every Kareo plan – an incredible value.”

Bringing advanced claim scrubbing technology to small practices is just another example of Kareo’s commitment to the success of the solo and small physician practices that form the backbone of the American healthcare system.  Kareo customers can use this technology to save time, reduce billing errors, and ultimately, expedite payments from insurance companies.  Kareo offers claim scrubbing technology bundled with plans as low as $69 per month.

With claim scrubbing technology, all claims are checked for errors in real time as billers enter procedures and diagnosis codes. The software delivers error messages and instructions that enable billers to quickly correct errors and submit clean claims the first time, avoiding claim processing delays that would otherwise slow or prevent payment from insurance companies.

The new claim scrubbing feature is the latest release from Kareo, which leverages its cloud-based infrastructure to continuously launch improvements that streamline physician billing and practice management. The company also offers free educational resources that enable small practices to further improve performance at www.kareo.com/resources.

About Kareo

Kareo is a leading provider of easy to use, affordable, cloud-based practice management and medical billing software to over 10,000 medical providers.  Kareo’s user-friendly and quick-to-implement solution enables physicians to get paid faster by storing patient records, verifying insurance eligibility, submitting electronic claims to insurers, posting electronic insurance payments, billing patients, managing accounts receivable, and much more.  For more information on Kareo, please visit www.kareo.com.

Exinda, a global provider of WAN optimization and application performance assurance solutions, announced today it has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Red Herring Top 100 Americas award, a prestigious listing of the year’s most promising private technology ventures in North America.

Exinda enables organizations to assure the performance of their strategic business applications through WAN optimization that intelligently applies acceleration and containment policies based on the priorities of the organization. Exinda addresses the business objectives of thousands of organizations worldwide, helping them to improve application performance, maximize network resources, improve productivity and deliver a reliable end-user experience.

Finalists for the 2012 Red Herring 100 Americas award were selected based upon technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition and financial health. The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across North America, and evaluated nominees on both quantitative and qualitative criteria. This unique assessment is complemented through a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list a valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

“Exinda is honored to be selected as a Red Herring 100 finalist,” said Exinda CEO Michael Sharma. “Exinda continues to grow well above market pace because, unlike conventional approaches to WAN optimization, we approach the customer challenge from a user and business perspective, not a ‘bits’ perspective. Exinda is at the forefront of a fundamental shift in WAN optimization, with application assurance and user experience replacing traffic compression and acceleration at center stage.”

Exinda posted another record-breaking year in 2011—reporting year-on-year growth of 116%—and has continued that momentum in 2012. The company also doubled its market share in the WAN optimization space and increased market penetration, bolstered by strong international growth and a further penetration into high-value vertical markets.

“This year was very rewarding,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. “There are so many great companies producing truly innovative and amazing products and technologies. We had a very difficult time narrowing the field and selecting the finalists from such a group of future stars. Exinda shows great promise therefore deserves to be on the short list. Now we are faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners.”

Finalists for the 2012 Red Herring 100 Americas award will present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Americas Forum in Santa Monica, Calif., May 21-23, 2012. The Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony May 23.

About Exinda®

Exinda is a proven global supplier of next-generation WAN optimization and application acceleration products. The company has helped more than 2,500 organizations in over 80 countries worldwide improve the end user experience, manage application performance, manage congestion over the WAN and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.

The Illovo Sugar Group, Africa’s largest sugar producer, has chosen Exinda’s Next-Generation WAN Optimisation solution to replace its ageing Expand equipment.

 

The Illovo Sugar Group (Illovo) has extensive agricultural and manufacturing operations in six African countries. The group produces raw and refined sugar for local, regional, European Union (EU), United States (US) and world markets from sugar cane supplied by its own agricultural operations and independent outgrowers. High-value products, manufactured downstream of the sugar production process, are sold internationally into niche markets.

Moreover, about 89% of the group’s electricity requirement is provided by its own installed electricity-generating capacity, fuelled by renewable resources.

“When our previous WAN optimisation provider, Expand Networks, was purchased by Riverbed, it became obvious that we needed to implement a new solution and find a new partner,” says Dave Schaller, chief information officer (CIO) at Illovo.

“Not only is WAN optimisation critical to our business, but so is having the right partnership with the right WAN solution provider. Exinda was a perfect fit because of its technical capabilities coupled with its ability to quickly understand the demands of our operational environment.”

Illovo’s branches are all connected to the company’s head office via a WAN and it needs to complete numerous transactions using various applications each day over limited bandwidth. Any delays in the transmission of data and application information will result in reduced productivity for Illovo’s employees, with the associated negative impact on the company as a whole.

“Illovo examined a range of alternatives to Expand, but ultimately settled on Exinda,” says Alan Rehbock, sales director for sub-Saharan Africa at Exinda. “Not only was Exinda able to deliver the WAN optimisation functionality required, it also is able to tailor its solutions to Illovo’s business processes and enhance staff productivity.”

Illovo looked at a number of options, including all the top WAN optimisation equipment providers in South Africa. “We particularly liked Exinda’s approach of working closely with us to understand our business and organisational requirements,” explained Schaller. “Exinda was able to structure an affordable upgrade proposal that not only offered the same functionality, but presented us with the opportunity to step up to an improved solution.”

He adds: “Exinda unlocks potential that was not possible before, and was able to demonstrate that its solution can significantly improve the performance of our applications and immediately deliver significant benefits. It offered Layer 7 visibility, dynamic control, intelligent acceleration and edge caching, all within a single network appliance.”

 

ExindaExinda is a proven global supplier of next-generation WAN optimisation and application acceleration products. The company has helped more than 2 500 organisations in over 80 countries worldwide improve the end-user experience, manage application performance, manage congestion over the WAN and reduce network operating costs for the IT executive. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.Illovo Sugar GroupIllovo Sugar is a leading, global, low-cost sugar producer and a significant manufacturer of high-value downstream products. The group is Africa’s biggest sugar producer and has extensive agricultural and manufacturing operations in six African countries. The group produces raw and refined sugar for local, regional, European Union (EU), United States (US) and world markets from sugar cane supplied by its own agricultural operations and independent outgrowers, who supply cane to Illovo’s factories. Illovo is listed on the JSE Limited and is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods, which holds 51.5% of the issued share capital.

Editorial contacts Exinda Alan Rehbock Sales Director, sub-Saharan Africa (+27) 11 655 7390 [email protected]

OpenView Venture Partners, an expansion-stage venture capital firm focused on providing technology companies with deep operational support, released a new report today entitled, “Social Media Mavens (Part II): A Look at the Top 10 Technology Venture Capital Firms Online.”

The report, the second in a series, identifies the most effective technology-focused venture capital firms using social media and analyzes the techniques they’re using to fuel their success online.

“There have always been numerous barometers for measuring the success of a venture capital firm,” said Brian Zimmerman, Managing Director of OpenView Labs, the firm’s strategic consulting arm. “As our latest report shows, their fluency in social media is becoming an increasingly important one. Our rigorous assessment of how VC firms are using social media not only demonstrates that importance, but also illuminates the best practices those firms are using to be successful.”

The OpenView report looks at venture capital firms’ use of websites, LinkedIn, and Twitter, the three channels it defines as most important for measuring their online influence. The report also ranks the ten most influential VCs overall as well as the top five most influential firms using each tool as follows:

Overall:
1)     Accel Partners
2)     First Round Capital
3)     Greylock Partners
4)     Bessemer Venture Partners
5)     Highland Capital Partners
6)     DFJ
7)     Benchmark Capital
8)     Index Ventures
9)     Union Square Ventures
10)    The Founders Fund

Websites:
1)     Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers
2)     First Round Capital
3)     Accel Partners
4)     Union Square Ventures
5)     The Founders Fund

LinkedIn:
1)    Sequoia Capital
2)    Intel Capital
3)     Greylock Partners
4)     Accel Partners
5)     Bessemer Venture Partners

Twitter:
1)    Sequoia Capital
2)    First Round Capital
3)     Union Square Ventures
4)     Accel Partners
5)    Greylock Partners

“OpenView firmly believes in the power of social media,” said Zimmerman. “We’ve intentionally excluded ourselves from the results so that we can highlight the great work that some of our peers, including Accel Partners, First Round Capital, and Greylock Partners, among others, are doing. The insights their experiences can offer are hugely valuable for any business.”

OpenView’s reports span a variety of topics, including technology, venture capital, marketing, and sales, and are created from the research OpenView Labs conducts in support of its portfolio companies. Recent reports have looked at website content segmentation, up-and-coming hotspots for venture capital, and compensation research at the expansion stage.

A companion report on individual venture capitalists’ use of social media was published in April. To further the discussion about the use of social media by the venture capital community, OpenView will be hosting an online Twitter discussion about both reports on May 21, which can be followed using the hashtag #OVPchat. More details will be available shortly on OpenView’s website.

About OpenView Venture Partners

OpenView Venture Partners (http://openviewpartners.com) is an expansion-stage venture capital fund based in Boston that is focused on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies quickly optimize their product, go-to-market, and organizational and operational functions. Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has approximately $440 million in total capital under management.

About OpenView Labs

OpenView Labs is the strategic and operational consulting arm of OpenView Venture Partners, a global venture capital fund that invests in expansion-stage technology companies. The Labs team consults to the management of OpenView’s portfolio companies across an array of functional areas, including recruiting, go-to-market support, and research and analytics. Together with its network of senior advisors, the team supports OpenView’s portfolio companies on a range of initiatives ranging from methodology incubation and market research, to providing strategic coaching.

Zmags, the leading provider of rich-media mobile and social marketing, will join the largest gathering of Demandware clients, partners and employees in Boston on May 14-16 for the Demandware XChange Conference.

At the event, Jamus Driscoll CMO, Demandware and W. Sean Ford COO and CMO, Zmags will co-present: “Retail Evolves: From Directed Purchase to Discovery Commerce” on May 15 at 2:30 pm.  A full agenda for the three-day conference can be found here.

Register Here: http://tinyurl.com/745m27n

About Zmags

Zmags is redefining the online content and shopping experience across web, tablet, mobile, and social channels with our cloud-based rich-media marketing platform. We provide marketers and e-commerce teams from many vertical industries with a deeply engaging and fluid online presentation capability that lets them tell highly captivating stories through curated digital experiences, such as digital catalogs.

With Zmags, leading brands have measurably and dramatically increased customer engagement, conversion rates, order size and brand loyalty without the burden of IT constraints. Zmags is among the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking #70 on the Deloitte 2011 Technology Fast 500. Zmags is headquartered in Boston, MA. with European offices in London and Copenhagen. For more information about Zmags, please visit www.zmags.com.