Southern Virginia


Regional View


The Launch Place invests $1.94 million in eight companies by Joan Tupponce


for KSI Video, wasn’t sure that opening his company in Danville was the right move until he learned about The Launch Place. “It has turned out to be the best thing for us,” he says. “We do video and data management for drones and ground and underwater robots, and Danville wound up in the heart of an area for drone research.” The Launch Place


J


Eva Doss, the president and CEO of The Launch Place, says the companies are good fi ts for Danville.


is constantly searching for companies like KSI — firms with ideas for the next best thing that are willing to turn those ideas into businesses in Danville.


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Complete list of For the Record and People at


VirginiaBusiness.com FOR THE RECORD


Dominion Virginia Power’s Brunswick Power Station began producing electricity in April. The 1,358-megawatt natural gas plant is expected to generate enough power for 325,000 homes. The com- pany said the power plant was needed to meet growing demand and to replace elec- tricity from older, coal-fired plants. The plant will have 43 employees with an annual payroll of $7.5 million. The station will pay about $4 mil- lion a year in local property taxes until 2017 and up to $5 million annually beyond that year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)


Nationwide Custom Homes is expanding production at its Martinsville manufacturing


The organization’s


latest investment — $200,000 — will go to Roobrik, a company that provides an inter- active software tool


operations, creating 59 jobs. Nationwide President Andy Miller said the $986,342 project involves renovating one of its four plants at its Rives Road site to extend its production line. Nationwide produces modular housing for the single and multifamily residential markets. It also serves commercial markets, producing apartments, hotels, student housing and rental cottages. It is an operating division of Palm Harbor Homes, which is part of the Phoenix-based Cavco family of manufacturers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)


URW Credit Union held a ribbon-cutting and grand- opening ceremony in April at its new South Boston


14 JUNE 2016


ason Barton, co- founder and chief technology officer


for making decisions about long-term care. The program


began in 2012 when the Danville Regional Foundation approved a $10 million grant to transform the Southside Business Technology Center and rebrand it as The Launch Place. To date, The Launch Place has made nine investments totaling $1.94 million in eight companies. Six of the investments came from a seed fund for companies that are well along in develop- ing products. Another three investments came from a pre-seed fund for companies that are not as far along in that process. The companies


receiving investments represent fields ranging from information tech- nology software devel- opment to advanced manufacturing.


location on Halifax Road. According to URW’s website, members of the United Rubber Workers Local 831 Labor Union started the credit union in 1970. URW also has branches in Danville and Chatham. (The Gazette-Virginian)


Virginia’s Department of Labor and Industry has issued three citations and recommended a fine of nearly $17,000 for violations it deemed serious at the Goodyear Tire and Rub- ber Co. in Danville after the death of an employee at the plant last summer. Since then, two other plant employees have died on the job, and a third suffered second-degree burns in


Additional


companies are in the pipeline. The organiza- tion has received 283 applications for invest- ments from the two funds. “All of these


companies we invested in were a good fit for Danville and met the requirements of creating five jobs in a three-year period,” says Eva Doss, the presi- dent and CEO of The Launch Place. “We didn’t want companies to make a commit- ment just because of the money. They have to take advantage of our Danville location.” The organization’s biggest challenges are finding strong companies that want to create a presence in Danville and helping those companies get additional investments as they grow. “We have had success in estab- lishing partnerships


an accident. According to Jennifer Rose, safety director for the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Compli- ance Program, Goodyear is contesting the citations, so the case remains open. (VirginiaBusiness.com)


PEOPLE


Danville Regional Medical Center (DRMC) announced that Dr. James Klena — a Duke Medicine-affiliated cardiothoracic surgeon now practicing at Danville Heart & Vascular — has joined its medical staff. Klena comes to DRMC from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he was assistant pro- fessor of surgery and medical director of the adult intensive care unit. (Work It, SoVa)


with venture capitalists and angel funds,” Doss says. “If the companies need additional fund- ing, we can introduce them to other angel funds and share pro- fessional due-diligence info.”


The program has


helped Barton of KSI find additional inves- tors. “We have raised $1.2 million over three years,” he says, noting his company initially received a $250,000 investment from The Launch Place and a year later got an addi- tional $100,000. Doss believes The


Launch Place has bur- nished Danville’s repu- tation as a community that takes entrepre- neurship seriously. “Danville is interested in helping new busi- nesses to form,” she says. “This is definitely an atmosphere where entrepreneurship occurs.”


Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham has named Dewitt “Hunter” Powell academic dean. Powell previously led schools at three locations around the country and also served as an instructor at Virginia Military Institute and a TAC Officer at St. Jones Military Academy. His military experi- ence includes service with the Marine Corps and the Army National Guard. (Work It, SoVa)


All four Danville City Council incumbents — Lee Vogler, Sherman Saunders, Larry Campbell and Fred Shanks — were re-elected in May and will be joined by Madison Whittle. Sheila Williamson- Branch also was elected the city’s next treasurer. (Danville Register & Bee)


Photo by Steven Mantilla


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