Company Roundup: Softgate Systems, FieldOne, Tiare Technology, NJII, InterCloud

Softgate Systems: Fairfield-based Softgate Systems, provider of consumer retail bill-payment solutions, was acquired by Vancouver-based TIO Networks in a deal that will provide Joe Allegra, of Edison Partners  (Lawrenceville), a seat on the TIO board. The deal should close later this year, a release stated.

Softgate addressed “cash preferred” consumers who would walk into its payment centers to pay one of the thousands of service providers the company connected  with, or to purchase much-needed payment products. Softgate will become a wholly owned subsidiary of TIO.

The total value of the transaction is approximately $31 million, consisting of: (i) a cash component of up to $5 million, (ii) a $5 million promissory note (subject to adjustment), (iii) issuance of 25 million TIO shares to the Softgate shareholders, and (iv) the assumption of approximately $2.5 million of net debt based on the balance sheet at signing.

“We’re excited to join forces with TIO and create a new emerging competitor in the multi-channel bill payment and receivables processing marketplace,” said Rick Auletta, Softgate’s president and CEO. “Between our respective competencies, it is clear that both TIO’s and Softgate’s customers will really benefit from the skill and scale enhancements brought about by this unique combination,” he added.

FieldOne: Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire FieldOne Systems (Mahwah), a provider of field management solutions, Microsoft announced in a blog post written by Bob Stutz, corporate vice president, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We profiled FieldOne here,  in March 2013.

“This is a unique, and transformational point in time for these [field service management] solutions as enterprises look to improve their responsiveness to customers with service in the field — taking service directly to the customer anytime a service cannot be managed by phone or other channels,” Stutz said.

“In this critical area, FieldOne really stands out. They have the baseline functionality that organizations need to drive a more effective field service operation. They are a leading provider of end-to-end solutions that enable businesses to drive revenue, reduce costs and deliver great customer service. Their industry-leading solution specializes in delivering a full set of capabilities that include work order management, automated scheduling, asset contract, inventory and procurement management, workflow capabilities and mobile collaboration — providing enterprises with a comprehensive modern field service solution. This gives companies the ability to do things such as adjusting routing on the fly and delivering service arrival estimate times within a smaller window, which is essential for more personal customer engagement.”

Stutz added that FieldOne is built on Microsoft technology and is a great fit for Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM. “With this acquisition, Microsoft can help companies tap the potential of predictive service by bringing together the powerful combination of FieldOne, Azure IoT and Cortana Analytics. That means that organizations can use insights that effectively provide servicing proactively while streamlining the provisioning of service to significantly reduce costs.”

Tiare Technology: Tiare Technology, a Cherry Hill company that specializes in restaurant ordering systems, said that it had received a patent (13/073,368) covering methodology for the mobile ordering of food and beverages, and other goods or services, at or in the vicinity of a venue such as a restaurant or retail outlet. The company noted that the priority date is 2002.

 “Long before the introduction of the first Apple iPhone or iPad or any Android device, Tiare Technology built its business on products and services that provide mobile ordering solutions. Patents were applied for to secure a place in what Tiare saw as the future of consumer purchasing,” according to a release.  Tiare offers a wide range of specialized mobile ordering products and services, and controls a collection of key patents with early priority dates, the company statement said.

The patent will allow the company to explore licensing options. Tiare president Jeffrey Krevitt has enlisted Jeffrey T. Varsalone, managing director at CBIZ MHM, LLC (New York, N.Y.), a financial and consulting firm, to analyze “all strategic transactions that enable the company to capitalize on significant opportunities to license the Intellectual property and grow its business,” Varsalone said in a release.

NJII: The New Jersey Innovation Institute (JJII), in Newark, acting as the New Jersey State-designated entity on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Health, has received a $2.9 million grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NJII will help the Department of Health ensure the sharing of quality medical data through its New Jersey Health Information Network.

Currently, patients’ electronic health records live in a number of different silos, such as doctors’ offices, hospitals and urgent care facilities; and it is difficult to exchange protected health care information among providers. This grant will allow NJII to develop and manage an accurate and reliable Master Person Index that will house a patient’s records from all of these facilities, with the ability to transmit them to care providers as needed.

The data platform will be rolled out initially to healthcare provider groups in the Newark metro region, and then expanded over the next few years to facilities throughout the state.

InterCloud Systems: During July, InterCloud Systems, of Shrewsbury, made various announcements regarding its business. The company is a provider of cloud networking orchestration and automation solutions. Early in the month, InterCloud said that  it had been awarded contracts of $1.5 million to provide, engineering, design and planning services for the deployment of new state- of-the-art communications systems; later in the month it announced an additional $2.3 million in contracts.

In another announcement, the company said that its $11.6 million debenture had been paid in full, and had been completely eliminated from the company’s balance sheet.

Mark Munro, chairman and CEO, stated: “The elimination of this debenture is very important as it lowers InterCloud’s monthly principal and interest payments by over $400,000. This is an important milestone as this will provide InterCloud with additional working capital with which to grow the business as we move forward.”