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July 05, 2022
TEDCO Invests in FITCI Member, Alirtify, a Rural Maryland Pre-Seed Company
July 5, 2022—TEDCO,
Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies (and a FITCI founding partner),
announced today that its Rural
Business Innovation Initiative (RBII) made a $25,000 investment
in Alirtify, an
intelligence-gathering platform based in Frederick, Md.
“This new funding from TEDCO will help Alirtify expand and
move its platform to the next level,” said Chuck Ernst,
RBII mentor, Western Maryland Region. “It’s not only an investment in
Alirtify, but also the local economy and future jobs here in the western part
of Maryland.”
Alirtify, founded by Kwabena Okrah and based in Frederick, Md., is an artificial intelligence platform that uses data from news events such as sentiments, location, and key words to glean real-time insights. Alirtify uses news data as well as social media, blogs, and other publicly available data to reduce the noise and only share what is important to the user. The key is geo-tagging contacts in the user’s connections from various platforms to news and social media within 60 miles radius of those contacts.
“With TEDCO’s RBII funding, we will be able to explore some
emerging themes and use-cases, such as situational awareness to promote public
safety during shootings at schools and other public places,” said Kwabena
Okrah, founder, CEO and CTO, Alirtify. “We are very appreciative of TEDCO’s
continued support in our growth and development as a Maryland startup.”
“Innovators are hard at work in every county and corner of
Maryland; here at TEDCO we seek them out and invest in promising startups like
Alirtify,” said Troy
LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO CEO. “Our Rural Business Innovation Initiative
mentor has more than 30 projects in Western Maryland, and we’re glad to welcome
Alirtify to this thriving TEDCO portfolio.”
TEDCO’s RBII is designed to enhance technology commercialization and provide technical and business assistance to small and early-stage companies in rural Maryland. To learn more about mentoring and funding opportunities from RBII, visit https://www.tedcomd.com/resources/rural-business-innovation-initiative.
TEDCO’s Rural Business Innovation Initiative mentors hold open office hours at FITCI for all Western Maryland Region entrepreneurs. Follow FITCI on social media for monthly announcements or contact 301-694-2999.
About TEDCO
TEDCO, the Maryland
Technology Development Corporation, enhances economic empowerment growth
through the fostering of an inclusive entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem.
TEDCO identifies, invests in, and helps grow technology and life science-based
companies in Maryland. Learn more at www.tedcomd.com.