Arizona makes workhorses—not unicorns—and that’s a good thing

Guest Blog by Hamid Shojaee, founder Axosoft, Pure Chat & AZTB The Bay Area is overrun with horses—unicorns to be exact. And while I wish I was referring to the horned, majestic creatures of lore, I’m actually talking about privately-held startups that have $1 billion or higher valuations. Venture investor Aileen Lee coined the term … Read more

Who's got the moola? Investors funded these Arizona startups

More than halfway through 2015 and Arizona is on track for another great year of funding. These are the latest funding announcements that occurred May to July.   eVisit Gilbert-based telehealth software startup eVisit announced the raise of $1 million in seed funding this week led by Alan Ram, Founder of Alan Ram’s Proactive Training … Read more

Pure Chat closed $1.5M seed round, plans expansion to global markets

Pure Chat, a live support and sales software company, has raised $1.5 million dollars in a seed round to continue moving up the hockey stick and help small businesses around the world connect with their customers on-the-go. With their $250,000 winnings from the Arizona Commerce Authority Innovation Challenge, Pure Chat’s total funding to date is … Read more

Calculators required – SaaS metrics you need to attract investors

Photo contribution Thomas Hawthorne Class was in session at Axosoft headquarters during Phoenix Startup Week when founder of Pure Chat Hamid Shojaee spoke about metrics every Software as a Service (SaaS) firm needs to know to build their business and attract investors. Shojaee said none of these metrics help out a SaaS firm if they aren’t in … Read more

Third annual PressNomics conference brings together WordPress Community

The third installment of the annual PressNomics conference kicked off today with hundreds of guests and more than 15 speakers at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel and Conference Center. The event brings together companies from the WordPress community to engage in conversation centered around the success and failures of running a business. The conference is … Read more

Top 10 finalists named in ACA Innovation Challenge

It’s come down to ten companies all vying for a chance to win up to $250,000 in the Fall 2014 Arizona Commerce Authority Innovation Challenge. The Challenge is a bi-annual competition where startups and early-stage companies compete for capital to grow their business and advance innovation and technology opportunities in Arizona. READ: Who won the … Read more

2014 AZTB Startup Wrap up

With 2014 quickly coming to an end, it is time to celebrate the successes of startups in Arizona tech! We spoke to some proud AZ startups who shared some of their major updates from the year and gave some advice for budding startups. Aqwastream – a refill water bottle dispenser with tailored digital media station … Read more

ACA announces 25 semifinalists in the race for $250K

Today the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) announced the 25 AZ-based semifinalists in the Arizona Innovation Challenge all vying for a shot at the big prize money. The AZ Innovation Challenge is a semi-annual business plan competition awarding $1.5M in the Spring and $1.5M in the Fall, giving startups a shot at winning up to $250,000. … Read more

Startup Pure Chat all a buzz reaching 1M chat milestone

While larger service providers have dedicated live chat customer service representatives on hand awaiting to help you, the majority of businesses do not have that extra cash to keep someone on standby. However, in order to stay more connected to ones’ customers, smaller businesses are adding in live support software with mobile integration to their websites. Pure … Read more