Corporate Report: June 13

Fintech closes first quarter with record client growth
Fintech, a Tampa-based electronic data and payment company, announced it has broken its own record for new clients in the grocery, hotel, convenience store, drug store, restaurant and hospitality industries.

Fintech's alcohol electronic data and payment program concluded March with 1,353 additional retailer locations and 33 new alcohol distributors. Those new customers include: Brookshire Brothers, a grocery chain headquartered in Lufkin, Texas; Chipotle; the Brazilian Steakhouse chain Fogo De Chao Restaurants; WTG Fuels, owner of Uncle's Convenience Stores; Walgreens and Wal-Mart.

Chris-Tel Construction exec chosen for Florida Housing Finance board
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has appointed Howard Wheeler Jr., president of Fort Myers-based Chris-Tel Construction, to the board of directors for the Florida Housing Finance Corp. The state senate has also confirmed him.

The Florida Housing Finance Corp.'s primary mission is to increase affordable housing opportunities and ensure that its programs match up with the needs of those it serves.

Wheeler will serve on the board of directors as a representative of various housing industry groups.

Validus Group selling Strategic Capital Partners to RCS Capital for $80M
Tampa-based investment firm Validus Group has reached an agreement to sell Validus Strategic Capital Partners to RCS Capital Corp. (RCAP). Validus Strategic Capital owns SC Distributors LLC, an alternative investment distribution organization, and Strategic Capital Advisory Services, which provides advisory and operations services to non-exchange traded alternative investment vehicles.

The transaction calls for a purchase price of $80 million with the possibility of additional funds if the entity meets certain benchmarks (earn outs).

“I am very excited by this transaction and hope to realize significant upside through the earnout,” Mario Garcia Jr., CEO and managing partner of Validus Group, says in a press release. “I believe it is an excellent fit for both RCAP and Strategic Capital. This transaction will help us more effectively execute on our mission going forward and provides immediate, compelling value to all stakeholders.”

Strategic Capital will operate as a stand-alone business of RCAP. Following the transaction, Strategic Capital will continue to be operated by its existing management under the Strategic Capital brand.
“The acquisition of Validus Strategic Capital Partners allows us to further diversify RCAP's wholesale distribution platform with more institutional quality investment products,” Nicholas Schorsch, executive chairman of RCAP, says in a press release.

Strategic Capital has been affiliated with Validus Group since 2010. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

Minnesota health insurer Medica using Cody Consulting software
Medica is partnering with Cody Consulting to implement the Tampa-based health care consulting firm's CodySoft software. The Minnesota-based health insurance company, which covers some 1.5 million members, plans to use the software to aid in its marketing communications and compliance efforts for its 150,000 Medicare members.

Cody Consulting works with health plans to cut costs and increase efficiencies primarily by improving the marketing collateral management process and compliance issues.

InformedDNA names new chief technology officer
St. Petersburg-based InformedDNA has appointed Lee Fowinkle as its chief technology officer. Fowinkle will be responsible for helping InformedDNA use its digital properties to improve its genetic counseling and utilization management services.

Fowinkle will oversee the company's day-to-day technology infrastructure. His initial priorities include building and deploying a genetic testing management automation platform.

Prior to joining InformedDNA, Fowinkle was the senior vice president of technology for the Physician Practice Solutions business at McKesson Corp. “Our projections show our revenue quadrupling by 2017, so the I.T. infrastructure Lee will be creating is critical to our scalability and growth management, as well as creating opportunities for us to offer new services to our health plan and hospital customers,” InformedDNA CEO David Nixon says in a press release.

ThreatTrack Security named to Red Herring Top 100
Clearwater-based ThreatTrack Security has been named a Red Herring Top 100 North America award winner. The award recognizes the top private companies based on their innovations and technologies across industries. The media company Red Herring selected 100 award winners from among the 3,000 tech startups financed each year in the United States and Canada.

“Since our inception in April 2013, we have set high goals for ourselves. Not only have we surpassed each one, but our growth is continuing at an even more rapid pace,” Julian Waits Sr., CEO of ThreatTrack Security, says in a press release. “We're proud to be honored alongside our peers in the security and technology industries. This is validation that our company is moving in the right direction and moving fast.”

Red Herring's editorial staff evaluated companies on both quantitative and qualitative measures, such as financial performance, technological innovation and intellectual property, management quality, business model, customer footprint and market penetration.

ThreatTrack Security helps organizations identify and stop targeted attacks and other sophisticated malware designed to evade traditional cyber-defenses.

National Travel Deals working with Lesson On Golf
Tampa-based online car rental service provider National Travel Deals has announced a partnership with golf sportscaster Jeff Lesson.

NationalTravelDeals.com will be the official travel provider of Lesson On Golf, Lesson's company, which offers information on where to play, golf pro pointers, equipment reviews, visitor perks and more. National Travel Deals will also be offering a 5% discounts on rental cars to Lesson On Golf radio show listeners.

Jeff Lesson is a radio and television sportscaster, newspaper columnist and host of “Lesson On Golf.”

National Travel Deals negotiates discounts from the major car-rental suppliers and then sells those rental offers to its customers. It provides rentals in 125 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America and Australia.

Moffitt, Ohio State University building national cancer database
Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, have announced a collaboration to accelerate discoveries in cancer research.

The partners plan to create a national cancer database called the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) that will launch with more than 100,000 patients who have agreed to donate their tissue and clinical data for research to understand cancer at the molecular level. ORIEN will utilize a single protocol (plan for experiments), Total Cancer Care, to create a collaborative environment that will share data to accelerate the development of targeted treatments. The system is also designed to allow researchers and clinicians to more quickly match eligible patients to clinical trials and conduct larger and richer analysis.

“Cancer is a highly complex disease, and potential breakthroughs have been stalled because we've lacked an efficient way to share incremental insights,” Alan List, M.D., president and CEO of Moffitt, says in a press release. “Even more frustrating, until today we've had no system to quickly match cancer patients from anywhere in the country with ongoing clinical research with the most potential to help them. By partnering with The Ohio State University through ORIEN, we've built a cancer research expressway.”

Designer Golf Products, affiliates joining under Arete Industries brand
Odessa-based Designer Golf Products and two of its sister companies, Site Essentials and R3 Site Furnishings, have an official new parent brand. Don Morrison, president of Designer Golf Products, announced that Arete Industries will be the new face for all three companies in addition to new market ventures.

The company debuted its new brand at the recent Community Associations Institute conference held in Orlando.

Advanzeon Solutions, Southridge reached debit purchase, advisory deal
Tampa-based Advanzeon Solutions Inc. has reached a strategic advisory and debt purchase agreement with Southridge LLC, a financial holding company that specializes in direct investment and advisory services to small and middle market companies.

“We are pleased to have contracted with Southridge along a number of fronts, not the least of which will be assisting the company in becoming current with its public filings, restructuring the company's balance sheet and placing the firm in a superior and strengthened position for accelerated future growth,” Clark Marcus, Advanzeon's CEO, says in a press release.

Started in 1969, Advanzeon Solutions Inc. provides behavioral health, substance abuse and pharmacy management services for employers, Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, and managed care companies.