Keisense Inc.
151 New Park Ave., Hartford, CT

In one of its latest achievements, Connecticut Innovations has attracted a cutting edge mobile technology startup from London, England, to Hartford by providing a $500,000 seed investment in 2007.

Connecticut Innovations is the first institutional investor in Keisense, which is developing software to make it easier to input text on smartphones or any other keyboard centric devices. The company’s founder, Harvard University graduate Santosh Sharan, has filed patents on his system, called PriText.

Peter Longo, executive director of Connecticut Innovations, said, “We recognize the vast potential of the mobile device marketplace.” CI’s funding will help Keisense commercialize its technology. This was CI’s third investment in a mobile device applications’ company in 2007.

Sharan said Connecticut Innovations “provides value beyond financing and has a successful track record helping early-stage companies achieve sustainable growth" He also noted that Connecticut provides access to the New York and Boston markets “and access to a growing network of technology entrepreneurs.”  CI brings to the table significant industry knowledge, an operational mindset, and an established network within the mobile ecosystem that few VCs can match.  We recognized text input as one of the key challenges and opportunities in the mobile space as smartphones grew in popularity and we identified Keisense as one the leaders in that area and engaged in a constructive dialog with Keisense for most of 2007 as we evaluated our investment.  “This allowed the Keisense team to get comfortable with CI and our level of expertise and value add in the mobile space.” said Maneesh Sagar, who represents CI on the Keisense Board of Directors.

www.keisense.com