HispanicBusiness

CEO of batterii, Kevin Cummins.

CINCINNATI, OH -- (Marketwire) -- 05/11/12 -- Batterii, a Cincinnati-based open-collaboration innovation software venture, has raised $800,000 in seed-stage funding, hired a seasoned West Coast technology executive as its CEO and added six other key executives to its management team.

Kevin C. Cummins, former chief operating officer of Spigit, a leading Silicon Valley idea management software applications company, has moved to Cincinnati to run batterii. Cummins has invested $250,000, and CincyTech has invested $300,000 as part of a planned $1 million seed-stage round that will help it expand engineering and sales. The batterii executive team has added $150,000, and another $100,000 has been committed by an undisclosed investor.

Batterii is a Web-based SaaS platform that empowers companies to engage their employees, partners and customers to build new ideas, identify new products and drive process improvement to increase top-line revenue. Among its key customers are Nike Inc. and home décor direct-sales company PartyLite. Batterii has 16 full-time employees and plans to grow to 28 by year end.

Joining the management team are Laurie Morse, vice president of global sales; Challis Hodge, executive vice president of customer experience; Joe Messina, executive vice president of strategy; Nick Franceschina, chief technology officer; Tom Brister, vice president of services; and John Auer, vice president. Hamilton Dorian is serving as chief financial officer.

Cincinnati marketing executive Chad Reynolds, batterii's chief creative officer, founded the company after seeing the need for developing new ideas at all levels of a corporation.

"Companies are looking for better ways to be innovative," Reynolds said. "Batterii has developed a next-generation experience for companies, teams and individuals to create that value together. Early clients, such as Nike, have used our platform to create insights, campaign themes and new product ideas. We are removing the barriers for participation."

At Spigit, Cummins was responsible for operations, services and customer support, including community management, client services, and technical services. He has worked as a sales executive at Sun Microsystems, as well as in corporate development. His background includes sales operations and management, global marketing and engineering management. He has a bachelor's of science from Miami University and an M.B.A from University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University.

Morse, who lives in Southern California, has more than 25 years of experience in social media, information technology and media/entertainment. Hodge, formerly vice president of user experience at the Nielsen Co., brings global experience and proven success in driving elegant product design and exceptional customer experience. Brister, who has worked for Spigit and Allstate Insurance, brings both client and provider experience in executing global managed-innovation programs.