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Tech company helps launch private business incubator
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
When Jonathan Ramaci relocated the operations and management teams of his high-tech firm, iCache, from Cambridge, Mass., to Charleston, he brought a knowledge-based enterprise to the area and a concept that many believe is long overdue: a business incubator.
The incubator, dubbed the Charleston Innovation Center, is a private endeavor designed to assist knowledge-based startups.
Ramaci has first-hand experience with business incubators, having founded iCache two years ago in the Cambridge Innovation Center. However, the Charleston center varies somewhat from the one in Cambridge.
“Cambridge is quite different in function and form, more a model of shared office resources,” Ramaci said. “Up there you had a bunch of tech companies, about 200 of them, with separate offices sharing common meeting rooms and things like that. And in that region, there are lots of venture capital firms, so the center has its own dynamic.
“What I’ve tried to do with CIC is provide space for startups, but what I really think is important is to get some high-level advisors for these companies and attract capital.”
Ramaci’s interest in Charleston dates back to his college days. A 1986 graduate of The Citadel, he returned often to visit and eventually made plans to relocate his company. Although iCache’s corporate office remains in Cambridge, he moved operations to Charleston “for lifestyle reasons.”
“Cambridge is a two-hour direct flight away from here,” he said. “When I was up there, it sometimes took two hours to drive to the office, so physically getting there is not a problem. Charleston is a great place to live and work, so the decision to move here was easy.”
Ramaci also has started other software companies and grown them to a stage where they were acquired by other firms. His current company shows promise as an emerging leader in the development of software and hardware that transforms mobile devices into secure digital commerce platforms.
Capitalizing on the growing field of RFID-enabled payment solutions and the need for secure payment and individual data transfer systems, iCache’s solutions provide functionality, security and cost-effectiveness for consumers, financial institutions and merchants.
“With iCache, we’re working on a way to get rid of conventional credit cards and loyalty cards and introduce a biometrically secure way of transacting,” he said. “We’re working with several major banks on the product, and we’re close to going to market.”
Many staff members have relocated and he has started hiring locally. Plans are for about 100 hires over the next five years, with 30 to 40 of them being hired this year.
Even before the move, his membership on the board of advisors for the business school at The Citadel fueled his interest in getting an incubator started in the area.
“In working with The Citadel, I was looking into getting an incubator going on over there, so I was researching this region,” he said. “There’s a severe lack of venture capital flowing into companies in this area. This state itself is ranked 48th in the nation in terms of investments. I really love this area and want to help contribute to businesses and startup companies.”
Ramaci, who also serves on the Charleston Digital Corridor’s board of directors, said he’s been shopping the idea around and has a few companies interested in partnering with him on the concept.
“Right now I’ve located iCache at the Aquarium Wharf in space leased from (Applied Technology & Management),” he said. “We plan to sub-lease some of this space as incubator space.
“We were looking for 10,000 to 15,000 square feet to open up an innovation center, but we couldn’t find the right place. We want something cool and hip and entrepreneurial and techie. So instead of waiting and waiting, we decided to start small, go with what we have and get it formed and off the ground.”
The incubator can provide a way to position the companies and “package” them for the next step in their growth, Ramaci said.
“We need to link together these promising startup companies to create a total value, which then in turn can advertise that this is going on to the investment community,” he said. “That’s what’s going to draw these investors and have them look at this area as an innovation area, a place where people with investment capital should be looking.”
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