Technology company lands venture capital

Start-up online video editing company attracts investment from former Envoy founders

Email | Print By Richard Lawson

StudioNow, a new start-up online video company based in Nashville, has secured $1.5 million in funding from a group led by local venture firm Claritas Capital.

StudioNow went into business in January to provide customers with web-based video, photo and digital imaging editing by experts that include major-network television and Hollywood feature-film professionals.

Claritas has funded 19 companies since its formation five years ago. The $1.5-million investment in StudioNow includes Fred Goad and Jim Kever, the original founders of data-processing firm Envoy Corp., which became WebMD. They are advisors to Claritas.

StudioNow plans to use the funds to expand marketing, technology development and operations.

David Mason and Adam Solesby co-founded the company. Mason, chief executive officer, previously was CEO of Buy.com Europe. Mason had started SpeedServe Inc. in 1994 to sell books, videos, DVDs and video-game hardware over the Internet. That company was merged with another to form Buy.com.

Solesby, the chief technology officer, has been involved with several technology companies, including Medicsight, AIM Healthcare Services and Buy.com. He also had worked with Mason at SpeedServe.

The founders have built out their team. Doug Marrs has been named vice president of marketing/sales/business development and is another Buy.com veteran. David Corts is chief operating officer. He founded Impulse Radio and was a founder in @Plan, which went public in 1999 and was sold to DoubleClick, a digital advertising company.

Nashvillian John Wallace joins the company as director of marketing/sales/business development from The History Factory, a Virginia-based firm that produces corporate and organizational histories. He also is a Buy.com alum. Patrick Altman has become the principal software engineer and has worked with WebMD, AIM Healthcare and HCA.