Franchise Opportunities in Columbus, OH

TechCrunch Live is thrilled to announce a special event centered around Columbus, Ohio. On June 1, 2022, our crew is hosting an extended TechCrunch Live episode with Columbus investors, founders and business leaders. There’s even a pitch-off, and we’re looking for Columbus-area startups to apply and pitch.

Register for the virtual event here, and apply for the pitch-off here.

Why Columbus? Because it’s quickly becoming a major startup scene in the Midwest, especially in the areas of healthcare and insurance. More than $3 billion has been injected into the city over the past 20 years, according to Crunchbase data. Investment into the city startups started picking up around 2017 and really peaked in 2021. That’s when investment essentially doubled, going from $583 million in 2020 to just over $1 billion, with half of those dollars going into two companies: healthcare technology company Olive and autonomous robotics company Path Robotics. So far in 2022, $110 million has gone into Columbus startups.

Olive is now valued at over $4 billion and is among other Columbus success stories like CoverMyMeds, a healthcare software company that was acquired by the McKesson Corp. in 2017 for $1.4 billion, which represents Central Ohio’s first $1 billion exit. Root Insurance, which raised over $800 million since 2015, went public in 2020. Other notable raises include Forge Biologics’ $120 million Series B round, which was thought to be Ohio’s largest Series B to date. Forge plans to add 200 new jobs by 2023.

We hope you can attend this event! Like every TechCrunch Live event, it’s free to participate and attend. And like every TechCrunch Live event, it kicks off at 3:00 p.m. EDT/12:00 p.m. PDT, and this one happens on June 1, 2022.

Apply for the pitch-off! To qualify you need to:

TechCrunch Live in Columbus!

Columbus Unicorns with Olive and Drive Capital (3:00 p.m. EDT) Olive is a homegrown Columbus unicorn; hear from the CEO and lead investor how the company was built and raised $850+ million since its founding in 2012.

Raising startup capital (3:30 p.m. EDT)

Ohio isn’t Silicon Valley, and yet there are numerous venture capital funds eager to write checks to early-stage founders. Join this session and hear from two investors on which industries are thriving in Columbus, and which sort of founders fit best in this scene.

Work for a startup in Columbus (4:00 p.m. EDT)

Columbus, like many major American cities, is home to industry giants with hundreds of workers toiling away in cubicles. But startups are hiring! Hear from two local leaders on who’s hiring and what startups look for in new employees.

Pitch Competition (4:20 p.m. EDT)

Apply here!

Judges

Found Live with Claire Coder, CEO of Aunt Flow (5:00 p.m. EDT)

Aunt Flow is an innovative startup from Columbus, Ohio that supplies 23,000 bathrooms with essential feminine products. The company’s clients include Apple, Meta and more. Hear from the company’s CEO Claire Coder about the pains of raising capital in Ohio and scaling her company to 40 employees during this special Found Live podcast recording.

An Ohio-based biotech spinout is garnering even more investment and space even after only being around for about a year.

AmplifyBio, a CRO and R&D biotech, has received a nine-figure investment to expand its facilities to a second location in New Albany, a suburb of the state capital of Columbus.

The company is receiving an investment of around $150 million to establish a new 350,000-square-foot facility. With this investment, the company is also expected to create over 200 new jobs both at its new location and at an existing location in West Jefferson, another Columbus suburb. That location, which has 220,000-square-feet of space for the young biotech, is the headquarters for nonprofit Battelle, which spun out AmplifyBio last year.

Since then, the biotech has raised $200 million, which so far has been focused on safety, efficacy and toxicology testing drug candidates, but cell and gene therapies are in the cards, as well. The company will be looking to hire research and development positions throughout the rest of the year, with its new location having 130 new employees.

According to AmplifyBio, its expansion is meant to meet the increasing market demand for advanced therapies, including cell and gene therapy products. The company’s existing location in West Jefferson contains a 30-acre campus and currently employs 155 people. The new investment will see the creation of 99 new jobs at that location, in addition to 32 new corporate jobs that will be added at a location yet to be determined.

According to the governor’s office, the new positions will generate $24.1 million in new annual payroll and retain $7.8 million in existing payroll. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority also approved a 2.143%, 10-year Job Creation Tax Credit for this project.

“We are excited to expand our presence in the Columbus region, and specifically New Albany. We believe that our innovation platform is a perfect fit for the collaborative environment that I first noticed when I came to Ohio,” said AmplifyBio CEO and president J. Kelly Ganjei in a statement.

The investor base that launched the company, besides Battelle, included Connecticut-based Viking Global Investors, New York-based Casdin Capital and Cincinnati-based Narya Capital. According to the company, the investor base has not changed and will be backing the expansion project.

Columbus has been attracting some attention from biotech investors and large pharma companies, including Forge Biologic, which raised a $120 million series B in 2021 to bring online a 175,000-square-foot facility to manufacture AAV gene therapies. Amgen also broke ground on a $365 million manufacturing facility in New Albany last year.

Set includes three unreleased 1977 concerts

Little Feat is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Waiting for Columbus with an expanded super deluxe edition on July 29th. Rhino Records will release a newly remastered version of the original double album as an 8 CD box set containing three previously unreleased concerts in Manchester, London and Washington, DC.

Little Feat, backed by the Tower of Power horn section, recorded several shows in the UK and US during the band’s 1977 summer tour. The unreleased concerts were recorded in Manchester at Manchester City Hall on July 29, 1977, London at The Rainbow on August 2, 1977, and Washington DC at Lisner Auditorium on August 10, 1977.

In addition, all the music will be available on the same day from digital and streaming services with a separate newly mastered 2 LP. Rhino.com is offering multiple bundles of the new collection with the 2 LP edition and a reissue of the Japanese 7-inch single for “Oh Atlanta” b/w “Willin’.”

Little Feat originally released Waiting For Columbus on February 10, 1978. The Platinum-certified double album cemented the band’s reputation as one of the premier live bands of the 1970s. When it was recorded, the group included: Lowell George (vocals, guitar), Paul Barrere (guitar, vocals), Bill Payne (keyboard, vocals), Richie Hayward (drums, vocals), Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals), and Kenny Gradney (bass).

Waiting For Columbus touches on songs from all six of the studio albums Little Feat released between 1971 and 1977. The dynamic performances showcase the sextet’s inimitable fusion of blues, country, jazz, and New Orleans R&B on signature tracks like “Fat Man In The Bathtub,” “Oh Atlanta,” and “Sailin’ Shoes.”

The super deluxe edition is the definitive edition of this classic. It includes unreleased live versions of songs that appeared on the original (“Rocket In My Pocket” and “Spanish Moon”), along with several that didn’t, like “Cold, Cold, Cold,” “Rock And Roll Doctor,” “Skin It Back” and a cover of Allen Toussaint’s “On Your Way Down.”

CD/LP 1: Original Album

CD 2: Original Album

CD 3: Live at Manchester City Hall (7/29/77) [Previously Unreleased]

CD 4: Live at Manchester City Hall (7/29/77) [Previously Unreleased]

CD 5: Live at The Rainbow, London, (8/2/77) [Previously Unreleased]

CD 6: Live at The Rainbow, London, (8/2/77) [Previously Unreleased]

CD 7: Live at Lisner Auditorium, Washington, D.C. (8/10/77) [Previously Unreleased]

CD 8: Live at Lisner Auditorium, Washington, D.C. (8/10/77) [Previously Unreleased]

Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: [email protected]

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COLUMBUS, OH — The Buffalo Bisons continued their six-game series against the Columbus Clippers on Wednesday night by picking up the 5-4 win from Huntington Park. The victory extended the Herd's season best winning streak to five games.

Jordan Groshans had a three-hit night and reached base four times, raising his average to .381 with the Herd this season. Zack Collins also made his debut with the Bisons, serving as the designated hitter and going 0-3 with a pair of walks after being optioned by Toronto earlier this week.

Nick Allgeyer made his ninth start of the season and threw five innings of shutout ball while allowing three hits and zero walks. Allgeyer recorded just one strikeout, instead getting batters to hit the ball on the ground and let his infield take care of the rest.

Clippers starter Adam Scott largely matched Allgeyer through four, but the Bisons got to him in the fifth when Samad Taylor drove in two runs off a triple to become the first Bison to reach the 30-RBI plateau this season. Taylor himself would come around to score on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 Buffalo.

The Clippers would tie it the following frame when Richie Palacios tagged Shaun Anderson for a three-run homer, but the Herd quickly regained the lead in the seventh after loading the bases off reliver Tim Herrin. A passed ball allowed Groshans to score from third, before a sac fly off the bat of Chavez Young cashed in Collins to put the Bisons up 5-3.

Joe Biagini, who got out of a big jam in the sixth caused by Anderson, threw a perfect seventh, before Adrian Hernandez did the same in the eighth. Hernandez then stayed in for the ninth, and after retiring the first two batters, allowed a single and a walk before a Will Benson double cut the lead to one.

Hernandez would ultimately strand two runners in scoring postion by striking out Will Freeman to end the game and record the two-inning save; the one run Hernandez gave up was the first earned run he has allowed with the Bisons this season.

The Bisons and Clippers will continue their series tomorrow night, with first pitch starting 30 minutes earlier than usual at 6:35 p.m. EST. Jeremy Beasley is set to make the start for the Herd and will face lefthander Konnor Pilkington.

Special to The Columbus Dispatch

At 86, singer Johnny Mathis would be within his rights to put down the microphone and call it quits.

The much-loved vocalist first bewitched listeners in the 1950s with his chart-topping, smooth-as-silk recordings of the romantic songs “Chances Are” and “The Twelfth of Never.”

Now, two years into the pandemic, Mathis has resumed live touring. As part of the “Voice of Romance Tour,” Mathis will perform Thursday in the Palace Theatre.

Throughout his career, Mathis — a native of Texas who was raised and attended school in San Francisco — has been a picture of professional stability: He stands as the artist with the longest-ever association with Columbia Records — which released his first album, “Johnny Mathis: A New Sound in Popular Song,” in 1956 and his most recent, “Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook,” in 2017 — and, in between his time in the studio, has been consistently in demand as a touring artist.

Yet, although Mathis will turn 87 in September, he has live shows scheduled through the fall, and in a recent phone interview with The Dispatch, he gave no indication of setting down that mic any time soon.

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Question: You’ve been making records for 66 years. Does it feel like that many years?

Mathis: I keep wondering where all my friends and the people that I recorded with when I first started (went). I left San Francisco when I was about 19, I guess, and went to New York all by myself and met extraordinary people, some of them in the business and some of them were not. Mostly, I remember the love and affection that I got from the people in charge of music at Columbia Records.

I’ve been blessed. The thing that I remember most is my dad. My dad was my best pal. He and my mom had seven kids. I sang, my dad sang and that was where it all started. The thing that I’ve really loved the most about what happened to me is that my dad got a chance to see it happen. (My parents) never stopped working — that’s all they did is work, work, work, work, work — and then to have my success come along, when he was young and still viable, and he got a chance to talk to his friends and what have you. They said, “Didn’t I see your son singing on television?”

Q: Did any of your six siblings take to music?

Mathis: We all sort of sang and played the piano a little bit. (Johnny is fourth of the seven Mathis children.) They all just sort of went their way, and most of them got married and had kids. I just sort of left school, and I was mostly concerned about my athletics at the time. I was a high jumper and a hurdler, and I got a chance to go with a wonderful, world-famous basketball player, Bill Russell, to the Olympic trials as a high jumper. He went to USF (the University of San Francisco), I went to San Francisco State (University), and we became pals.

Q: Was it a tough choice to forego athletics for your music career?

Mathis: No. . . . My dad was absolutely over the moon at my little accomplishments as a singer, because he was a singer. He’s the person that I listened to and tried to emulate.

Q: Did the people you were working with at Columbia early on immediately connect your voice with love songs?

Mathis: No, not at all. The guy who heard me sing was (Columbia Records producer) George Avakian. He was an Armenian man, and the lady who owned the jazz club in San Francisco, the Black Hawk, was Armenian, and she heard me sing with a golfing buddy of mine in her club one day. I think we were just fooling around in the afternoon when there were no customers. She heard me sing and (said), “Who’s your manager, honey?”

“I’ve got no manager! I go to school, I’ve got six brothers and sisters.” It was all very accidental.

(Avakian) was the head of jazz music for Columbia Records. (The jazz-club owner) called him up, and he came in one day, heard me sing, and said, “I think you’ve got a career ahead of you and we’ll see what happens. And he said, “I’ll be back next year.” “Oh, sure!” . . . Sure enough, he came through, and here I am.

Q: So it was jazz music you were paired with originally?

Mathis: When I signed, George and I made an album. . . . We did an album called “A New Sound in Popular Song.” It was all with jazz musicians, and that’s sort of how it started. Then this guy by the name of Mitch Miller, who was the head of pop music at Columbia Records, heard me sing and he said, “Why are you singing that stuff?” He didn’t say “stuff” — he said a dirty word — but he thought I was wasting my time singing that.

Q: You’ve also done six Christmas albums, starting with “Merry Christmas” in 1958.

Mathis: Christmas was the biggest thing in the world for (my family). That’s when we celebrated, and the first thing I wanted to do after I had a hit record was I wanted to make a Christmas album. And boy, oh boy, I was so lucky to get (arranger) Percy Faith and all these wonderful musicians.

Q: In the movie “Same Time, Next Year,” you and Jane Olivor sang a duet composed by Marvin Hamlisch, “The Last Time I Felt Like This,” which received an Oscar nomination in 1979.

Mathis: I love Jane Olivor! She’s one of the great singers of all time, and she and I are best pals. The joy I got — and I think most singers will probably feel the same way — is singing in tandem, with other people.

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Q: Do you ever listen to your old recordings and think you wish you had sung it differently, or feel you hit it out of the park?

Mathis: I listen to some of the early stuff and think about how dumb I was and how silly I was vocally. Because I had this wonderful voice teacher, and she was very, very strict: “Do this, do that, do this, do that.” And then, of course, when you start to get involved with music and putting your emotions into songs, all the technique goes out the window. You get emotional, and that’s the way the songs come out. So many times I would come back home after having success with songs like “Chances Are” and “The Twelfth of Never” and “It’s Not For Me to Say,” and I’d talk to my voice teacher and she’d say, “You sound terrible! I hate that.” But I’d make a million dollars with that!

[email protected]

At a glance

Singer Johnny Mathis will perform as part of the “Voice of Romance Tour” at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Palace Theatre, 34 W. Broad St. Tickets cost $46 to $126. For more information, visit www.capa.com.