Web 2.0 Buzz Measurement Software from SentiMetrix Wins First Annual UM Institute...

Web 2.0 Buzz Measurement Software from SentiMetrix Wins First Annual UM
Institute for Systems Research Faculty Venture Fair

COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Want to know what the Web-based
world thinks of you? Look no further than the winning technology of the first
annual Institute for Systems Research (ISR) Faculty Venture Fair at the
University of Maryland.

The SentiMetrix technology measures and quantifies opinions that people and
organizations express about a topic in online media such as news Web sites,
blogs, comments on YouTube, and social networking sites. V.S. Subrahmanian,
professor of computer science and director of the Institute for Advanced
Computer Studies, developed the technology in collaboration with postdoctoral
fellow Diego Reforgiato and other colleagues at Maryland and the University of
Naples, Italy.

"Our software can detect even relatively small changes in sentiment in real
time," says Subrahmanian, who co-founded the university spin-off SentiMetrix
Inc. in 2006 to commercialize the technology. "We can analyze how opinion
changes over time. We are also the only company doing this in eight different
languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, French, Italian,
Spanish and English."

For national security markets, for example, SentiMetrix could gauge what
people around the world say about the U.S. "We can track how those biases
change," Subrahmanian explained, "as well as how they align towards the
leaders we support."

SentiMetrix can measure opinions about products, but more importantly, says
Subrahmanian, his software may be used to correlate features with sales, which
can then be used for pricing. Tracking a company's stock price versus what is
being said about the stock over time is another potential application.

SentiMetrix's software recently accurately predicted the outcome of the
election for prime minister in Italy.

"The technology is compelling," says Mark Frantz, general partner of RedShift
Ventures and a judge for the ISR Venture Fair. "SentiMetrix is going to be of
interest to both new and established players in the rapidly growing Web 2.0
market, especially in the areas of online brand promotion and protection. For
some players looking for ways to expand their presence in those markets, it
could be like throwing gas on a fire."

Privately financed, SentiMetrix has exclusive licenses on two overlapping
technologies developed by Subrahmanian at the university, and has expanded
these licenses through extensive R&D efforts since then. The company received
$75,000 through the TEDCO Maryland Technology Transfer Fund in March.

The SentiMetrix technology won Computerworld Magazine's 2006 Horizon Award,
given to the most innovative pre-commercial technology.

Former AOL technologist Vadim Kagan is president of SentiMetrix.

Additional technologies presented at the venture fair include: Lateral
Two-Terminal Nanotube Devices and Method for their Formation, by Gary W.
Rubloff, Minta Martin Professor of Engineering, ISR and materials science
engineering faculty member and director of the Maryland NanoCenter Cell-Based
Sensing: Biological Transduction of Chemical Stimuli to Electrical Signals
(Nose-on-a-Chip), by Pamela Abshire, assistant professor of electrical and
computer engineering and ISR Geometry-Based Search Software, by mechanical
engineering and ISR associate professor Satyandra Gupta Mapping Genes and Gene
Expression in Human Tissue for Research Labs, Patient Diagnosis and Minimal
Surgery Margins, by Benjamin Shapiro, associate professor of aerospace
engineering and ISR

"Any one of these inventions could have a significant impact on the market
within five years," says Jim Chung, director of the A. James Clark School of
Engineering's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech)
VentureAccelerator Program, which co-hosted the venture fair with ISR and the
university's Office of Technology Commercialization. "Events like this and the
similar UM Bioscience Venture Fair last November provide valuable
opportunities for venture capitalists and potential customers and partners to
preview the most significant innovations coming out of the university."

The ISR Venture Fair gives faculty inventors the opportunity to pitch their
new technologies to a team of venture capitalists. Judges this year included:
Mark Frantz, general partner of RedShift Ventures; Robb Doub, managing
director of New Markets Venture Partners; Tom Gillespie, senior director of
the university and early-stage investment team of-Q-Tel; Dan Gordon, director
of research for Valhalla Partners; Ray Dizon, managing director of the
Maryland Venture Fund; and Lawson Devries, vice president of Grotech Ventures.

CONTACT: Eric Schurr, 301-405-3889, Schurr@umd.edu or Vadim Kagan,
240-498-5285, kagan@sentimetrix.com

SOURCE Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute

Eric Schurr of Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute, +1-301-405-3889,
Schurr@umd.edu or Vadim Kagan, of SentiMetrix, +1-240-498-5285,
kagan@sentimetrix.com