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University System of Maryland Venture Capital Fund Invests in Retrium


Baltimore, MD (May 20, 2019) – Retrium, Inc., a company located in Silver Spring, MD whose cloud platform enables software development teams to continuously improve via better agile retrospective meetings, has received a $400,000 investment as part of a $1.6M funding round led by the University System of Maryland’s (USM) Maryland Momentum Fund. Other investors included members of the Dingman Center Angels, a Maryland-based angel investment group run by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). Retrium increases the engagement of software development teams in retrospective meetings, which can be thought of “lessons learned” meetings, moving them from “check-the-box” activities to effective continuous improvement tools.
 

David Horowitz and Ryan Detweiler co-founded Retrium in 2015. Horowitz, the CEO and Co-Founder of Retrium, Inc., is a graduate of UMCP, with a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Economics (’06).
 

“Retrium brings together a management team of recognized thought leaders in the agile software world who have records of successful exits from previous companies.  We have very high hopes for Retrium as an investment for the Momentum Fund,” said David Wise, Managing Director of the Momentum Fund.
 

“Retrium enables development teams to be more effective and for each team member to feel empowered as they address new features, security fixes or the removal of coding errors,” said Momentum Fund Advisory Board Member Ron Gula.
 

The Maryland Momentum Fund, which was established by the USM Board of Regents to support promising commercial opportunities arising from advances in research and intellectual property at USM campuses, has previously invested in five other startups: MF Fire, NextStep Robotics, the North American Wave Engine Corporation, PaverGuide, and Zest Tea. The Fund is designed to fill gaps in the funding pipeline to push USM’s most innovative ideas into the marketplace.
 

About Retrium

Retrium is a SaaS platform that enables software development teams to run more effective agile retrospectives. It includes a unique set of industry best practice facilitation techniques that guide teams through the retrospective process, enabling them to become more productive over time. Retrium was founded in 2015 by David Horowitz and Ryan Detweiler.
 

About the Dingman Center Angels

The Dingman Center Angels is a Maryland based angel investment group that provides funding to early-stage companies located within the Mid-Atlantic region. Our members are entrepreneurs, CXO's, venture capitalists and business leaders who have founded, funded and built world-class companies. The group invests $100,000 to $1,000,000 in seed/early stage companies and will often syndicate with other angel groups and VC’s for deals up to $2 million. 

 

About the University System of Maryland (USM)

The USM is the state’s public higher education system. USM’s 12 institutions, three regional higher education centers, and system office work closely together to leverage their collective expertise and resources, share best practices, increase the system’s effectiveness and efficiency, and advance USM’s mission to improve the quality of life in Maryland.
 

About the USM Momentum Fund

The Maryland Momentum Fund is a new initiative of the University System of Maryland (USM) to provide late seed investment funding for promising technology ventures that come out of any of the twelve constituent USM institutions, its research parks, and its students, faculty, or graduates. With a $10 million commitment from the System already in place, the Fund is collaborating with UM Ventures (a joint initiative of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park to commercialize technologies and expand industry collaboration) to reach out to area venture capitalists and angel investors for additional funds.

 

 

Contact – Maryland Momentum Fund
David Wise
Phone: 410-706-3361
Email: dwise@umaryland.edu
 

Contact – Retrium
David Horowitz
Phone: 1-888-628-0845 x700
Email: david@retrium.com
 

Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu

University System of Maryland
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