Charitee Golf gains more dollars

By CHUCK SODER
9:45 am, May 2, 2007

Charitee Golf now has nearly $1 million to help expand its high-tech system for conducting hole-in-one contests to as many golf courses as possible.

The Solon company, which provides golf courses with video-monitoring systems for hole-in-one contests, two weeks ago closed a deal to receive $200,000 from North Coast Angel Fund LLC and another $100,000 from individual investors in the group.

The company also has raised about $500,000 from other angel investors, another term for wealthy individuals, in addition to $300,000 it got in March 2006 from JumpStart Inc., a nonprofit that finances new technology companies.

Charitee Golf plans to use the money to expand to 30 golf courses this year, mostly on the West Coast, and to prepare for a national roll-out in 2008. The company aims to have its technology on more than 100 courses by the end of 2008.

The North Coast Angel Fund expects the company to succeed because it gives golf courses a way to increase revenues without making a large investment, said managing member Clay Rankin. “I’m sure as time goes on we’ll see these systems go up all over the country,” Mr. Rankin said. Golfers pay $5 to receive a personal ID code that they enter into an electronic kiosk, which turns on cameras and a video monitoring system. Anyone who sinks the shot can win $10,000 or a one-year lease on a Hummer H3. The company pays for the prizes, president Mike Burkons said.

“Get it close, just don’t put it in the hole,” he said with a laugh.

The technology also can be used to monitor competitive contests to see who comes closest to the pin. Charitee Golf already has secured eight contracts on the West Coast and will set up its system at two Northeast Ohio courses this spring — Little Mountain Country Club in Concord and Briarwood Golf Club in Broadview Heights.

The company originally piloted its technology at six courses in the region, but it decided against reopening four of them so it could focus instead on more profitable courses that are open year-round, Mr. Burkons said.

The North Coast Angel Fund investment is the fund’s second. It made its first investment in March, placing $200,000 in Exacter Inc., a Columbus company that uses technology to detect power outages before they occur.

The fund received $2 million from the Ohio Third Frontier Project last week and now manages a total of about $5.5 million. JumpStart also received $2 million.



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