Tallwave and Its Portfolio Company Ethology Acquire Leading User-Centered Design Firm 29th Drive

SCOTTSDALE, AZ–(Marketwired – Mar 26, 2014) – Venture development firm Tallwave and its largest portfolio company, integrated digital marketing agency ethology, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to jointly acquire the assets of Arizona-based user-centered design firm 29th Drive. 29th Drive will remain a standalone entity and brand within the Tallwave family of companies and 29th Drive Founder and CEO Kevin Goldman will continue in his crucial leadership role as Vice President & Chief Design Architect in Tallwave’s Product Practice.

“The integration of 29th Drive into the Tallwave family is a strategic addition to our service of helping early stage companies rapidly build products that drive commercial success,” said Jeff Pruitt, chairman of the board, founding partner & CEO, Tallwave. “By injecting end-user empathy and user-experience into all that we do, we can ensure innovation is focused on developing solutions that both improve lives and are enjoyable to use.”

29th Drive’s user-centered design approach blends human factors, marketing, technology, and aesthetics to create software products and services that solve real human problems and delight end users. The company currently works with startups as well as enterprises such as Microsoft, Sonos and LastPass. Demand for such services is high and continues to accelerate as developers seek best-in-class user experiences that can be executed across all platforms.

“The acquisition of 29th Drive provides ethology the opportunity to bring more advanced user-centered design capabilities to our clients who want to better connect and engage with their customers online,” said Larry Jenkins, president, ethology. “This addition will help better position our agency to become the digital agency of record for key challenger and midsize brands across a wide spectrum of vertical markets, including: insurance, healthcare, hotels/resorts, finance and consumer retail.”

“Aligning with Tallwave and ethology represents a tremendous growth opportunity for 29^th Drive as we combine our talents to create and innovate for the amazing companies we all serve,” said Kevin Goldman, Founder and CEO of 29th Drive. “This event marks a key milestone and we simply cannot wait to get started.”

About Tallwave
Tallwave is a commercializor.

The company creates commercial success and shareholder value for entrepreneurs and investors by validating, scaling and managing early-stage and growth ventures with a hands-on approach. Tallwave also hosts High Tide™; one of the most innovative startup competitions in the U.S.

What separates Tallwave from the limitations of Incubator, Accelerator and traditional Venture Capital firm business models is its proprietary Tallwave Way™ closed-loop commercialization engine. The combination of Tallwave’s lean Business Blueprint™ for product and company validation, its Operator Model™ for resource deployment and the access to pre-seed through Series A capital its networks provide, has been used to vet over 300 entrepreneurs and their concepts, validate more than 65 startups, and build a portfolio of half a dozen early-stage companies.
Founded and led by former iCrossing, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, GoDaddy and Marketwire executives, Tallwave is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Additional information about Tallwave is available at www.tallwave.com.

About ethology
Ethology is the integrated digital marketing agency for evolving consumer brands, and a portfolio company of Tallwave, a venture development firm that validates, grows and helps start-ups commercialize their businesses. The ethology team has expertise in research, strategy, planning, organic and paid search, display and social media, email marketing, content strategy, analytics, web development and creative design. The digital agency services large Fortune 1000 and mid-size brands in travel and hospitality, consumer retail, ecommerce, finance and banking, telecommunication, consumer package goods, insurance, entertainment and healthcare industries. For more information on ethology, please isit ethology.com.

About 29th Drive
29th Drive solves design and technology problems for their customers to help them create innovative products and increase revenue. The 29th Drive team makes technology more human for their customer’s end users to help them discover, create and enjoy life with delightfully engaging web apps, mobile apps, desktop software, and web sites. The agency’s customers range from startups to Fortune 25 companies to major educational institutions. For more information on 29th Drive, please visit www.29thdrive.com.