Failing Photizo Group Sold to New Firm Virtulytix

Venture capital fund Meritus Ventures has sold failing print and imaging industry research and consulting firm Photizo Group to newly-formed Virtulytix, a predictive analytics company set up by Photizo founder Ed Crowley and several of his former colleagues.

Photizo was founded in 2004 and specialised in managed print services (MPS) industry research, market and business intelligence, while also offering proprietary studies and custom consulting. In 2012, it acquired Lyra Research, a provider of expert analysis and competitive intelligence to the imaging industry.

According to an article in online publication The Recycler, Meritus recently seized Photizo's assets following defaults on loans and interest payments of $4m. Crowley (pictured) has agreed to take on the debt and will head up the new company. However, the former owners of Lyra Research are still owed more than $1.3m, with junior and unsecured creditors and employees set to lose a further $1m, and these debts will not be repaid following the Photizo liquidation. Yesterday, it was reported that Kentucky's Labor Cabinet has filed a complaint on behalf of employees for unpaid salaries and wages going back as far as 2014, and totalling just under $100k.

The new company, Virtulytix, will provide advanced analytics, market data, consulting and other analytical intelligence services to clients across a broad range of industries. Alongside Crowley, the firm will be staffed by Photizo Group alumni Scott Hornbuckle, who previously built the Photizo Group Advanced Analytics team and now serves as Virtulytix President; tech industry veteran Mario Diaz as VP of Consulting; and Ron Iversen as VP of Market Intelligence Services. In addition, Nameeta Raj and Junying (Allison) Zhang have joined the team of project management and data engineering professionals.

Web site: www.virtulytix.com .