For some startups, getting funded means follow the money. For Durham-based Sqord, it’s follow the activity, follow the early adoption, follow the excitement…..and the money. 
 
The wearable technology startup closed out 2014 with a $2 million strategic investment from Providence Health Ventures, the venture arm of a $13 billion hospital system based in Washington with plans to distribute Sqord’s Booster wristband to more local kids and help the company expand its footprint across the West Coast. 
 
Future plans could also include more Sqord products that inspire child play and collect data about kids’ activities, turning the company into a player in the Internet of Things movement. It’s all part of the company’s mission to shrink childhood obesity rates and improve kids’ overall health as they grow. 
 
But to capitalize on its early successes, the startup born out of UNC’s MBA program, incubated at Groundwork Labs and Chicago’s Techstars accelerator, funded with an NC IDEA grant, supported by the community at American Underground and launched with Premera Blue Cross and Providence Health and Services in Washington, must spend more of its time with its customers and investors out west. 
 
That means founder Coleman Greene and his family will move to Seattle this spring, and begin growing an executive team there. He’ll keep (and soon hire for) the development team in Durham, in hopes of growing an East Coast presence for when customers here latch onto Sqord’s products. 

For more details, read: http://exitevent.com/article/with-2m-raise-sqord-preps-hq-move-seattle-150218

(C) ExitEvent