CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metaform, an open innovation invention studio that delivers intellectual property and expertise to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, startups, government agencies and partners, announced the successful closing of its seed financing round from private investors. The funds will be used for the full-scale rollout of Metaform's first offering and will enable the company to broaden the array of innovations it offers its partners.

The company was founded in 2016 by Jeff Gunther after the successful sale of his last venture to Premier (NASDAQ: PINC) in October of 2013.

“We are witnessing a dramatic transformation in how organizations innovate and grow. The majority of companies now believe that their growth will be driven organically, not through M&A activity,” says Jeff Gunther, Founder of Metaform. "A clear correlation exists between superior revenue growth and innovation excellence. The most innovative companies are not going it alone. These companies are pushing beyond organizational boundaries to explore a wider ecosystem for technology and talent. These more-inclusive operating models, like open innovation and co-creation, have now outpaced traditional R&D activities by a wide margin.”

Unparalleled opportunities exist within established markets. But to turn these opportunities into reality, organizations need new assets to create business options, accelerate time to market, augment internal capabilities, and reduce risk.

"Under the pressure of quarterly earnings reporting cycles, many publicly traded companies are not able to heavily invest in new product development due to ROIC uncertainties. Our goal is to deliver solutions that can be incorporated into our partners' existing product portfolio and rapidly deployed within their existing sales channels," added Gunther.

As a conduit to connect established markets with innovative technology, Metaform is in a unique position to bring profitable organic growth to its partners without the high risk of internal development efforts and the expense of traditional M&A activity.

"We have established that companies are hungry for organic revenue growth through the use of collaborative innovation models, and we have created a series of innovations that will provide our future partners with new profitable revenue growth,” Gunther continued. "While this round of funding will help Metaform continue to create new innovations, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the investors of our partners who have been concerned about how their leadership teams will meet their aggressive financial targets without differentiated intellectual property,” Gunther concluded.

About Metaform

Metaform is an open innovation invention studio that delivers intellectual property and expertise to Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, startups, government agencies and partners. Headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, Metaform exists to make what is impossible today, possible tomorrow. Please visit Metaform’s site at http://www.metaform.com/ for more information about the company.