POTSDAM — Seaway Private Equity Corp. has invested $500,000 in Vertuous LLC, which has developed an environmentally conscious social networking Web site called Izzit Green.
Izzit Green will use a combination of Facebook-style social networking and a rating system to allow users to score businesses on their sustainability practices.
"One of the things Vertuous believes is by making sustainability a component of profits and growth of a business, we will enact change faster," said Michael Ryan, CEO of North Bay Technology Development, who presented the company to Seaway Equity officials. "If you know a restaurant not only provides organic food, but it recycles, well, I'd go there. The hope is that through people's awareness, we can drive social change."
The Web site is scheduled to launch May 24, when its mascot, a pale green Sasquatch called "Izzit," will visit Boston's Earthfest. Vertuous expects to have Izzit Green fully up and running by August.
The Boston company already has begun to move its product management and customer service divisions to Potsdam, employing two people here and looking to hire more.
Izzit Green representatives also recently attended the North Country Sustainable Energy Fair at SUNY Canton.
"They found they were not only having interesting conversations with people, which always happens at the energy fair, but they were also actively looking for interested employees," said Thomas A. Plastino, executive director of the Council for International Trade, Technology, Education and Communication, Potsdam. "They were surprised at what a hotbed of interest in green things there is in Canton, Potsdam and the surrounding area."
Izzit Green will target New England when it launches, and hopes to grow nationally and internationally from there, Mr. Ryan said.
"What's neat for St. Lawrence County is that in locating this business here, being a social media site, it will create a buzz about what's going on here. There's a lot of practical application of sustainability here," Mr. Ryan said. "And driving by the gas station looking at $3.89 a gallon, I'm sure lots of people want to learn about sustainability."
Seaway Equity closed on the investment using funds secured from the New York Power Authority, while other private investors matched that with $1 million in capital.
"SPEC's previous investments were in the energy business," President Anthony G. Collins, who also is president of Clarkson University, said in a statement. "I have heard many St. Lawrence County residents ask why information tech businesses cannot be attracted to the county. Well, now we have the first of what could be many."
Mr. Ryan also said that Vertuous will offer co-op and internship opportunities to area college students, which could turn into full-time jobs after graduation.
"As a lifelong north country resident and a Clarkson University MBA, I know how much Internet talent there is in the county, but no one except us knows it," Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, R-Gouverneur, said in a statement. "SPEC and NYPA are helping put us on the map."
