Startup with ties to online porn, gambling out at U.Va.
By the Associated Press
July 24, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - A high-tech company whose clients include online pornography and gambling interests has left a business incubator at the University of Virginia under mutual agreement with the business school dean.
Pmints, which specializes in secure money transfers, lost its office space and other resources at U.Va.'s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration after its business with the gambling and pornography industries were revealed in a July 7 report by The Daily Progress.
The revelation sparked protests by alumni and community members.
"The school, as a public institution of the commonwealth of Virginia, cannot directly support, financially or otherwise, his startup venture, Pmints, because of the nature of some aspects of the business," Darden Dean Robert F. Bruner said.
Despite the severed ties to Darden, Pmints' CEO, Darden graduate student Rafael Diaz-Tushman, said: "It's not going to affect the company. Things are going well."
Darden and Diaz-Tushman said they "mutually agreed" to sever all ties between the school and Pmints.
The Darden incubator provides graduate students as labor for its startup companies. Pmints will not lose its six employees, however, because they have all invested in the company, Diaz-Tushman said.
Pmints is expected to launch later this year.
Diaz-Tushman said the startup's business plan was no secret at Darden. It was one of seven firms invited to join the incubator.
"They all definitely knew about us," he said.
By the Associated Press
July 24, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - A high-tech company whose clients include online pornography and gambling interests has left a business incubator at the University of Virginia under mutual agreement with the business school dean.
Pmints, which specializes in secure money transfers, lost its office space and other resources at U.Va.'s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration after its business with the gambling and pornography industries were revealed in a July 7 report by The Daily Progress.
The revelation sparked protests by alumni and community members.
"The school, as a public institution of the commonwealth of Virginia, cannot directly support, financially or otherwise, his startup venture, Pmints, because of the nature of some aspects of the business," Darden Dean Robert F. Bruner said.
Despite the severed ties to Darden, Pmints' CEO, Darden graduate student Rafael Diaz-Tushman, said: "It's not going to affect the company. Things are going well."
Darden and Diaz-Tushman said they "mutually agreed" to sever all ties between the school and Pmints.
The Darden incubator provides graduate students as labor for its startup companies. Pmints will not lose its six employees, however, because they have all invested in the company, Diaz-Tushman said.
Pmints is expected to launch later this year.
Diaz-Tushman said the startup's business plan was no secret at Darden. It was one of seven firms invited to join the incubator.
"They all definitely knew about us," he said.
We should ask for that to be an option in the store.