Marxent starts new local company

Cavs majority owner Dan Gilbert will be among investors

A developer of virtual reality software is starting a new local company, its chief executive said Thursday.

Beck Besecker, chief executive and co-founder of Marxent, said the new company is Magnetic Mobile LLC, a developer of mobile and web application services.

“We now will be two start-up companies in Dayton, instead of just one,” Besecker said.

Kettering-based Marxent — which produces “virtual reality” tools to showcase customers’ products — made news with its recent announcement of a successful $10 million investment round. Its investors include Quicken Loans founder and Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert.

Besecker has appeared recently on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and elsewhere telling the company’s story.

The business has served Enon-based gas and convenience store chain Speedway, creating mobile and web apps for its customer rewards program.

“The big news is, as part of this fundraising, we are creating a new company,” Besecker said in an interview. “It’s spinning out to serve that market.”

The company doesn’t have a web site yet. “It’s all starting to happen over the next few months,” he said.

Speedway is already a major customer for the new company. But the business will grow to take on additional customers who want mobile apps, Besecker expects.

“It’s gotten big enough that it has become it’s own entity now,” he said. “It will become its own start-up and become part of the Quicken Loans family of companies.”

Gilbert is a well-known shareholder in more than 70 sports and tech-related ventures. The latest investment push for Marxent was led by his Detroit Venture Partners and Stage 1 Ventures.

Besecker said 13 employees will work full-time for Magnetic Mobile.

Marxent has nearly 50 employees in Kettering, as well as offices in Detroit and the Tampa, Fla. area, With the new investment round, local employment will grow, Besecker and his brother, Marxent co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Barry Besecker have said.

The Beseckers are Dayton-area natives who sold an earlier company to NCR, which once was based in Dayton.

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