Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 5, 2024 9 Here's A Glimpse of Our Bank Portfolio... Building banks is a specialty of ours. Over the years, PDS has had the great privilege of working closely and often with some of the area's most respected banks, including TD Bank and Webster Bank. These projects have ranged from new construction to general renovation, including several new free standing buildings, one of which incorporated the latest TD Bank design with LEED Platinum credentials. In addition, we have completed fast track interior fi t-outs with all new fi nishes specifi c to our client's design needs. With in-house disciplines of engineering from civil to mechanical, PDS can design the right building to fi t your budget and timeline. SPOTLIGHT ON: COMMERICAL 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfi eld, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com THINK • PLAN • BUILD 4,000 SF | Wallingford, CT 4,000 SF | Norwalk, CT Various Interior Renovations Bringing over five decades of expertise to the table, we've specialized in crafting pre-engineered metal buildings since 1965. This latest project, spanning an impressive 54,000 square feet, was tailored to the needs of our valued client, Hartford Truck Equipment in South Windsor, CT. Designed and built to their precise specifications, this new facility is set to be a versatile production and storage space for equipment, parts, and much more. For almost 60 years, PDS Engineering & Construction has prioritized building relationships based on trust, efficiency, and transparency. It's these values that ensure we consistently deliver the highest quality results. 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com Hartford Truck Equipment in South Windsor, CT Here's A Glimpse of Our Bank Portfolio... Building banks is a specialty of ours. Over the years, PDS has had the great privilege of working closely and often with some of the area's most respected banks, including TD Bank and Webster Bank. These projects have ranged from new construction to general renovation, including several new free standing buildings, one of which incorporated the latest TD Bank design with LEED Platinum credentials. In addition, we have completed fast track interior fi t-outs with all new fi nishes specifi c to our client's design needs. With in-house disciplines of engineering from civil to mechanical, PDS can design the right building to fi t your budget and timeline. SPOTLIGHT ON: COMMERICAL 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfi eld, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com THINK • PLAN • BUILD 4,000 SF | Wallingford, CT 4,000 SF | Norwalk, CT Various Interior Renovations CONSTRUCTING EXCELLENCE SPOTLIGHT ON: COMMERCIAL and where it could go," Cross said. "What we wanted to do was give the content creators ownership back. We wanted content creators to be able to make money." That may seem obvious today thanks to all the "influencers" trying to get rich on Instagram and TikTok — including Cross' daughter, who has 55,000 TikTok followers — but he said that was a foreign concept back then. So, Acunto and Cross, joined by Elliott Jobe, who has a background as a photorealistic artist, decided to form a company that would help creators and artists finally get paid for their online efforts. With help from Hilco Streambank, a New York-based financial consulting and intellectual property firm, they discovered Norwalk-based Tsu Inc., a web-based social-media company that had shut down and filed for bankruptcy, Cross said. Hilco acquired Tsu Inc. out of bankruptcy court and sold it to the partners, who then worked to create a platform that commercial brands and content creators could use to monetize their work. Then COVID-19 hit. "With COVID, people were suddenly jumping into Zoom, and were suddenly open to immersive experiences," Cross said. "And we said, if we can package this and take advantage of Zoom, this would change everything." That led them to create an "immer- sive experience" for Burning Man, the annual weeklong art and self-expres- sion event held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. In 2020, the virtual event replaced the actual one, which was canceled due to the pandemic. "What most people don't know about Burning Man is all the top people in tech go," Cross said. "Accep- tance by that community is almost impossible, and it's a group decision." The immersive experience was a hit and "it changed the way we thought about everything," he said. Display Social Their company, which at this point was still using the name Tsu Inc., next reached out to Universal Music Group (UMG), which was already a corporate partner, and "started diving into … building out immersive social experiences," Cross said. Tsu Inc. was now an end-to-end platform using AI to create its immersive experiences. "No one wanted to hear about AI just a few years ago," Cross said. "But Amazon started paying us $1 million a year to get our data from the social engine so that we could train their AI recognition. They needed data to train. Today it's an obvious thing, but not then." Going all-in on immersive experi- ences led the executives to rebrand the company as Display Social. They were working with 150 artists, celebrities, athletes and influencers that included rappers Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. Display Social was rebranded again in January 2022 as Infinite Reality, and now works with a variety of brands and celebrities in a number of ways: • It creates immersive metaverse experiences for organizations that include the Union Cycliste Inter- nationale Track Championship League, a virtual reality bicycle racing league; FIM Speedway Grand Prix, a virtual motorcycle racing league; and the Drone Racing League. It also has a partnership with Vodafone Digital Asset Broker, and developed a metaverse showroom experience for London Tech week in 2023. • TalentX is a social media mone- tization and talent management division that creates strategies for clients that range from social media influencers to fitness coach Jillian Michaels. • iR studios (formerly Thunder Studios) is an Emmy award-win- ning entertainment services, production and broadcasting divi- sion based in Long Beach, Calif. Cross said Infinite Reality offers brands and influencers a platform that allows them to keep more of the money spent by users who interact with their apps and websites. He also noted that, for companies like Warner Bros. Discovery, Infinite helps them reach an audience younger than age 35, the majority of whom don't watch television but spend hours on their phones or tablets. Infinite Reality and FIM Speedway GP, a virtual motorcycle racing league, partnered to develop the SGP-VERSE app, which features customizable camera streams, exclusive pit reporter feeds, and on-demand video content. CONTRIBUTED IMAGE Elliott Jobe

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