Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY 24, 2025 3 Biz Briefs Tel: (860) 236-9998 | Fax: (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $132.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email circulation@ hartfordbusiness.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103 Stay Connected For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to: www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln:www.linkedin.com/company/the-Hart- ford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend: www.hartfordbusiness.com/enewsletters Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published bi-weekly, 27x per year — including two special issues in November and December — by New England Business Media, LLC, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT and at additional entry points. Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Drew Larson | Web Editor, ext. 121 alarson@hartfordbusiness.com Beat: Energy Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance David Krechevsky | Staff Writer, ext. 702 davidk@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Bioscience Harriet Jones | Staff Writer, ext. 145 hjones@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Professional Services Stephanie R. Meagher | Research Director Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Jessica M. Quinn | Associate Publisher, ext. 137 jquinn@hartfordbusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Dean Zappalorti | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 101, deanz@hartfordbusiness.com Sadie Bride | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 141, sbride@hartfordbusiness.com Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Production Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com PHOTO | COSTAR CironeFriedberg's Bethel headquarters. According to Inside Public Accounting, Chicago-based Baker Tilly is the 10th-largest CPA firm in the U.S. CironeFriedberg is based in Bethel, with offices in Shelton and Darien. It serves middle-market businesses, high- net-worth individuals, and nonprofits in Connecticut and New York. Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford appoints new CEO The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford has a new CEO. Bruce W. Jeffery will take up the post on March 3. He's currently the chief youth devel- opment officer for the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, and was previously the executive director of the Decatur, Illinois Boys & Girls Club. Previous CEO Sam Gray Jr. stepped down from the post last year, after being promoted to the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America's vice presi- dent for the northeast region. The Hartford launches new logo The Hartford has retooled its branding for the first time since 2010. The insurance company's new logo still features the iconic stag, but now in a monochromatic black-and-white version. Chief Marketing Officer Claire Burns says the switch reflects a change in the company's priorities since 2010. "As we look into the future, we are looking to contemporize our logo, demonstrate the modern company, but also draw from our 200-plus years of heritage and history," she said in an interview with the Hartford Business Journal. The Hartford has used a stag in its logo since 1861. "We trace it back to a policy that we issued to Abraham Lincoln," Burns said. "That's the first time we used the image." The new branding will be used on TV, digital platforms and The Hartford's refreshed website. While the core logo is black and white, the overall branding package also features the company's signature claret red and a fuchsia pink. "You'll see new signage inside and outside of our offices," Burns said. "You'll also see it in our local presence at the Yard Goats stadium, where we are a sponsor." She said the company has been working with design agency Penta- gram on the changes for the last nine months. The company is also renaming its holding company from The Hartford to The Hartford Insur- ance Group, to match its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol, HIG. Global accounting firm to enter CT market with local acquisition Global accounting firm Baker Tilly announced it will acquire Connecticut-based CPA and advi- sory firm CironeFriedberg. Baker Tilly said the move will strengthen its Northeast presence, creating connections between New York and Boston. It marks the firm's first foray into Connecticut, and is in line with a major merger and acquisition trend within the accounting industry that has impacted the state. Terms of the deal were not made public. The Hartford's new black logo. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER André Swanston says video games are a big part of his leisure time. With $10M fundraise, André Swanston launches new cloud video gaming platform C onnecticut entrepreneur André Swanston — who made his name building Tru Optik, a data marketplace for streaming TV services that was sold to Transunion in 2020 for nine figures — has launched a new cloud gaming venture that has raised $10 million from a group of investors, led by Wellington Management. PHῩND is a platform that allows consumers to stream video games via a smart TV in an ad-supported, subscription-free service, with no additional gaming hardware. "Gaming is something I've been bullish on for many years," Swan- ston said in an interview with the Hartford Business Journal. "I think the cloud gaming industry is really almost 10 years behind the streaming television industry in terms of that maturation." Swanston has rebranded his Stamford-based company, formerly Swanston Labs, as PHῩND, and says the venture will be his sole business focus going forward. Swanston says his solution addresses the problem of "subscrip- tion fatigue" among many consumers. "Whereas there are subscription-based services — Xbox, Game Pass from Microsoft and others — that you can pay and subscribe," he said, "there isn't a real scalable, high-quality free solution where the value proposition is that the consumer doesn't have to pay a subscription, but they do have to watch some sort of sponsorship message or advertising before the game starts." Consumers can play using devices they have to hand, including TV remotes, smartphones or existing gaming consoles. He believes an ad-supported service that needs no additional hardware will appeal to many more people. Over the past five years, more than 500 million smart TVs capable of supporting a cloud gaming app have shipped globally, outpacing the combined total of gaming PCs and consoles. "I do think it broadens the potential addressable market," he said. "People can't always afford to spend $500-plus on the new gaming console, or $3,000 on a fancy gaming PC." And he says, they're an attractive market for advertisers. Swanston said the cloud gaming platform has been trialed on test users, and is now ready to move into beta mode. He expects a full market roll out "significantly later in the year." Bruce Jeffery

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